“Fernwood is a special place and I am happy to volunteer my services to help Fernwood achieve its mission,” said Niles attorney Christopher Lynch upon being honored as Fernwood’s 2012 Volunteer of the Year.
Lynch accepted the award at Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve’s annual volunteer appreciation event on Thursday. He added that Fernwood has been a part of his family for many years, and his children grew up coming to classes at Fernwood.
The Joanne Sims Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Lynch by Carol Line, Fernwood’s executive director.
“Chris Lynch has been close to Fernwood since 1984,” Line said. “He has been a Fernwood member since that time — shortly thereafter joining our board of directors. He has served as Fernwood’s legal counsel — pro bono legal counsel — for our board of directors and for four executive directors — Stan Beikmann, Paul Bowles, Peter Van der Linden and me. Chris Lynch has contributed countless hours toward the cause, and he will be missed beyond measure in our community and at Fernwood as he and his wife, Tracy, move later this summer to a new life and adventure in Arizona.”
The Volunteer of the Year Award was created in 2009 to recognize Fernwood’s outstanding volunteers and is named for its first recipient, Joanne Sims. Besides Sims, past recipients have been photographer, Phil DeVore, and past board president, Johanna Money.
Fernwood has more than 250 volunteers that logged more than 10,000 hours this past year in various capacities.
Nearly 70 people were in attendance at Fernwood’s wine and cheese reception that honored the volunteers. Each volunteer received a plant donated by Stonehouse Nursery. Father Austin I. Collins, professor of sculpture in the Department of Art, Art History and Design at the University of Notre Dame, presented a program on public sculpture.
Collins is curator of Sculpture Fernwood, an outdoor exhibit at Fernwood through September 2013.
To volunteer at Fernwood, call Judi Jason at 695-6491.