Last year, shortly after SELT’s move to the Nan and George Mathey Center for People and Nature, our new home at Burley Farms was beautified with new perennial pollinator gardens. Following the planting, an elite team of volunteer gardeners was assembled to steward the gardens and, due to the near-drought conditions of the 2022 summer, the new beds required consistent, careful watering and weeding. At the forefront of these efforts were Laurie Kelleher and Gwen Kenney, who stepped up in a big way to nurture the plantings, often being seen three to four times a week tending the gardens.
“Both Gwen and Laurie were quick to sign up for weeding and watering shifts, and ended up covering the bulk of the care for the gardens in those early months when it felt as though missing one watering could sink the whole project,” said Zoe Graves, Senior Manager of Community Programs. “Gwen and Laurie were often out in the gardens when I arrived for the workday, happily weeding and watering away, and it became clear that they both had a deep appreciation for the work SELT does.”
This year, Laurie and Gwen were asked to step into a new role, becoming SELT’s first volunteer “Lead Gardeners” – and they both enthusiastically accepted. As SELT’s Lead Gardeners, Laurie and Gwen have hosted an open house for prospective gardeners, taken on a variety of larger garden projects, and have made themselves available on weekends and other odd hours to show new volunteers the ropes and help them understand what the gardens need, increasing participation in the Volunteer Gardener program overall.
In recognition of their hard work and dedication to SELT’s mission, Laurie and Gwen have been awarded the 2023 Founders’ Award for Volunteerism – a much-deserved harvest of the seeds that were planted over a year ago!
“It is rare that newer volunteers are eager to step into a leadership role,” Zoe says. “But we are lucky enough to have two such volunteers in Laurie and Gwen and feel that they have gone above and beyond what was initially asked of them, making them deserving of the Founders’ Award for Volunteerism in 2023.”