OCEAN CITY, MD—Today the Maryland Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA) recognizes three Montgomery County Department of Parks volunteers during the Awards Brunch at its annual conference in Ocean City, Maryland.
In the first half of fiscal year 2010, from July 1 through December 31, Montgomery Parks volunteers added an estimated $770,000 of value to the county’s park system. More than 2,500 people volunteered over 37,000 hours of service to the parks.
MRPA singled out three Montgomery Parks volunteers with awards today:
- Steve Morrison, nominated by Department of Parks Park Manager David Quintanilla, for his work on the Matthew Henson Trail. Coined a “super volunteer” by park managers, Steve Morrison personally removed over an estimated 1,000 lbs of trash, including appliances, beer cans and bottles and more than 50 tires, some still mounted on wheels from the woods surrounding the Matthew Henson Trail. From May 2009, when the trail first opened, through December, Mr. Morrison contributed over 200 hours of time to making this trail a pristine environment for public enjoyment.
- Joan O’Rourke, nominated by Brookside Gardens Director Stephanie Oberle, for more than 15 years of service to Brookside Gardens. Joan O’Rourke founded the Friends of Brookside Gardens, a volunteer organization whose sole purpose is to support the mission of Brookside Gardens, and served as the organization’s president for many years. Her biggest legacy may be her work with the adult education team. Each spring and fall, Ms. O’Rourke plans and conducts a series of twelve separate container-planting workshops for a ferociously loyal crowd of followers and anyone else who wants to learn to beautify their gardens with seasonal containers. Her programs always sell out and are wildly successful; because she does all of this work as a volunteer, the registration fees go directly to support the gardens and all of the other educational programs Brookside offers throughout the year.
- Bob Colvin, nominated by Department of Parks Northern Region Division Chief Mike Horrigan, for his work as a Park Police volunteer since September 1997. Bob Colvin has contributed over 2,882 hours of volunteer service to Park Police. In addition to helping Park Police crack-down on trespassing, alcohol use, littering, lost property, disorderly conduct and graffiti in the parks, Mr. Colvin is also a trained Weed Warrior volunteer for Montgomery Parks, able to identify and remove invasive plants that are overgrowing and ultimately killing older, native park trees.
“We are fortunate to have more than 1,500 individuals and 400 groups donate more than 75,000 hours of volunteer service to Montgomery Parks each year,” said Department of Parks Volunteer Services Coordinator Jayne Hench. “Congratulations to these three on being recognized in this way for their service, and our thanks to all our volunteers.”
April is Earth Month in Montgomery Parks and there are several opportunities to lend a hand: the 3rd annual Garlic Mustard Challenge in parks countywide, April 24 and 25; the Green Thumb and Arbor Day Festival at Locust Grove Nature Center, April 24; and numerous park clean-ups. For more on these volunteer opportunities and others, see www.ParksVolunteers.org.
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Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866