- Author: Pamela M. Geisel
The volunteer hours you give and the quality of work you do is breathtaking. I take my hat off to the over 5,468 Certified Master Gardener Volunteers in California. In July 2010, we had 4837 volunteers. We observe a net increase of 571 Volunteers this year.
You donated 296,301 total volunteer hours in your role as Master Gardener this year, which is 38,285 more than last year. (and we still have 15 days left in the year.....). Following is a comparison of volunteer hours reported in previous years.
- In FY 05-06: 99,321
- In FY 06-07: 143,663
- In FY 07-08: 201,096
- In FY 08-09: 238,439
- In FY 09-10: 258,016
- In FY 10-11: 296,301
If you put a current market value on your volunteer hours, it totals almost $7 million dollars in value to the community and the University.
(see: http://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time)
Your volunteer hours equals 142 full time staff assuming a 40 hour work week and 2080 work hours in a year).
In addition to your volunteer hours, the contacts reported this year are quite remarkable. Last year, we documented only about 600,000 contacts. This year, because of a little bit of training in how to collect contact data, you were able to document over 3 million face to face contacts.
What is more important than just the hours and contacts is the quality of work each and every county program has been delivering to our clientele. At the Statewide Master Gardener Conference in Santa Rosa, we were able to hear five terrific Search for Excellence(SFE) Presentations. At my table however, as each of the presenters gave their talk, someone would say "well, we do that too!" referring to garden tours, publications, garden guide publications, demonstration gardens, and other types of outreach SFE caliber efforts. What that says to me is that programs are all working in harmony to extend science-base sustainable landscape information and knowledge in meaningful and impactful ways but are not reporting on it or entering it into a competition. In any case, your work is really important to the communities in which you work, and to the university because you are the primary outreach arm to our home horticulture clientele. You bring the university to the people. I am so proud to be a part of this remarkable program and again bow before your amazing work. Great job UC Master Gardeners!!!
Report Totals for FY 2010-2011
Total Volunteers: 5,468
Total Volunteer Hours: 296,301 at $23.41 per hour =$6,936,406.00
Total Contacts: 3,086,326
Well done & thanks,
Bob (Santa Barbara 2011 graduate, YAAY!!)
Thank you ALL for your dedication.
Sharon, SJC MG
Here's to many more years. Carvill, MG '94
Indeed, those stats are impressive. The irony is the actual totals are still probably double that amount, as many MG's feel guilty writing down all their volunteer time, or tend to underestimate their hours, especially when sharing their expertise outside of the traditional exhibits and seminars. When a quasi-governmental agency gives back more than it receives, perhaps Jerry Brown's office and congressional representatives ought to see these figures too.
Kudos to all the MG programs across the state for all their fabulous work!
And thanks to you Pam for holding it all together!
Birgitt