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August 2022
Dear Volunteers,
As September approaches, I'm excited to share our Flower Piano volunteer roles with you. We will have twelve pianos placed throughout the Garden from Friday, September 16 - Tuesday, September 20 and your help during open play and performances is essential to supporting this celebration of music and nature. I hope you'll be able to join us this year!
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Help Out at the Book Sale!
Help us celebrate the Library’s 50th Anniversary on Saturday, September 10! The day will be filled with activities including a book sale and craft table. For the book sale, we are looking for help with set-up on Friday, September 9 and volunteers to help with the sale on Saturday, September 10.
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The Plant Arbor is now the Plant Shop!
The Plant Arbor's name is changing to... Plant Shop! While we all know and love the Arbor, customers and visitors do not always know that it is a place to purchase plants. They actually seem surprised to discover it. This change will roll out slowly and will have to be updated in various materials and eventually, even our maps.
We will keep the same great selection and, of course, the same wonderful volunteers and staff! At this point, the Bookstore and Plant Shop are functioning more like one store. We are sharing operations, duties, and staff too.
Many thanks to our volunteer team for all your support and hard work!
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Welcome Ahmad and Jamie!
Ahmad Anderson just started as our Director of People & Culture.
Ahmad comes to GGGP from SFJazz where he held a similar role. Previously, Ahmad has held leadership roles in human resources at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, DHL Express, Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, and Pacifica Foundation. With a B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley, Ahmad is a Masters candidate in Organizational Leadership through the Teachers College at Columbia University. Throughout his career, Ahmad has led efforts to expand diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in organizations and in the larger community. The Director of People & Culture is a new position responsible for human resources and shepherding the organization’s initiatives on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI).
On Monday, August 22, Jamie Chan will start as our Director of Programs & Partnerships.
Jamie comes to GGGP from the Center for Science and Math Education at San Francisco State University where she served as Operations & Program Director. Her long career at SFSU includes teaching as adjunct faculty in the Graduate College of Education and the Biology Department. Jamie is expected to receive her Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration this year and holds a Master of Science in Systemic Biology/Science Education and a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology. As a Master Gardener, she is actively engaged in Sisterhood Gardens and is the owner of Fog City Gardener. The Director of Programs & Partnerships is a new position that replaces the Director of Learning & Engagement position that Annette has filled in an acting capacity since November. With Jamie’s arrival, Annette will return to focusing on her role as Director of Youth Education and the Learning & Engagement team will report to Jamie.
We're so excited to welcome both Ahmad and Jamie to the team and hope you will have a chance to meet them soon!
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Volunteer Spotlight Ana Elsner, Special Event Volunteer
Since her childhood in Germany, Ana Elsner says she has "been fascinated by the immense variety of plant species, especially those rare and exotic ones which - unless you are a world traveling explorer - you can only find in Botanical Gardens and Conservatories." Yet her true passion is live music. "When I first heard of Flower Piano I was immediately sold on the concept of combining the two and started attending this annual special event." As she saw the Garden's Flower Piano event attract more and more visitors, and observing how much staff it takes to manage those crowds, Ana decided to help out as a Garden Special Events volunteer. Ana recalls a particularly fun Garden Monitor shift at Night Piano, "helping guests navigate the Garden and lit pathways after dark, and keeping the plants and people safe from each other. We Garden Monitors wore headlamps and reflective gear; even a short string of battery-operated LED mini-lights was part of our uniform. With live music wafting through the trees along with the fragrance of blooming shrubs, and with everyone being in a celebratory mood, it was a night of pure enchantment."
While the current Flower Piano format no longer includes after-dark events, Ana says, “Thanks for the memories! I am proud to have been, in some small way, a part of it. And look for me in the daytime gardens when the pianos are back here again!"
We are fortunate to have many Garden volunteers who, like Ana, step in to support us with the Garden's Special Events. That support allows us to ensure that these events are safe, well-organized, and successful - and for our Garden visitors, a very unique and memorable experience!
Thank you to Steve Bell for interviewing and photographing Ana at our Meet and Greet event this past June - and thank you Ana for returning each year for Flower Piano!
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Slices of Joy
- Children's Garden Summer Interns just wrapped up a wonderful summer at the Garden. Thank you to everyone who worked with the interns this summer and who joined our end-of-season party last week! For a taste of their summer experience, check out a short video created by Audrey here.
- The summer season is wrapping up for other Youth Ed Programs as well. We’ve seen record visitation at Bean Sprouts Family Days in the Children’s Garden, with close to 2,500 participants in July alone. Our new Summer Sprouts program served 26 pre-registered groups, and our partnership with SFRPD’s Junior Guide program served over 450 youth. As a reminder, all Youth Ed programs are on hiatus until after Labor Day, except for the After School Program starting this Wednesday. Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped out in the Children's Garden this summer!
- Our Volunteer Portal link form is working again! You should receive an automatically generated email when you use the form to retrieve your personalized Volunteer Portal link. This link allows you to register for future volunteer opportunities and review your hours. If you run into any issues retrieving your link, please let me know.
- Muir Woods Park Ranger, Mia Monroe, led an enrichment walk for docents and guides from both San Francisco Botanical Garden and Conservatory of Flowers recently. This tour was both informative and inspirational as we connected with our own Redwood Grove. Some helpful resources she shared included Save the Redwoods League and a recommendation to read the book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard. We just restocked this book in the Bookstore if you would like a copy!
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Thank you to everyone for a wonderful summer! I'm excited to see what the fall will bring.
Best wishes,
Crystal
Crystal Lee Stone | Volunteer Program Manager
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San Francisco Botanical Garden
P (415) 661-1316 Ext. 400
9am-5pm, M-F
clstone@sfbg.org
P.S. Did you miss an update? Catch up by viewing past newsletters on Volunteer Central.
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