20 Years, 20 Stories – Shawn Hohnstreiter: A Builder of Many Things
“I am just a country boy. I love the outdoors. I’ve worked hard all my life. I began working at 8 and began paying taxes at 10,” said Shawn Hohnstreiter, one of the most influential and long-standing influences in the 20-year history of TEXSAR. He is a builder of many things.
Shawn is quick to not take credit for what has been the result of many people’s efforts to create, expand and develop TEXSAR to what it is today, but that is like the slab not taking credit for the house built upon it.
His youthful experience with work is not the only thing from the younger years that forged his focus on search/rescue/recovery volunteerism, with a particular passion for swiftwater rescue, including teaching skills in that field. As a child, he had a near-death drowning experience when he was underwater for an hour before being recovered. “We didn’t talk about it as a kid. As a family, we just moved on. As I researched more about that type of experience, I became more aware of how common it actually is.” 
Instead of taking a path that many would – teaching swimming or water safety – Shawn used his drive, energy, ambition and innate urge to serve to help others as a volunteer in the Midwest. He moved to Texas and helped with construction projects with Habitat for Humanity, eventually becoming a project manager. Eventually, he opened his own construction company and expanded to Louisiana for a year and one-half after Hurricane Katrina. He added volunteering for search-and-rescue as a counterbalance to working 70 hours per week. “I was still busy for that many hours, or more, but they were split between working and volunteering,” he said.
“I’m fortunate to have a business and crew that allows me to spend the time I want to with volunteering,” he said. He also volunteers with Rodeo Austin, an event that led to early visibility for TEXSAR. “As a force multiplier for law enforcement and EMS, we were able to partner with another charity and raise awareness about TEXSAR.”
Shawn originally discovered TEXSAR while attending a farmer’s market in Sunset Valley. He could tell that the small group’s raw ambition and desire to serve needed more structure and organization to grow into the future. He stepped up to help build just that.
“Most people don’t realize the range and scope of missions that TEXSAR volunteers have been part of in its short history. Our volunteers were part of the debris field searches and documentation after the Lockhart balloon catastrophe in 2016 when 16 people died, and after the Amazon flight crash in the swampy lands of Trinity Bay in 2019. TEXSAR first appeared ‘on the radar’ for many because of its efforts after the Wimberley Floods of 2015. Hurricane Harvey represented TEXSAR’s immense capabilities with more than 90 members deployed with about 11,000 hours of assistance. The stats are staggering for an organization as young as TEXSAR.”
“I wish potential volunteers would check out TEXSAR and I wish even more agencies were aware of the capabilities of our volunteers. There is so much that TEXSAR can do.”
TEXSAR grew by stepping up to fill the gap by asking agencies, “How can we help you?” “If we could help, we did,” Shawn said, “and we do.”
“I’ve learned along the way that sometimes you have to think expansively and sometimes you have to keep the blinders on to maintain critical focus. That is as individuals and as an organization. TEXSAR is where it is today and has the future it holds because of that ability.”
“TEXSAR is my family,” Shawn said. “I don’t get emotional about much, except TEXSAR. The organization and the people are everything to me.”
Learn more about TEXSAR at www.TEXSAR.org.
TEXSAR: 20 Years, 20 Stories, is a series of people-centric stories that celebrate the history of TEXSAR’s heroics and humanity as its volunteers continue their mission of ‘Texans helping Texans’ with Service above Self. The sequence of stories and profiles will come together in 2024 and 2025, celebrating the nonprofit’s 20th anniversary. To read more, click here.
