Winnebago County Master Gardeners receive State Outstanding Awards

Rockford Buzz

Posted On: September 24, 2018

University of Illinois Extension Winnebago County would like to congratulate two Master Gardener Volunteers, Jeff and Judy White, for receiving State Outstanding Master Gardener Awards. The State Outstanding Award was established to honor Master Gardener Volunteers who go above and beyond for their local Master Gardener program and community. These awards were handed out at the State Master Gardener Conference in Springfield, IL on Friday, September 7th.

Jeff completed the Master Gardener training course in 2009 and has been involved in many Master Gardener projects in Winnebago County ever since. Jeff has been involved with the Community Gardens Committee from the beginning, teaching local organizations starting a community garden the basics of gardening so they can be successful. He has also been a presenter for the Master Gardener Speakers’ Bureau, presenting various programs on gardening, especially vegetable gardening, to the public at various events, library programs and more. More recently, Jeff has been serving on the Gardening for Food, Flowers and Fun Committee, helping to plan Winnebago County Extension’s annual gardening symposium that takes place every March. Jeff also volunteers for the Master Gardener Education Committee, is a member of the Unit 1 Winnebago County Extension Council, and the Extension State Advisory Council.

Judy completed the Master Gardener training in 2012. She has also been involved with the Community Garden Committee and Speakers’ Bureau, but she has most notably taken on a leadership role in the Plant a Row for the Hungry Committee. Plant a Row for the Hungry encourages homeowners to plant extra produce in their garden to donate to local food pantries. Winnebago County Master Gardeners have been helping with this effort locally by setting up collection sites where gardeners can drop off their produce to be delivered it to a pantry. In 2017, Judy established a new collection site at Cherry Valley Public Library where over 650 pounds of produce was donated in the first year. That number has almost doubled already this year, with collections ending the last week of September.

Together, Jeff and Judy also led a youth gardening program in the summer of 2017 where they taught local youth how to grow a “Pizza Garden.” The 4-H Youth Pizza Garden Club learned about growing and caring for a garden through growing tomatoes, onions, peppers, and other fun vegetables to put on a pizza, and concluded the program with a pizza party!

University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners are volunteers who go through an 11-week horticulture training taught by University of Illinois Extension Educators, and then volunteer throughout their local county to fulfill the program’s mission of “Helping others learn to grow.” If you are interested in finding out more information about the Master Gardener Volunteer program, or would like to know how you can become an Illinois Extension Master Gardener Volunteer, please call the Winnebago County Extension Office at 815-986-4357 or visit our website at web.extension.illinois.edu/jsw.