Mar 30th, 2017

Volunteer Brenda Bartges

by Jonah Holland

Brenda Bartges has worn many hats at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. She started as a volunteer the Garden Shop about 11 years ago, then she became staff as a buyer in the Shop, then transitioned back to volunteer. As a volunteer, she’s served over 3,500 (!)  hours  — mostly in the Garden Shop, but also serving as a liaison for Horticulture during Dominion GardenFest of Lights.

During GardenFest, Bartges inventories newly arrived shipments of decorations coordinating with each year’s theme. Each year a team from the Garden travels to “market” in Atlanta to find just the right treasures to sell in the Garden Shop and just the right ornaments and decorations to highlight that year’s GardenFest theme. This year’s theme is Naturally Ever After: Stories in Lights — we can’t wait to see what goodies she gets to unpack for that — it really must be just like Christmas opening all those boxes. Bartges carefully inspects each box and arranges its delivery to the right area of the Garden.

Brenda Bartges, Volunteer, on the Lotus Bridge at Lewis Ginter

Volunteer Brenda Bartges standing on the Lotus Bridge on Lake Sydnor in spring.

We’re thrilled to announce Brenda Bartges as our Volunteer of the Month. As a small token of our gratitude for her service, we will present Bartges  with a $25 gift certificate for the Garden Shop and she’ll have use of the Volunteer of the Month reserved parking space.  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has over 600 active volunteers and each of them is special to us. They  donate their time here because they love this place and because the Garden holds meaning for them.  And as many of you know, without volunteers the Garden wouldn’t be what it is today.

Bartges explains what the Garden means to her,  “Even though I consider myself a spiritual person, this is a spiritual place for people who are not as attuned to the traditional church environment. I find it to be a healing place in moments of sadness. A colorful place where you can immerse yourself in the colors of the season.  And that’s what I think public gardens — and especially this place offer.”

On behalf of the Bloemendaal Council and Garden staff, we thank you for being part of our volunteer team.

About Jonah Holland

Jonah Holland is Digital Content Manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where she has worked for 14 years overseeing social media, the blog, and the website. She is also a mom, yogi, open water swimmer, gardener, and seeker. She's been known to go for a walk in the Garden and come back with hundreds of plant photos, completely inspired to write her next blog post.

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