VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
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By Meghan Eames, Volunteer Coordinator For Red Butte Garden volunteer Dorothy Lamb, volunteering is not about fitting the Garden into her schedule. “It’s on my calendar, like a doctor’s appointment. It’s not about finding time,” says Dorothy, “It’s part of my life.” For 10 years Red Butte Garden has been a significant part of Dorothy’s life. After her second visit to the Garden, a budding interest and encouragement from her husband led her to fill out a volunteer application and join the Red Butte Garden team. She led garden tours for a year and worked in the Garden, but eventually decided to move inside and found her niche working with the greenhouse crew. At first, her job was simple - she took a small hose and watered each plant in the greenhouse for three hours a week. When the new greenhouse was built in 2003, complete with a watering system, she had the opportunity to focus on her true garden passion—planting seeds and maintaining the plants until they are ready to be transplanted to our 18-acres of manicured gardens, the Orangerie, or sold at the annual plant sale. “I’m here for the plants,” she says. “Every week, the first thing I do is check on the progress of my plants from the previous week.” She enjoys seeing the fruits of her labor and takes the knowledge she acquires in the greenhouse and applies it to her beautiful home garden. Gaining plant-growing skills and knowledge are not the only things that keep Dorothy coming back to Red Butte Garden, it’s the people, too. “Everybody 10
Red Butte Garden
at the Garden has passion; they’re cheerful, and if they’re not, we make them happy.” Dorothy definitely plays her part here. Briana Blamires, one of Dorothy’s supervisors in the greenhouse, said, “She is always so full of energy; she livens up the greenhouse with her smiles and playfulness, especially when it comes to keeping Scott in line.” Scott Mower, another greenhouse supervisor says, “She makes us all laugh.” Scott is also incredibly impressed by her dedication. Dorothy should be pleased with the impact she has on the Red Butte Garden community, because for her, giving back to the community is what matters most. “There is good in everybody; everybody knows something. If we all gave back a bit of our talents to the community, we’d be in a really good place. This is what I have to give, so I do.” But Dorothy makes an important distinction here for future volunteers—volunteering at Red Butte Garden isn’t always about starting with the skills involved; it’s about having a passion. “You’ve got to love the soil,” she says, ”We can teach you how to plant it, but we can’t teach you to love it. As long as the passion is there, you can learn the rest.” If you’re interested in sharing or cultivating your passion with the Garden, please call Meghan Eames at 801.585.5688 or email at volunteers@redbuttegarden.org to find out how to get involved.