Melba Compton Volunteer of the Year Award
In honor of Melba Compton
Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardener 1998 – 2011
Endowed in Melba Compton's memory by Gib and Brenda Compton
Melba was heavily involved with the Master Gardener program. She worked on the hot line, helped with Garden Tours, Garden Shows, plant sales at Herb Day. Plus she worked with the children's booth at Tomato Day every year. She traveled to a lot of gardens around the world; Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Nashville, Seattle and Vancouver. She was a delight to work with and we miss her.
Established December 2014
Purpose: To recognize a Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardener for significant work, assistance, or leadership in Master Gardener outreach programming in Sedgwick County, Kansas.
The $500 Award will be presented annually at Extension Master Gardener Appreciation Luncheon. A plaque with award winners is displayed in the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center.
Selection Criteria
- Has served 3 years or more as an active volunteer
- Volunteers regularly as an active "helper" in a variety of Extension Master Gardener outreach programs, hotline/response center, or other program activities that have shown a significant impact in Sedgwick County
- Works within the mission of Extension Master Gardeners and K-State Research and Extension in Sedgwick County
- Shows dependability, consistency, steadfastness, loyalty, reliability, behind the scenes support
- Has not received this award in the past 3 years
Selection Process
- November – Accept nominations from all Extension Master Gardeners (self or others)
- December – Nominees contacted and asked to complete and submit application
- January – Selection Committee meets and chooses winner
- January/February – Award is presented to winner at Extension Master Gardener Appreciation Luncheon
Past Award Winners
2023 - Lori Lohrenz
Lori Lohrenz first joined the Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardener program in 1995. Over the last 28 years, Lori has been active in numerous aspects of the Master Gardener program. Most recently, Lori can be recognized as one of the co-chairs of the Community Garden Committee. In this role, Lori’s passion has helped to inspire and expand the outreach efforts of this committee. Lori helped to foster numerous new community gardens to start and grow across Sedgwick County. Whether it was participating in the Delano St. Patrick’s Day parade with Master Gardener information, or promoting community gardens at the Old Town Farmers Markets or Spring Garden Fair, Lori could be found throughout Sedgwick County this past year sharing her passion for gardening.
Lori was also instrumental in developing new partnerships with the Common Grounds & ICT Food Rescue this year, as she helped to take the Plant A Row For The Hungry Program to new levels. She helped to coordinate Sweetpotato slip deliveries and distribute over 3,000 seed packets to area community gardens, in order to help support the Plant A Row program. In addition, she helped to organize the K-State Tomato & Pepper trials in Sedgwick County, all of which added to the Plant A Row For The Hungry program’s success. With her leadership, food donations from across Sedgwick County significantly increased, with over 6,267 pounds of fresh produce being donated this year.
In 2023, Lori recorded over 255 hours of volunteer service, 73 hours of advanced training, and a reach of over 2,340 contacts from across the Sedgwick County Community. Lori proudly represented our program to many organizations, including her presentations to the City of Wichita Park Board, to the President of Kansas State University and his administrative team on their Sedgwick County community visit, and as a speaker at the Wichita Public Library in past years. Even when the day is done, Lori can frequently be found helping numerous people find gardening spaces around Sedgwick County and actively recruiting new Master Gardeners to join the program.
2022 – Nancy Benefiel
Nancy Benefiel has been an active Extension Master Gardener since 2009, and since that time the number of volunteer roles that Nancy has held has been nearly impossible to list. Whether serving in a leader or a worker bee, Nancy has happily provided leadership to the Therapeutic Gardening Committee, Community Gardens Committee, Herb Day Event, Garden Tours, and more. Nancy has actively served on the School Gardens Committee, sharing her passion for gardening with school children across the county. Nancy also works multiple hotline shifts each year, helping home gardeners with their gardening questions. She frequently works the fall, winter, and spring hotline seasons, but has often worked year-round many years. Nancy also served as president of the Master Gardener organization in 2017. Nancy currently serves as the co-chair for the Spring Garden Fair in the upcoming year.
Nancy was the first committee chair of the Community Gardens Committee, starting a small committee to assist local gardeners to find success in their vegetable gardens. Nancy truly has a love and passion for community gardens. With her leadership & guidance, the Community Gardens Committee has grown to serve over thirty community gardens of Sedgwick County.
2022 – Jerry Streit
Jerry Streit has been an active Extension Master Gardener since 2008, and has continued to be a dedicated volunteer for over 15 years. Jerry is kindhearted, dedicated, and passionate. Jerry has worked a regular hotline shift for many years. He is a wealth of gardening knowledge , and is eager to share that knowledge with others who are interested in learning more. Jerry also helped with the construction of the new raised beds in the Demo Garden back in 2012, and helps with many special events. Jerry also served as president of the Master Gardener organization in 2016.
