About this time 15 years ago, San Geronimo Valley resident Aneice Taylor was running around buying Christmas presents before flying to Texas to visit her family.

A month later, a mudslide crushed the walls of her Lagunitas home, pushing her refrigerator on top of her. Taylor couldn't move; she was permanently paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Following the accident - with help from family and friends who built a wheelchair-accessible home for her in Woodacre - Taylor recommenced her life, and later began to help other quadriplegics through her nonprofit organization INSPIRIT (In Support of Paralytics in Real Intense Times).

"My story is really about community. I've just been surrounded and supported by caring people in the Valley," Taylor told The Light this week.

"The goal of INSPIRIT is to provide attendant care to quadriplegics, enabling them to live independently and to be up and active in the community," she said.

Since 1987, Taylor's group has provided more than 45,000 hours of in-home health care to about 30 disabled folks in several Bay Area counties. This year, the nonprofit granted a total of $58,000 to 15 quadriplegics, who might have otherwise been institutionalized.

"Even young people are forced to live in convalescent homes because their families can't afford to keep them. Most quadriplegics require 24-hour care, and that can be a tremendous financial burden," said Forest Knolls resident Marty Meade, who's been active in INSPIRIT since its founding.

Caring for paralytics is "intense work," Taylor agreed. "They need bowel and bladder care; they need help getting up every day; and they need to be moved around constantly to prevent skin breakdown and respiratory problems."

Immobility and isolation are the enemies of those confined to a wheelchair, Taylor said. To keep healthy and alert, she said, her fingers, toes, and limbs have to be moved regularly - but gently - by an in-home caregiver.

Yet good caregivers are hard to find, she said, because they're only paid $5.15 per hour by the county's In-Home Support Services Department, which in turn lacks the funding necessary to boost wages.

INSPIRIT strives to supplement the salary of caregivers who look after the group's clients, and Taylor believes the attendants deserve still more.

Also problematic, she said, is that some caregivers steal from their clients on the sly - or worse, out in the open. "Four years ago, one caregiver opened the purse of one of our quadriplegic board members. She took out the credit cards and all the money - right before our member's very eyes!"

Thankfully, theft isn't as much of an issue these days for INSPIRIT members, she said.

Taylor said she's grateful for her two live-in attendants, who care for her in exchange for room and board. She's also fond of her specially trained Canine Companion-trained dog Wizard, who tugs open doors and performs all sorts of practical tricks.

Animated from the shoulders up, Taylor moves her wheelchair around by pressing her chin against an electronic control knob attached to a neck collar. Wizard trots beside her.

But Wizard needs to be fed; bills need to be paid; and lightbulbs have to be changed, she said. "These are the kind of things that volunteers can help INSPIRIT members with, along with running errands, cleaning, correspondence, reading aloud, and offering companionship."

Volunteer grant writers are also welcome, she said. INSPIRIT has received funding from several sources, including the Babcock Endowment, Marin Community Foundation, Fireman's Fund Foundation, and Vanguard Public Foundation.

A confessed workaholic, Taylor promotes her organization constantly. "Working for INSPIRIT has been a wonderfully healing experience for me. Before I was injured, I always worried that I wasn't doing 'big' enough. I don't have that problem anymore."

Donations can be sent to INSPIRIT at Box 383, Woodacre 94973.