This year, three stellar volunteers have been recognized publicly for their hard work and dedication to Parks. These inspiring individuals share their time and talents generously. Their efforts have yielded tremendous benefits to parks, facilities, programs, and special events.
David Cohen received the Community Volunteer Award from the Maryland Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA). He was recognized during the Celebrating Excellence Showcase Awards Luncheon on March 1, 2018.
David has contributed over 1,377 hours of volunteer service with Park Police (Montgomery County Division) since he began volunteering in June of 2007. That’s an average of 137 hours yearly. He patrols regularly on bicycle and in car. He also works side by side with Park Police at special events and parking details. Seen as a leader by his peers, experienced volunteers enjoy working with David because of his unique perspective and keen observation skills.
Randy Rosenberger received the PARC Branch Service Award from MRPA. Randy was recognized during the organization’s annual conference on April 11, 2018.
Randy has been serving as an official all-around volunteer with Brookside Nature Center for the last two years. Prior to that however, he spontaneously and unofficially, performed maintenance duties at the nature center including trail grooming, dry stack stone wall building, and tree pruning. Once joining the ranks as a registered volunteer, Randy readily expanded his volunteer repertoire as an interpreter at events like Solstice Festival, Honey Harvest Festival, and the 5K Family Fun Walk and demonstrated his expertise in teaching. His energy and diligence have given us 250 hours of volunteer service in 2017 alone.
Bonnie Bell received the Volunteer Excellence Award from the Countywide Recreation and Parks Advisory Board. Bonnie received her award at the advisory board’s picnic on June 4, 2018.
Since 1999, Bonnie has volunteered thousands of hours on natural surface trail projects. Bonnie started volunteering with a dedicated group called “The Seneca Amigos”. They were the main volunteer workforce instrumental in constructing the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail. Bonnie expanded her leadership role by becoming a Volunteer Trail Crew Leader with Montgomery Parks in 2009. Bonnie’s volunteer leadership has resulted in the completion of numerous trail maintenance projects and miles of newly constructed sections of the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail. Since 2009, she has lead 33 Volunteer Trail Workday Projects resulting in over 1,100 hours of volunteer service to the trail.
Montgomery Parks is very fortunate to have generous support from community members. In recent years our volunteers have donated more than 80,000 hours of volunteer service annually.
There are always opportunities to help out in our parks, no matter what your volunteer objectives are. Visit ParksVolunteers.org to learn more and sign up.