Beaver Brook awards volunteers

Friday, January 4, 2013

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Tim Barr, of Milford, Beaver Brook's trail Volunteer of the Year, is congratulated by Beaver Brook Trustee Shirley Cohen.

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Beth Baryiames, of Hollis, right, receives the Education Volunteer of the Year from Beaver Brook Association's Celeste Philbrick Barr.

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Vicki Michaels of Hollis, right, receives the Office Volunteer of the Year from Celeste Philbrick Barr of the Beaver Brook Association.

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Tim Barr, of Milford, Beaver Brook's trail Volunteer of the Year, is congratulated by Beaver Brook Trustee Shirley Cohen.

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Beaver Brook Nature Center recently hosted a celebratory luncheon with wreath making for all their volunteers. There are nearly 200 volunteers who annually help Beaver Brook with a host of projects, events and activities. They contribute 15,000 hours of assistance annually to this organization that has only eight year-round staff people.

The Founder’s Award is the highest honor a volunteer can receive at Beaver Brook Association and is awarded by the Board of Trustees for outstanding long-time service to Beaver Brook in a variety of capacities. It is awarded to a volunteer who best exemplifies the spirit of dedication and volunteerism, which has long been a tradition at Beaver Brook.

This year’s Founder’s Award went to Frank Grossman, of Hollis. Grosmman served several terms on the Board of Trustees and as president of the trustees. He continues to volunteer on several committees at Beaver Brook, including the Members of the Corporation. Many thanks to Frank and the entire Grossman family as
volunteers of special
merit. In addition, each year there are four categories for Volunteer of the Year.

The Office Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Vicki Michaels of Hollis. Vicki has volunteered with Beaver Brook for nearly 10 years. In prior years, she led the Jeff Smith Wildflower Walks, co-lead fitness hikes and volunteered to help at events. This year, Vicki volunteered in the Beaver Brook office weekly. She has made herself available do whatever job is necessary, large or small. Vicki will be starting a new job in the office this month updating and revising the content of the Beaver Brook kiosk signs.

The Education Volunteer of the Year is a also a part-time employee at Beaver Brook. However for every hour she works, she volunteers twice as many hours. These volunteer hours are not just for teaching, but for also making major facility and educational improvements at Beaver Brook. The enthusiastic, multi-talented recipient of this award is Beth Baryiames of Hollis.

The Gardening Volunteer of the Year was Mary Ellen Rock, of New Boston. She often worked several days a week in the gardens this year. She even worked at home to create wreaths and dried arrangements for the Maple Hill Gardeners to sell at Fall Festival. She has been extremely helpful in the Maple Hill Gardens and is willing to tackle any job.

The final category is Trail volunteer of the Year, which was awarded to Tim Barr of Milford. Tim worked with the BBA Natural Resource director following the October 2011 snowstorm opening up roads and trails. He moved on to clear the roads and trails of Beaver Brook’s Burns Farm property in Milford. He has since taken on the volunteer job of Trails Maintainer in Milford and has been doing an outstanding job of that. In addition to the trails labor, he contributed numerous hours on the construction of the yurt and built cabinets for the solar equipment. He even drove the Beaver Brook float in the Old Home Days Parade.

If you are interested in volunteering indoors or out on the trails, call 465-7787 to become part of the team that has helped Beaver Brook Nature Center thrive for 48 years.

– Submitted by Celeste Philbrick Barr, director of education and community affairs at Beaver Brook Association