Articles by Andreu Riebe

These are grants offered by the BCMG to further projects in educational institutions within Baldwin County.

The primary objective of the council is to serve as a communications link among the BCMG and other local master gardeners associations and the AMGA Board of Directors and the state master gardener program coordinator.

The archives are managed by a coordinator, the archivist. Responsibilities of the archivist are to maintain the records of the BCMG in a secure and organized manner.

With advice and consent of the president, and within the adopted budget, plan and arrange the July and December general meeting locations and for food to be furnished by BCMG for these meetings.

Let’s Get Growing is a series of monthly webinars that uses the ZOOM platform to reach our members and to provide ongoing opportunities for our members to accrue volunteer/educational hours • Select program dates and times • Reserve dates on the ZOOM calendar • Recruit speakers for each program • Prepare email notices to be sent to members describing the program • Act as host of the program • Edit and upload the recordings to our unsolicited youtube page

Post updates, Events, and Photos as directed by the President. Monitor and Respond to incoming messages and comments.

The Festival of Flowers in Mobile usually occurs in March of each year. This is an ongoing joint activity of BCMG and Mobile County Master Gardeners (MCMG). On even-numbered years (2024, 2026, 2028, etc.) BCMG plans and decorates a booth. MCMG decorates a booth on odd-numbered years (2023, 2025, 2027, etc.). Staffing of the booth each year is provided jointly by both master gardener groups. Because the responsibilities vary, as noted above, the term of the BCMG coordinator position is two years

Grant writers research, draft, and submit proposals to help BCMG receive grant funding. To be eligible for funding, an organization or individual must have an objective that aligns with a grant's specifications.

BCMG recognizes events in members' lives, such as birthdays and losing a loved one.

• Oversee the Helpline volunteers. • Prepare work schedules and distribute them to the Helpline volunteers. • Recruit volunteers from the membership. • Provide training as needed. • Serve as the contact person to the ACES County Agent. • Provide a clean, orderly, and well-stocked environment for the Helpline volunteers.

• Coordinator schedules, via signup rosters, members who are willing to provide refreshments for the monthly meetings. • Remind those members signed up for refreshments - several days before the meeting. • Be at the meeting site in advance of the meeting to set up tables, make coffee, arrange tables, etc. • Purchase ice in advance. • Make sure the facility kitchen is clean when the meeting has concluded. • Keep adequate supplies of condiments and paper goods on hand. Purchase supplies when needed. • Submit receipts to the treasurer for reimbursement.

This is a Baldwin County Extension Service 4-H program. BCMG provides volunteers to assist the 4-H agent

BCMG owns a printer for printing pot stakes and labels for plant sales. The printer is driven by a software product called Taggit Pro and requires specific training.

BCMG encourages all members to actively participate in meetings and activities held by BCMG while at the same time recognizing that some members may not be able or interested in attending meetings or activities. All members are valuable to BCMG regardless of their level of active participation. To fulfill our need and desire to reach out to all members, the Board has created the position of Membership Chairperson.

The mentor program is intended to support the participants of each intern class. Each class member will have an active BCMG member to answer questions and guide them through becoming a certified master gardener and, subsequently, a member of the BCMG.

The Plant Sales will be overseen by a Plant Sale Coordinator who the president recruits. With the president's advice and consent, the Plant Sale Coordinator will recruit a Plant Buyer, a Site Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator. The BCMG Publicity Coordinator will handle marketing and Public Relations. All coordinators will report to the Plant Sale Coordinator. The tasks for each position are described below. Plant Sale Coordinator • Report to the Board the Plans and Progress of the Team • Work with the Plant Sale Team – Sets Date for the Sale • Monitors the timeline and tasks to stay on target • Conducts post-sale review with the team for improvement of ideas

The Plant Sale Coordinator, with the advice and consent of the president, will recruit a Plant Buyer, a Site Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator. Marketing and Public Relations will be handled by the BCMG Publicity Coordinator. All coordinators will report to the Plant Sale Coordinator. The tasks for each position are described below. Plant Sale Coordinator • Reports to the Board the Plans and Progress of the Team • Work with the Plant Sale Team – Sets Date for the Sale • Monitors the timeline and tasks to stay on target • Conducts post-sale review with the team for improvement of ideas

The committee chairperson shall be selected by the president of the Board. The policies and procedures will be reviewed by an ad hoc committee of no less than five (5) members, one of whom shall be a recently graduated intern, at least every two (2) years and more often if deemed necessary by the president.

