Union County Master Gardener Association 
Is Pleased To Announce 

Claire Loeffelman 
as the
2002 Union County Master Gardener 
Of The Year
Because we believe she exemplifies the spirit of being a Master Gardener

Claire has made a significant impact on our association since she became a Master Gardener in 2000 through her commitment to the Association's goals and her willingness to share her talents with others. Claire's enthusiastic support of gardening is evident in her gift of time and talent to our Master Gardener endeavors.  Virtually every aspect of our Association's activities have experienced Claire's involvement and enthusiastic support. She has been instrumental in planning and maintaining our demonstration garden at McCloud Park. She has assisted Bud Whitney in developing the Master Gardener Volunteer Hour Web Site.  She volunteers for even the mundane, such as assembling handouts, creating worksheets or timelines.  Even with a 30 mile drive to monthly meetings, she is there for everyone.

Claire's most significant contribution has been to chair and oversee the Association's Annual Tour of Gardens for 2 years running. This is no small task with the amount of coordination needed to select gardens, solicit and train volunteers and to stage a tour that encompasses 6 garden locations throughout the county that are visited on a single day by several hundred people. Claire's volunteerism with our Association resulted in her gift of 462 service hours between May of 2001 and April of this year.  She also served as the Association's Secretary in 2001.  Even through all this, Claire still found time to outreach beyond the Master Gardener Program by volunteering 91 hours in her home community at the Utzinger Garden.

In addition to being a knowledgeable gardener, Claire is also a wiz on the computer. She was the first to encourage the association to develop a web site and eagerly assisted with training other Master Gardeners with the techniques they needed to log their hours electronically. Claire helped to design and implement a HortLine Manual to assist Master Gardeners who staffed this summer hot line to serve the community's need for assistance with lawn and garden questions. While helping others to learn, Claire has not neglected her own educational development. Claire logged 53 education hours in 2001-2002.