Thirty-eight Master Gardener members and guests attended the annual Awards Dinner held at Red Mill County Park June 3rd. It was the first in-person meeting for most of us in over a year, and there was lots of joy in seeing long time friends we hadn’t seen other than on a zoom meeting screen.  

This event is usually a carry-in dinner with lots of desserts and salads, but for safety’s sake, this year’s meal was catered in from a local grocery store, and carefully served by board members in gloves.

The purpose of this annual event is to recognize the many hours of volunteer work done by the members who receive an award based on their accumulated hours of work. That work covers so many projects. It’s also time to sign on for our upcoming projects and to pick up the annual member’s directory.

Special guests for the evening were Walt Sell, and Gene Matzat, both former Extension Coordinators who supervised the Master Gardener program in LaPorte County, along with Azad Chahal, current Program Coordinator. Gene was the guest speaker. Select his link to read an article about his visit and talk: Gene Matzat in Retirement

Azad Chahal handed out awards, assisted by Tina DeWitt.

Master Gardener Interns, Class of 2020 were: Bethany Branco, Jacqueline Carroll, Janice Colwell, Pam Cook, Jenifer Hawkins, Marcia Kozelka, Robert Kozelka, Carol Lawrenz, Cindy Pagels, William Sabathne and Victoria Sparks.

Master Gardener Certificate award went to: Nicole Krol, and Maureen Sherrick, both Class of 2018.

Advanced Master Gardeners: Randa Magill, 2018, Julie Rice Zurek, 2018, Joe Szynal, 2018, and Estelle Pawloski,2015, who also earned her Bronze Master Gardener Certificate.

Silver Master Gardener Awards went to Carolyn Gardner, 2004, and Julie Goetz, 2015.

An amazing Gold 5000 award went to Sharon Cholewa.

Those who were not in attendance will receive their awards at a future meeting.