Jerry’s greatest contribution as a volunteer has been to the development and success of the Sedgwick County Arboretum. He has devoted many hours to the Arboretum Committee, where he has served as the committee chair, zone captain, and the leader on improving the Riparian Nature Trail. There are countless times throughout the year where Jerry can be found out working on the nature trail to keep the poison ivy under control and away from the paths so that it is safe for visitors. Jerry has also been instrumental in maintaining the mulch paths, helping control invasive species, and reestablish native wildflowers and grasses along the Nature Trail. Jerry was also instrumental in the development and installation of the educational signage along the nature trail that highlights native and invasive plants visitors can find along their walk. Jerry has developed the Riparian Nature Trail into an incredible woodland retreat that the entire community can explore and learn from.
2021 - Marcia Alter
As an Emeritus Master Gardener from the class of 1995, Marcia Alter has contributed in virtually every area of our program throughout the years. During this time she has held leadership positions in several areas including Grounds, Member-at-Large, Hospitality, and Mentorship, as well as serving as President of our Advisory Board. In addition, she has been an active member of our Hotline, has served as a mentor to many Master Gardeners, and has participated in numerous Special Events. Her enthusiasm is endless, even after almost 30 years in the Master Gardener program.
Hospitality is Marcia's specialty. In the words of a fellow Master Gardener, "She decorates, sets up and cooks for every party the Master Gardeners throw, but even more important is the personal connection she makes with fellow Master Gardeners. Every person she encounters feels welcomed and valued!"
Marcia Alter is an extraordinary leader, worker, and team member who continues to make the Master Gardener program and our many events exceptional.
2020 - Mary Singleton
Mary is from the class of 2016, and in four short years made quite a mark on the Master Gardener program. Right out of the gate, she served as Intern Class rep and then partnered up with Marcia Alter to restart and reinvent our Mentor Program which has been critical in the past few years to engaging our new volunteers.
From there, she served as Master Gardener Treasurer, wading through financials as we transitioned to new financial staff and procedures in the Extension office. She updated the reporting spreadsheet we use with the Master Gardener Advisory Board and was happy to explain the ins and outs of the financials to new board members.
In 2020, Mary was stepping into her new role as chair of the Hotline committee and had worked hard to be ready for the first year. The first season was two weeks in when the world changed and everything went virtual. Her can-do attitude allowed us to quickly transition to having Master Gardener Hotline running fully remote for the remainder of 2020, as she oversaw procedure changes, solved problems, created and provided training to Hotline workers, and made sure that we still answered almost 3,000 Hotline questions for the year. All of these activities occurred while she also participated in other committees and activities.
While the tasks Mary has done are impressive, equally impressive is Mary's commitment to helping Master Gardeners feel welcome in our program and her consistent message of appreciation and encouragement to all her fellow volunteers. Mary exemplifies the service we look for in a Volunteer of the Year.
2019 - Nancy Dillon
Nancy has been a Master Gardener since 1992. She was one of the earliest Presidents of the Master Gardener organization, in 1996-97, as well as one of the first Master Gardeners to serve on the Extension Board. She came up with the idea of designating the extension grounds as the Sedgwick County Extension Arboretum, and pursued that idea with passion to make it a reality. When asked about Nancy, Bob Neier said, "She is definitely one of the people that is the foundation of this Extension Master Gardener program."
Over the years, Nancy has had a hand in almost every key Master Gardener activity: Arboretum, Garden Show, Plant Sale, Tree Festival, Newsletter, Hospitality, Herb Day, Master Tree Gardener, Garden Tour, mentoring, Hotline, Advisory Board Treasurer, and much more.
Nancy was awarded Emeritus status in 2003. In recent years, Nancy has been dedicated to Monday morning hotline crew, and provides her years of experience to the home gardeners around our community and shares her love of trees and gardening with all. She is also dedicated to our Endowment Committee, made up of our past Master Gardener Presidents, always advocating for outreach programs needed by the community.
2018 - Norma Kemp
Norma Kemp began her service to the Master Gardener program in 1996, and has continued to be a dedicated volunteer for over 21 years.
Anyone who knows Norma knows she has a passion for roses. That passion was the catalyst that began our rose display garden at Extension in 1997. After just one year in the program, Norma was committed to starting a rose garden. With no budget to support a new garden, Norma purchased roses with money out of her own pocket for gardens the first two years. As the rose garden continued to grow and develop, Norma has overseen the garden's transition to 3 different locations on our grounds, to its current location outside of 4-H Hall.
