Ask Susan Draper about the years of volunteer work she and her family devoted to the Arc of Greater Plymouth and she’ll say it wasn’t anything, not really. Yet both the Arc and Governor Deval Patrick beg to differ.

Draper and her entire family – husband Jamie and children Jacqui, 24, a client of the Arc; Samantha, 22; and Cameron, 19 – were honored at the State House last week by Gov. Patrick and the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) for their longstanding commitment to people with developmental disabilities. “These awards underscore just how vital family members are in ensuring people with disabilities have a full range of opportunities to contribute to our communities,” said Patrick. DDS Commissioner Elin Howe presented the Drapers with the “Celebrating Families Award” for helping the Arc to run Hoop Heroes basketball, Baseball Buddies and Softball Saturdays, among other programs here in Duxbury.

Draper said she’s grateful to the Arc for giving her and her family the opportunity to participate in their programming – and for nominating them -- and that the Arc gives more to the community than it receives. A non-profit agency, the Arc has provided support to over a thousand South Shore families and their loved ones with developmental disabilities since 1966.

“Our daughter Jacqui is a client of the Arc of Plymouth and they nominated us for this award,” said Draper, who was a bit bashful about being interviewed. “Because of Jacqui we got involved with Hoop Heroes 11 years ago and now she’s a part of their employment program. We volunteer year round for different activities.”

Appearing bewildered by all the attention, Draper said there are other families more deserving of the award. She and her family don’t regard their time spent participating in Arc activities as anything extraordinary and it certainly isn’t a sacrifice – quite the opposite.

“For us, we just needed to be involved because of Jacqui, but then we fell in love with all the other kids,” said Draper, noting she, her husband and other children truly enjoy their weekends spent with the Arc’s clients. When asked if she thinks it’s remarkable that her children are willing to give up precious free time to volunteer, she said, “They’re remarkable kids. They want to do this, they get excited and say, ‘yeah, we get to play softball today.’ ”

According to Malissa Kenney, director of family support for the Arc of Greater Plymouth, the Drapers deserve all of the accolades. It was Malissa and her colleagues at the Arc who nominated the Draper family for the award.

“They’re always there when I need them,” said Kenney. “They’re incredibly humble. It’s been unbelievable to work with them over the years and we love Jacqui. It couldn’t happen to better people.”

For Susan Draper, her inspiration to give back comes from watching her eldest child blossom as a participant in the Arc program. Draper draws inspiration from her and believes others could too. “If everybody had a little bit of what Jacqui has in her, the world would be a better place.”