On April 8 we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Georgia Master Gardener Extension Volunteer Program. I enjoyed the event, which was held at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, with some of the members of my Georgia Master Gardeners class who are from Hall Count.
At the lunch for attendees, Dr. David Gibby, a former Extension Agent in Washington State told the interesting story about his creation of the Extension Master Gardener Program. The lunch was followed by tours of the State Botanical Gardens, which were held during intermittent spring showers.
Last year, some 259 new volunteers were trained through the Master Gardener Program. A total of 2,511 MEGVs reported 179,768 volunteer hours, representing a value of $4,339,599 to the University of Georgia and the MGEV’s communities. MGEVs also raised $18, 920 for undergraduate student scholarships. The Headwaters Master Gardeners should be proud of our contribution of $2,000 as part of this scholarship total.
Holly Sparrow, Headwaters Master Gardener, April 14, 2019