Throughout her time as a Master Gardener, Norma has been committed to educating others. Whether it is hosting a class on rose care at Tree Fest, or providing guidance during committee work days, Norma is always helping others to learn.
Norma is also a strong advocate for Extension and the Master Gardener program. She has encouraged countless new volunteers to join the Master Gardener program, including several of her neighbors. One of her current neighbors, Bonnie Wheeler, joined the program at the encouragement of Norma. "If I had to think of one word to describe Norma, it would be: 'generous'. From the day I moved into the neighborhood and met Norma, through the time I joined the Master Gardener program myself, she has been nothing but generous and a true inspiration" says Bonnie. "I have learned so much from Norma, and everything she does she makes a learning experience for others to grow."
2017 - Everett Price
Everett has been a Master Gardener since 2008. His nomination stated, "I believe he is an outstanding example of what a Master Gardener should be and the impact a Master Gardener can have in the community."
Since becoming a Master Gardener, Everett has been active in the program in many capacities. He has served as Member at Large on the Advisory Board, as an active member of the Arboretum committee, and his garden has been on garden tour. He is here for every work day possible, often driving a skid steer or tractor to move mulch. He has given many talks for speaker's bureau, and in 2014 was featured throughout the season by the Wichita Eagle in a series of articles and videos about his garden.
EMG Everett Price was recognized by the City of Haysville as their 2017 Citizen of the Year. In addition to founding the Haysville Horticulture Club, he has worked closely with city staff and the parks department to improve procedures used managing the city's urban forest. Together, they also established a city tree farm to grow some of the trees that will be available for use in public spaces and may also play a part in future city plans to benefit homeowners.
2016 - Karri Johnson
Karri joined our Master Gardener program in 2009. She has served on the Grounds Committee every year since then, and took over as the chairperson in 2014. For many years she was a worker bee on the committee. In 2014, she rose to the occasion when new leadership was needed and has reorganized the committee to allow for joint decision-making and learning. This resulted in not just beautiful flowers around the grounds and downtown at the courthouse, but also improved the educational value of the committee. This past year, she provided leadership to her committee as they worked with Matthew to renovate the Hosta Garden and the front entrance flower beds.
Karri's boundless energy and enthusiasm for Extension, gardening, and the Master Gardener program resulted in her providing significant manpower and assistance in other ways as well. She played a critical role in designing and renovating the Master Gardener Project room that we have all enjoyed using. She also assisted with painting, rearranging, and otherwise improving the Hotline room.
2015 - Butch Ewing
Butch Ewing has been an active Extension Master Gardener since 2009. He has been active on several committees, including Arboretum, Newsletter, Historic Herb Garden at Cowtown, and Public Relations.
Prior to Butch joining the Master Gardener program, many of our flyers and promotional materials did not project a professional image. He worked with our public relations committee for two years, and now most of our materials are created by talented volunteers that can create professional-looking material.
Butch also served as chair of the Arboretum committee, which entails regular meetings, organizing the tree captains, leadership of other areas, and holding work days.
Starting in 2013, Butch became the primary layout designer for our Master Gardener newsletter. Since then, he has overseen the transition of the newsletter from printed hard copy to primarily emailed PDFs, to now using Constant Contact for email newsletters.
2014 - Kathy Huschka
Kathy Huschka has been an active Extension Master Gardener since 2011. Kathy has been active in a variety of ways, but has focused on participating and then leading the Horticulture Therapy outreach program.
In the fall of 2014 the Extension Master Gardener Advisory Board looked over recent programs to decide which one has had significant outreach results and chose our horticulture therapy program to apply for an International Extension Master Gardener Search for Excellence award.
Though Kathy has led the horticulture therapy committee, she will humbly say that her team "really did the work" and she just helped. Through her and her team's work, in 2014 they worked with 156 "differently-abled" individuals through six area agencies. From her own words: "For most groups, we were able to give them opportunities to learn about growing flowers and vegetables. We provided hands-on activities for many 'want-to-be' gardeners. Helping to make their garden areas more accessible allowed many of the individuals to garden for the first time or renew an activity they had once enjoyed. The activity of gardening at these sites now allows family members to be involved. When visitors come, the clients are proud to show off their garden. Clients are developing healthier eating habits as they are learning how to prepare some of the produce they have grown. We taught the public how to adapt their new or current gardening space to make it more accessible."
