The Latest Dirt - Jan 2024

Major Milestones Honored at Recognition Dinner

By Simone Adair

One of the highlights of the recent 2023 Volunteer Recognition Dinner was the honoring of UC Master Gardeners, who have volunteered a significant amount of hours with pins and new badges. Our UC Master Gardeners are awarded based on their inputted hours into VMS, starting at 100 hours and going to 7,500 hours.

Dawn Kooyumjian, the UC Master Gardener Program Coordinator for Contra Costa County, led off the recognition portion of the evening by highlighting the community impact of all the hours UC Master Gardeners put in in 2023. Our county volunteers imputed 31,000 volunteer hours with 17,819 client contacts.

The recognitions started with CoCoMGs, who had contributed 100 hours of volunteer time. Karen Goodwin, Robin Harper, Tim McClintick, Ben McDonald, Jana Multhaup and Reba Siero received the coveted Bee pin. Next up was the 250-hour recognition. Dorothy Abeyta, Cindy Engers, Stephen Guglielmana, and Lawrence Moglia received their Trowel pins. Ann Howard, Jan Manns, Suzanne Miller, Laurinda Ochoa, Ann Ramirez, Mary Stewart, and Betty Yee contributed 500 hours and received the Watering Can pin. Deborah Christman, Bill Miller, Philip Quinlan, Cheryl Schmidt, Ken Schott, and Allison Thomas received the Pruners pin.

Allison Thomas’ incredible contribution of 750 hours was omitted from the original PowerPoint presentation. This achievement is impressive, considering Allison is a Class of 2022 graduate. Laura Brainin-Rodriguez noted,” I regret the unfortunate omission of Allison Thomas’ name from the 750-hour pin recognition. I got turned around while working with various versions of this PowerPoint. Because of that, Allison was unable to receive public acknowledgment of her achievement in front of her peers. We wish to now thank her for her commitment and contributions.”

Dawn then announced who contributed 1,000 hours and received their Gold Badges. Jon Dwyer and Mark Thomason both reached this milestone. Unfortunately, Shelley Christianson was not recognized for her amazing 1,000-hour Gold Badge achievement. Laura Brainin-Rodriguez said, “It came to our attention after the December event that due to a glitch in the algorithm that runs the reports for hours that result in pin and badge recognitions, Shelley Christianson was not recognized. We now thank her for her commitment and contributions and are very sorry she did not receive this public recognition in front of her peers.” Our hard-working badge manager, Kristina Gutilla, is committed to sorting these issues out as she transfers this role to Henry Shaw after three years of exceptional performance. 

Brian Kerss, Dan Lent, and Judy Ryan reached the 2,500-hour Platinum Badge level. Brian and Dan are both the Low Water Use Garden Co-Leads. They are the Co-Leads at the Pinole Farmers Market and Ask A Master Gardener Single-Day Event Leads. Dan is also a New Volunteer Training Homework Reviewer, and Brian is the West County Great Tomato Plant Sale Co-Lead and Coordinator.

Dan said, “I have enjoyed managing the Richmond Low Water Garden, staffing Ask a Master Gardener tables, and being a home study reviewer for the new classes. I continue to learn many things in each of these endeavors such as first-hand information about native and Mediterranean plants and irrigation systems, current issues plaguing home gardeners, and staying up to date on the subjects that are taught in each new class.”

Judy spent five years Co-Directing the Hospitality Committee and directed the Sustainability Fair held in the fall two years in a row. She became a Master Composter through the RecycleSMART program and has given UC Master Gardener workshops on regular composting and vermiculture. “More recently, you will find me at the Wednesday workdays at Our Garden unless I’m traveling, as well as the extra harvesting days on Mondays in the summer,” Judy said.

She’s also on the watering team year-round, participates in all levels of propagation for the GTPS, and works almost every day at the sale. “To get my last 4.5 hours of the 2,500, I packaged bean seeds in December to be sold at the GTPS, a special project courtesy of Janet,” she added.

Finally, Terri Takusagawa reached the 7,500 hours Platinum Plus milestone, an outstanding and well-deserved achievement. Terri said, “I feel so privileged to belong to such a friendly and supportive organization! I came to educate the public, and I stay because of all the wonderful people!”

Terri’s participation has included: New Volunteer Training – the lead or co-lead of the project for five years, and continues to support the new training leads as a mentor, lab contributor, and resource for knowledge transfer as needed; Continuing Education – the project lead since 2020, coordinating Master Gardener-relevant educational webinars and workshops, as well as announcements of approved CE events and self-paced options; Ask a Master Gardener – the Materials Manager since 2017, the co-lead of the San Ramon FM AAMG table since 2019, a participant in the AAMG coordination meetings, helped found Virtual AAMG during the pandemic; Hospitality – leading the reception function for the year-end recognition events and annual business meetings since late 2017; Plant Sales – participating in propagation and event support tasks since 2017; and Help Desk for about a year in 2017-2018.