3/2/2025
Volunteers gathered to celebrate the good work done in 2024
Each year Ramsey County Master Gardener volunteers have an opportunity to nominate fellow volunteers who have provided exceptional initiative and service in the past year. We also celebrate those volunteers who demonstrate phenomenal dedication to the volunteer program.
RCMG Award Winners
Leonard Gloeb Outstanding Service Award – Linda Minter & Mary Parenteau
"The Annual Plant Sale continues as the primary fund raiser for the Ramsey County Master Gardener organization and, as such, its success makes possible the many opportunities addressed by the organization. It has grown year by year both in terms of proceeds and member participation. Even though it has been in existence for many years, I think it is fair to say that its present day success is directly attributable to the leadership provided to it for several years by Linda Minter and Mary Parenteau.
During those years, Linda and Mary saw the potential for the Plant Sale and established higher goals. To accomplish these goals, they provided greatly enhanced organization and planning to the effort. Equally important, rather than treat it as a seasonal ""pop-up event,"" they kept it unceasingly in the forefront of the membership's thoughts by year long reminders of what needed to be done to make it a success. Their efforts were so visible that they soon became known as the ""Plant Sale Ladies.""
I don't have the sales or profit figures before me to substantiate the effect of Linda's and Mary's efforts but I would bet that they would clearly show it. In addition, Linda and Mary continue to be involved in the Plant Sale by active participation as well as by passing on the benefit of their experience to their successors.
The Plant Sale is a very important aspect of the organization. Linda and Mary well deserve recognition for their substantial contributions to its success."
Ralph Thrane Extraordinary Partnership Award – Roger Hintze & Jamie Aussendorf (High-Rise Garden Mentors partnership with St Paul Public Housing Authority)
"These two should be recognized for the time and commitment they have had for the High Rise Garden Mentor Program. This program has been running for 6-7 years and has undergone many updates and changes. However, it hasn't faltered ever in its dedication to providing horticulture classes to residents in public housing."
Outstanding Teamwork Award – Barn Demonstration Gardens
"Carol and Nancy lead a group of dedicated volunteers this year, utilizing the gifts of each person involved to improve, expand and evolve the Barn Gardens. In addition, they have developed a plan to make the garden a place of learning and community engagement."
Unsung Garden Hero Award – Karen Randall
"For Pete’s sake, if you don’t give this award to Karen I will scream bloody murder at the recognition event. She is the epitome of a RCMG volunteer - selfless, all giving, helps with more than her fair share, keeps us organized and on track, and is willing to pitch in with projects or tasks big or small. Just give this to her and call it a day."
Friend of the Master Gardener Program Award – Sage Passi
"Sage Passi is an Education Specialist at the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District. She has worked with our organization for more than twenty years and it's hard to imagine that anyone else has created as many meaningful opportunities for Master Gardeners to contribute to the environmental education of the community.
Sage's focus is on youth education. She approaches this through two routes. In the first, she engages youth at various schools within the district to understand the life cycle of plants and the youths' role in environmental stewardship. She leads them in lessons involving seed stratification, seed planting, seed transplanting, and finally seedling planting as part of a real outdoor environmental project. These lessons take place from December through June each year and Master Gardeners volunteer at each one to work with the individual youth in applying the lessons. It is a wonderful activity for Interns and Certified MGs alike because no preparation is needed, one can volunteer for one hour or several hours, and one experiences the reward of working with youth as they are exposed to the joys of gardening. As the youth become adults, they can point to projects like Keller Lake or Lake Phalen shoreline restoration or many others and realize they had a part in it.
In the second, Sage works with schools on specific projects, usually on site. These can include rain gardens, native plant gardens, or native plant landscaping. Again, she enlists Master Gardeners to work side by side with the youth to teach them the fundamentals fo the activity by doing it with them.
In addition to the above, on occasion, Sage enlists Master Gardeners to participate in leading a lesson plan. One example was explaining where phosphates occur in their everyday lives so they could better understand where the pollution in our lakes was coming from.
To accomplish the above, Sage develops close relationships with interested teachers within the district and then must coordinate with them to find suitable activity times that fit their schedules, the stage of seedling growth, and, for outdoor activities, the uncertainties of the weather. The classrooms she and Master Gardeners work with include those with special needs, such as those of autistic children and adults in ESL education programs.
Typically, Sage's activities result in 100-200 volunteer opportunities annually for Master Gardeners. In 2023, there were 151 such opportunities. Given the number of years she has worked with our organization, one can easily see the extraordinary number of opportunities she has created for Master Gardeners and imagine the number of MGs she and her efforts have impacted.
Sage is very much worthy of the recognition that accompanies this award. She is retiring on December 16 of this year so the timing is also appropriate to thank her for the many years of partnership between our two organizations."
