RIWPS Appreciates Its Volunteers!
At the annual meeting on March 1, 2025 we celebrated our award recipients.
Volunteer of the Year is given to a Rhode Island Wild Plant Society member who has unfailingly dedicated their efforts toward the betterment of the Society as a whole.
Lifetime Service Award is given to a Rhode Island Wild Plant Society member who has unfailingly dedicated their efforts toward the betterment of the Society as a whole for a minimum of 10 years
Lifetime Service Award
Susan Schuster
Susan came to RIWPS as a recent transplant to Rhode Island who was interested in learning more about the plants and trees on her new property in Glocester. She joined RIWPS at the Rhode Island Flower show and has been a treasured RIWPS member since 2007, including several stints as a RIWPS Board Trustee between 2007 and 2015, and as RIWPS’ Vice President of Finance in 2011 and 2012.
During the heyday of the Flower show, Susan trained the docents staffing the RIWPS booth and helped select plantings for the RIWPS display. Susan has also worked with RIWPS for a decade or more on the grants committee and always has been a word of wisdom on the committee. If you have ever made a gift RIWPS, chances are that you received an acknowledgement letter crafted by Susan. Paul Dolan, past RIWPS President and Chair of RIWPS’ grants committee says, “Susan has been a great person to work with all of these years, one of those people you may not see, but really makes the Society work.”
Congratulations Susan, and thank you for everything you do for RIWPS!
Volunteer of the Year Awards
Dottie Dylag
When Seed Starters East (SSE) was still at Plane View, and Dottie had only been a seed starter for maybe a year, she trained under Peggy Buttenbaum to learn how to track and maintain our native seed inventory and how to lead our winter sowing sessions. When Plane View closed and we moved out in the fall of 2023, Dottie led the way to the greenhouse at the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol. (Dottie is a URI Master Gardener and it was her relationship with the head MG there that opened this opportunity for us.) The home gave us a warm space to work in January and February to sow our seed trays. Some people go to Florida for the winter–thanks to Dottie, SSE heads to Bristol!
In Bristol, Dottie took full charge of the seeds and their sowing. Dottie keeps track of seed information such as its origins which these days include ReSeeding Rhode Island or the Northeast Seed Collective or maybe some other ecotypic source. She sends out the work notices for our Bristol work sessions, plans them so they run smoothly, and carefully watches the volunteers to make sure that trays are correctly labeled and that germination requirements are known and followed. And she does all of this with a kind smile and a ready laugh. This year the seeded trays are overwintering in Portsmouth, up on covered tables, but last year Dottie, also known as MacGyver, rigged up a space outside the Bristol greenhouse–complete with pallets and raised shade cloths to make sure the seeds had their cold period.
And finally, Dottie organizes interaction with the vets at the home to thank them for allowing us the use of their space. Dottie, is a thoughtful, kind, dedicated volunteer and leader and we all feel so fortunate to have you with us.
Diana McDonnell
Since joining Seed Starters West (SSW) about four years ago, Diana has been a dedicated volunteer, reliable and eager to learn. In March 2022, preparations for the first in-person RIWPS plant sale in a few years were underway. When the weather took an arctic turn, Diana answered the call for volunteers to take plants home to care for them under lights until night- time temperatures had settled. Thanks to her help those plants survived and, along with many others, sold out in record time!
In early January this year, a few volunteers were asked if they would be willing to arrive at the hoop house an hour before the rest of the group, to help set up for winter-sowing. Not only did Diana arrive early, she brought extra hand warmers to share. Diana volunteers an additional day each week in spring and summer as part of the watering team. In autumn, she volunteers to harvest seeds fromReSeeding RI foundation plots. It can be a little chilly harvesting the last seeds of the late-season bloomers. Diana brought extra hand-warmers on those chilly mornings, too!
Diana’s green thumbs are also evident in the home-sowing she did for SSW last winter, following updated best practices protocols, which she helped to write. This winter-sowing was done on the deck of her condo–that’s dedication! Though Diana has remarked, “This team is amazing!”, and, “This is what I love about this group, “team work,” it is time to shine a light on her hard work and dedication.
