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October 2009 News Archive
October 30, 2009
Sacramento Tree Foundation Volunteers Win Volunteer Spirit Awards
Lara Roman and Clay Dukes
The Volunteer Spirit Awards is Sacramento’s largest volunteer recognition ceremony based solely on the volunteers who change and improve our community. Volunteer Spirit Award volunteer nominations are open to individuals and groups who have performed exceptional volunteer service during the past year. Without the volunteers who donate more than 10,000 hours of volunteer service (or more than $200,000 in time) each year, the Sacramento Tree Foundation (Tree Foundation) would be unable to accomplish our mission “to build the best urban forest for the Sacramento Region." This year the Tree Foundation nominated four individuals.
Lara Roman
Lara Roman is a graduate student from UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department. Lara is helping us develop and implement a study that will track about 400 trees every year over the course of their lifetime. The Tree Foundation does not currently have complete data regarding the number of trees that fail, when they fail, or even why trees are failing. With this information we will be able to track, over the long term, exactly what the causes of tree failure for urban trees in Sacramento County are. This study will be the first of its kind in the country. Lara is our Problem Solver of the year!
Claiborne Dukes Jr.
Clay was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award. For over a decade, Clay has worked along the five mile, seventy seven acre Sacramento Northern Railroad Parkway. Clay has created a safe and aesthetically pleasing stretch (about two miles) along the parkway through mowing, watering trees and shrubs, and keeping garbage to a minimum. He constantly encourages others to have that same sense of pride, leading them to become involved with this effort, and on this stretch of the parkway it shows!
Della Gilleran
Since the spring of 2007, Della Gilleran, Principal of Marketing by Design (MbD), has been an active and committed member of the Tree Foundation’s Board of Directors. She has worked tirelessly to advance the Tree Foundation’s mission, actively contribute to board and committee meetings, ensure and contribute to the financial health of the organization, build strategic partnerships, and act as a liaison between our membership, our supporters, and the greater Sacramento community. In 2008, Della and her team at MbD volunteered many hours to help the Tree Foundation develop its “big picture” marketing and communication strategies and tactics; establish a consistent and powerful “look-and-feel” on all marketing and communication materials; and provide creative direction, design, and production/implementation on a wide range of marketing projects. Della and her team made it possible for the Tree Foundation to establish a convincing, yet heartfelt case for people to become involved in the 5 Million Tree Campaign. Della deserves recognition as our Board Member of the year!
Meredith King
Without our Volunteer Coordinator, Meredith King, the Tree Foundation simply could not have managed through this past year. This past year, as the Tree Foundation endured major cutbacks in our budget, staffing, and resources Meredith stepped up to the challenge and without complaint she assumed the additional duties and responsibilities of our Education Department. She has brought great professionalism, dedication, creativity, and passion to our organization. Meredith’s primary duties involve recruiting, training, stewarding, and retaining our volunteers. This is challenging work due to the sheer volume of volunteer events we hold each year: approximately 350. While the sheer number of volunteer hours that Meredith helps inspire and coordinates is mind boggling -over 10,000 volunteer hours every year- it is her passion for volunteerism that is truly inspiring, along with her willingness to walk-her-talk and put in the time and effort to make our community a better place for us all. To us, Meredith is the Volunteer Coordinator of the Year!