Congratulations to our newest recipients of the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award—Denise Strueber and Ned Buxton! To qualify for the President’s Lifetime Service Award, a recipient must have logged 4000 volunteer hours that have been verified by the Certifying Organization. At the time of application these recipients had those 4000 hours, but at the time of receiving this award, all have added hundreds of additional hours. For perspective, to achieve 4000 volunteer hours means 2 years of a fulltime 40 hour/week job.

Denise Strueber (Class of 2015) is perhaps the Master Gardener that many of us knew first. Her extensive participation in the Master Gardener School made her the face of the organization to many new Master Gardeners. Denise has also served at the School Gardens, both Geneva Heights and University Park Elementary. Additionally, she has served on the Dallas County Master Gardener Board as secretary and as First Vice President.

There is however no question that Denise is the Queen of DCMGA swag. She has handled the branded merchandise for the DCMGA for 10 years, including selecting, ordering, storing, transporting and selling. Under Denise’s capable management, this important and consistent part of DCMGA fundraising has earned over $40,000 for the organization.  Denise, we greatly appreciate your commitment. You are an incredible asset to the organization.

Ned had been a Master Gardener only since 2019. This means that over the past 5 ½ years, Ned has averaged an incredible 728 hours a year. Ned is a fixture at the community garden at Temple Emanu-El, where he leads the irrigation team and has other administrative jobs. He also contributes extensively to the Demonstration Gardens, specifically, the Raincatcher’s Garden and also to the School Garden at Anne Frank Elementary. Ned has served on the DCMGA Board, where he originated the Awards and Recognition role. Ned has also been extremely active in the relationship with Starbucks Coffee, facilitating their coffee ground donation program. Thank you, Ned. We are a better community because of you.