Sam Schultz: A heart for service on the US-Mexico border

A year ago, Sam Schultz was enjoying retirement in this remote, high-desert community that hugs California’s border with Mexico.

He, his wife, Gabrielle, and their two adult sons, nine dogs, multiple cats, chickens, and peacocks live on a compound that includes a 1923 landmark stone monument, the Desert View Tower. Mr. Schultz, a skilled carpenter, likes fixing stuff on the property, where he helps his brother, who also lives there, run the tower as a funky Airbnb with a stunning mountain vista.

But then migrants poured through gaps in the border barrier, just down from the compound. The human stream surged last May, ebbed, and then flowed into a river starting in September, churning up national headlines.

Mr. Schultz, known as a can-do relief worker, sprang into action. He organized volunteers to set