UNH Extension Volunteers Recognized for Service to New Hampshire at 2024 Spirit of NH Awards

Volunteer NH has hosted the Spirit of NH Awards as an annual celebration of volunteerism since 2003 to shine a spotlight on unsung heroes who go above and beyond the call to serve throughout the Granite State.

At the 2024 awards ceremony on October 21, UNH Extension Master Gardener Doris Buco was recognized in the Senior category for individuals aged 65 and older and was chosen as the 2024 Spirit of NH recipient — the highest honor that any volunteer or group can receive at the ceremony. She was chosen as the person who "most embodies the spirit of New Hampshire volunteerism."

Extension's Education Center Infoline volunteers, which include Master Gardeners and Natural Resources Stewards, were recognized as a Volunteer Champion for their dedication and hard work answering yard and garden questions from the public. This category recognizes public service organizations and businesses for their volunteer initiatives.

UNH Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Doris Buco

Ruth Smith, coordinator for the UNH Extension Master Gardener program, says, “Doris Buco is a deeply caring and giving individual, always wanting to make a difference. What makes her stand out is that she is willing to do almost anything and does everything without fanfare. She works quietly behind the scenes, showing up with everything in order and ready to go. She is humble and unassuming and rarely takes credit for the amazing work that she does.”

Master Gardener volunteers learn gardening skills and tools for community engagement. After their 12-week training, they educate home gardeners and work on community focused gardening projects for food pantries, school or youth centers, historic sites and other nonprofits. They grow food for those in need, create habitats for pollinators, enhance mental and physical health through therapeutic gardens and more.

Buco has been a leader among the garden team that plans and maintains gardens at NH Audubon’s Massabesic Center in Auburn. She tends the pollinator and herb gardens on a weekly basis and answers questions from members of the public who visit the gardens. She provides regular communications, monthly garden updates and facilitates meetings for 20 other Master Gardener volunteers. This essential service enables the volunteers to know what needs to be done in the pollinator, vegetable, rain and sensory gardens.

Buco is also the secretary of the Demonstration Garden Committee. The gardens at the Massabesic Center are jointly managed by UNH Extension and NH Audubon to provide a space for teaching and demonstrating best practices for ecologically sound gardening. The Demonstration Garden Committee plans, promotes and implements monthly workshops for the public. Buco keeps the agenda, notes, calendar and garden maps up to date for this outreach effort, which provided education for nearly 200 home gardeners in the past year.

Ruth Smith (left) and Doris Buco

Three years ago, Buco stepped up to be the volunteer coordinator for the Master Gardener Speakers Bureau. This group of 15-20 volunteers (including Buco) provides presentations on various garden topics to garden clubs, libraries and others. During the past year, she scheduled over 100 presentations throughout the state, matching requesters with speakers and handling all the logistical information to ensure that speakers and host organizations had the information they needed for a successful program. She is instrumental in planning and assisting with training new speakers, continuing to build the roster to meet the growing need for these informative programs.

As a resident of Durham, Buco coordinates the annual Strafford County Master Gardener plant sale. Proceeds from the sale are used to fund school gardening projects, the NH Free Seeds for Education project and other community garden efforts. The spring 2024 sale included over 1,200 plants, gathered or grown by members and friends. She helped organize the collection of plants, volunteers to staff the sale and educational stations at the sale.

Therapeutic Horticulture and Sensory Gardens

As a former special education teacher, Buco has a soft spot for people with learning challenges. She combined this passion with her love of gardening and became the first UNH Master Gardener certified in therapeutic horticulture. She now teaches those skills to other Master Gardeners and has inspired peers to also become certified. These skills enable volunteers to serve a wider range of gardeners who can benefit from the activity and therapy of gardening.

Her passion for education and gardening, her gentle spirit, organizational skills and flexibility all came together in the sensory garden at the Massabesic Center. She led a team to plan a series of plantings that would allow visitors, especially those with sensory deficiencies, to experience plants in their own way. When the team learned that there would be some construction in the area where they were planning the garden, Buco pivoted without drama and created a container garden with the plants. The plants were moved to a safer place where they could be enjoyed until the construction was complete and then returned to their original location. What some people would have seen as a disaster, Buco treated as a mild inconvenience and turned an obstacle into an opportunity.

