Above: NM President, Jack Dubois presenting the 2018 Service Award to Julia Schoen
At our 2019 AGM, on March 18th, Nature Manitoba was pleased to present a Service Award to Julia Schoen.
Service Award criteria involve significant contributions to Nature Manitoba, in one or more of the following areas; long and faithful service on the MNS Board or Committees; leading, teaching or assisting with MNS sponsored indoor & outdoor events; and recruitment activities
Julia Schoen excels in all of those criteria. Julia co-ordinated 14 annual fund-raising Garden Tours, and is just wrapping up 22 years of doing the same for the Workshop Series. She has been an active member and trip leader for the Grey Hares and a frequent contributor to Nature Manitoba News.
Julia joined the organization after her retirement from teaching in 1989. During the 1990s, Julia was active on the board of directors of the MNS, serving as secretary and volunteering in other ways, earning her a Service Award in 1996. As well as the funds they have generated (well over $70,000 to date), Our Natural Garden Tours have played a significant role in promoting Nature Manitoba to the public and recruiting new members. We showed our appreciation for Julia with a second Service Award in 2014, the year of the last tour she organized.
The Workshop Series is one of Nature Manitoba’s most popular programs. Once a week from January through April, year after year, the Kelvin High School classroom fills with members keen to learn about the wonders of nature from the various experts that Julia lines up. From the popular repeat workshops to interesting new topics, Julia’s program never fails to generate an enthusiastic response. Given the confidence that past Presidents have had in Julia’s ability to manage these programs that are so important both for our budget and for our educational mandate, it is no wonder she was presented with Presidents Awards in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
A citation for one of her President's Awards had a great first sentence: "Julia Schoen is one of the forces that make Nature Manitoba what it is." And on behalf of everyone associated with Nature Manitoba we say “Hear Hear”. We thank her for her extraordinary service, and wish Julia every success for the future!