• Distribution, via the BCMG email database, all flyers and notifications of BCMG activities to the public and all known Baldwin County garden clubs. • To bolster community awareness and membership of BCMG and, with the support and resources of the BCMG Board and project coordinators, identify and coordinate opportunities for public recognition and media awareness to promote the activities and community projects of BCMG. • Work closely with ACES seeking reviews and approval where appropriate. • Submit announcements and special articles regarding Master Gardener happenings to the Grass Roots editor, local newspapers, and other regional publications. The coordinator shall write the articles or aid project coordinators in doing so. • Working with project coordinators or other appropriate persons to develop media plans for promoting an event or project. Other promotions will be general BCMG image building and not related to one specific event. • Recruiting volunteers needed to appear on TV or radio from time to time. • Recruiting volunteers to write columns, media quotes, take photos or appear in photographs. • Every promotional effort, whether broadcast media or print, should include a standard message mentioning the purpose of the BCMG, the Helpline, the Facebook page, and the BCMG Website. All volunteers in appearances should state the above during their appearance, and all press releases or submitted stories/columns should also include the tagline. • Other duties as assigned.

Oversees BCMG’s college scholarship program. The responsibilities of the Scholarship Committee and its coordinator include: • Provide appropriate forms and instructions on the BCMG website • Receive scholarship request forms. • Review and grade scholarship requests. • Select recipient(s) for the annual BCMG scholarship based on the applicant’s scores.

BCMG allows members to enter their hours of service in an electronic database. The service-hours monitor reviews the database from time to time and, before an awards luncheon, compiles service-hour totals for individual members eligible to receive an award, badge, or pin. In addition, the service hours monitor works with the ACES agent and the awards luncheon coordinator to ensure adequate time is allowed on the agenda. The responsibilities of the service hours monitor include: • Serve as super administrator under the guidelines developed by the AMGA Administrator. Therefore, the Service Hours coordinator's responsibility is to review data entered by the member and report and discuss anything questionable with the member and request the member to make any needed changes. The Service Hours coordinator should make changes only with the permission of the member and should document the changes. A member's input into the system should not be discussed or shared with other members, except for Continuing Education Units (CEU) and volunteer hours totaled in official documents. • Prepare lists of awards to be given at the July and December Awards Banquets. • Prepare lists of badges required for interns who have completed their initial service hours requirement. • Arrange the purchase of badges and stars. • The Service Hours Monitor will also work with AMGA and advise AMGA of the name(s) of BCMG members who qualify for special recognition, e.g., 10,000 hours of service. In addition, this monitor will fill out the required forms and forward the documents to the extension agent.

To meet BCMG’s mandate and goal of providing horticultural and environmental information to the public, BCMG maintains a list of BCMG members who are qualified to appear before the public and disseminate information on a variety of horticultural and environmental topics. The responsibilities of the Speakers Bureau coordinator include: • Maintain a list of BCMG members knowledgeable on specific topics and willing to speak to groups. • Maintain a list of topics that can be used for presentations to groups. • Provide the lists to the webmaster to be published on baldwincountymastergardeners.com. • Maintain a contact list of persons in various organizations who may desire a speaker. Example: garden club presidents and monthly meeting coordinators. The list should be updated yearly or when changes occur. • Communicate periodically with the various organizations advertising current speakers and topics. • Respond to groups requesting speakers and confirm speakers are available. • Give speakers BCMG information to hand out at talks. Assess the current list of topics and ask present master gardener speakers if they have a new topic to add. • Make ‘public service announcements’ at meetings such as Seminars and Plant Sales to help promote the Speaker Bureau. • Assist speakers in developing their presentations if requested.

Must have a working knowledge of the hardware that BCMG owns (Windows based) and the software installed (primarily MS Office),

Requires experience. The Webmaster serves as the primary contact for all aspects of the BCMG website(s), handling various responsibilities, including web design and development, routine site and content maintenance, and various updates to ensure sites align with the goals and objectives of the BCMG.

The BCMG board of directors consists of the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, two (2) at-large members, The Monthly Program Coordinator, Intern Class Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, Finance Committee Coordinator, Projects Coordinator, and the Past-President.