NH Audubon’s Massabesic Center

The plants include soft plants that can be stroked by young children and older adults (or anyone), lavender and herbs that offer fragrance to be enjoyed. Various textures and colors of blossoms and foliage add interest. Grasses and seed pods rustle and rattle in the breeze, making a special kind of plant music.

This site is attractive for families with small children, groups that provide services for elders, those with mobility difficulties or cognitive deficiencies. The Sensory Garden and the way Doris and her team designed it gave these groups even more reasons to visit and enjoy the center and its grounds.

Seeing a need to accommodate people with varying abilities, NH Audubon launched a plan to construct an “All Persons Trail” through their property. Buco instantly volunteered to contribute ideas of how the gardens could be incorporated into the plan.

UNH Extension is extremely proud that Volunteer NH has recognized Buco with this top distinction. As Ruth Smith further explains, “Doris is one of the most caring and gentle people that I know. The ripple effect of Doris's work is vast, whether by sending out speakers to address thousands of audience members across the state, nurturing beebalm plants that are visited by countless hummingbirds and native insects or teaching other volunteers how to make gardens more accessible. It's nearly impossible to quantify the impact of Doris's work, yet I know it is powerful. Doris inspires me and her volunteer peers every day. I can't imagine where the Master Gardener program would be without her. I am so grateful for her gift of time, talent and passion. We are all better for it.”

UNH Extension Education Center Infoline Volunteers

The UNH Extension Education Center Infoline volunteer program was established in 2001 to provide a free service to New Hampshire community members with yard and garden questions. Volunteers, who are trained as Master Gardeners and Natural Resource Stewards, are tasked with researching and answering questions that come in via a web form, phone or walk-in.

At the Spirit of NH Awards, Education Center volunteers Terrie Wallace and Thelma Brown accepted a Volunteer Champion award on behalf of the entire Education Center volunteer team.

The Infoline received 3,156 questions this past year on a variety of yard and garden topics. Volunteers answer questions between 9 a.m.– 2 p.m. on weekdays. Every question receives ample time to research, and the volunteers make sure their responses are backed by multiple research-based resources. The Infoline at the Education Center has been viewed as a trusted and reliable source of educational information for over two decades.

Over the last year, UNH Extension has worked tirelessly to rebuild the volunteer program to increase the total volunteer pool and to further improve the services offered to the public. Since November 2023, there have been over 70 volunteers trained or retrained to cover the Infoline and to support the Education Center in a variety of ways. Volunteers have also stepped up to help at multiple community events such as the Farm, Forest and Garden Expo, Farm to School Days, local canning workshops and more.

Volunteer program manager for the Education Center Danielle (Albano) Whiteneck says, “We are so proud of all volunteers for their dedication, hard work, resilience, eagerness to jump in and support throughout this past year. Many volunteers share that volunteering for the Education Center is their ‘happy place’ and they look forward to their next volunteer shifts each week or month. Clients also share their appreciation and love for the Infoline program. We recently had a reoccurring customer visit the office in person with coffee, donuts and a thank you card. They were completely stumped with their pest problem, which ended up being an Asiatic beetle problem, and our services helped them to resolve their problem and find a solution.”

Left to right: Education Center volunteer program manager Danielle (Albano) Whiteneck, volunteers Terrie Wallace and Thelma Brown, Extension home horticulture program manager Steph Sosinski. Back row: volunteer David White.

Got a Question? Contact Extension’s Infoline!

Individuals throughout the entire state can ask Extension questions, which will be answered by volunteers or home horticulture program managers Steph Sosinski and Sean O'Brien.

Common Homeowner Topics Addressed through the Infoline

• Growing fruits and vegetables
• Establishing, maintaining or replacing lawns
• Identifying plants
• Controlling invasive species
• Caring for annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs
• Understanding soil test results
• Addressing nuisance wildlife