The Ogden Nature Center recognizes outstanding volunteers who served in 2022
The Ogden Nature Center recently honored many members of the community who volunteered during 2022. The Nature Center relies on volunteers to care for animals, restore habitat, and help create a place for the community to unite with nature. In 2022, community members logged 9,870 hours of volunteer time! The Ogden Nature Center paid special tribute to the following individuals:
Left photo:Executive Director Jonathan Creel with Caroline Mullin, recipient of the Outstanding Youth Award, with Volunteer Coordinator Parker Balla. Right photo: Edgar Mendoza and Julia Salcedo, 2022 Heart and Hands Recipients, Linda Babcock, Mary Jane Catlin Award Recipient, and Sister Autumn Slade, Volunteer of the Year Recipient.
Linda Babcock received the Mary Jane Catlin Award
The Mary Jane Catlin Award was established to honor individuals who truly give of themselves to the Ogden Nature Center. This award has been given to only three other recipients: Sally Neill, Jack Rensel, and Mara Roosen. This year, a fourth recipient, Linda Babcock, was added to the honorable list. After working for the Nature Center as the community relations coordinator from 1996 to 2002, Linda continues to volunteer and give her time, expertise and energy to the Ogden Nature Center. 21 years after leaving, she is still involved and in love with the Ogden Nature Center. Linda has overseen the Birdhouse Competition/Exhibit and Awards for over 27 seasons of the event’s 30 years! Linda contributes to the Wildwoods BASH fundraiser every year, organizing the entire audible auction. And all year long, she faithfully distributes publicity materials throughout Ogden Valley. To many at the Nature Center it feels like Linda never actually stopped working there. Her selfless commitment to build and nurture the Ogden Nature Center is what and who this award is defined by. Linda epitomizes the magical spirit of this place, just as Mary Jane Catlin did, and the Nature Center is thrilled to award Linda with this honor.
Caroline Mullin - 2022 Outstanding Youth Award
Caroline has grown up at the Ogden Nature Center. She started as a young child attending summer camps, and grew into a long-term, and very valuable camp assistant. When volunteering, Caroline always anticipates what needs to be done and steps in and does the task before anyone thinks to ask her. She does the dirty work, like cleaning up goopy paint brushes and paint pans. Caroline is always willing to play a game of tag or toss water balloons with kids. She even allowed a pair of toddler campers to paint her arms and legs with mud during our Mudpuppies Camp.
Sister Autumn Slade - Volunteer of the Year
Sister Slade, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints service missionary, began volunteering at the Ogden Nature Center early in 2022, and immediately had a huge impact at the Nature Center. She’s been involved in a variety of jobs including habitat restoration, events, gardening, class materials prep, administration, and so much more. Sister Slade puts care in her work and pays attention to detail, setting an excellent example for those around her. Moreover, she has tremendous patience and communication skills that bring people together, and help people feel heard. Sister Slade’s 300 hours at the Nature Center in 2022 were defined by how she, and those around her, learned, grew and flourished. The entire Nature Center staff is grateful for her help and support.
Edgar Mendoza and Julia Salcedo, 2022 Heart and Hands Recipients
Edgar Mendoza and Julia Salcedo have generously volunteered as bird of prey feeders at the Ogden Nature Center since 2018. This volunteer position asks a lot of volunteers and requires dedication and patience. Not only do they feed and care for the exhibit birds, they also track birds’ diets, clean their mews, and monitor their health. The small Nature Center staff alone cannot get all of this done, so volunteers like Edgar and Julia are essential to help the Nature Center provide excellent homes for rehabilitated education birds. This job requires patience, attention to detail, and a hard-working attitude – which Julia and Edgar clearly have. Not to
mention that stepping into bird mews with Golden Eagles, a Red-tailed-Hawk, a variety of owls, a Peregrine Falcon, and a Bald Eagle can be intimidating! The two of them volunteer at the Nature Center once a week to make sure their winged friends are taken care of. They have logged well over 300 volunteer hours each! They are always kind and thoughtful when interacting with visitors, who always have questions for the bird caretakers.
The following volunteers reached milestones in 2022
- 1,000 Hours -- Linda Babcock
- 500 Hours -- Randi Bradley & Phyllis Rogler
- 250 Hours -- Marissa Bracken, Brock Delgado, Becky Jo Gesteland, Remington Minor, Mike Monson, Autumn Slade, Anita Stevens
- 100 Hours -- Marissa Bracken, Hailey Cook, Susan Evans, Ethan Kinney, Rose Kulish, Emma Lundgren, Autumn Slade, Stephanie Speicher, Rachel Torres, Jack Wahlen, Teresa Williams
The following volunteers gave 40 hours or more of service in 2022
- Peyton and Keri Aller
- Krystal Averill
- Linda Babcock
- Anika Bateman
- Breauna Battaglia
- Lillith Bisel-Rodriguez
- Brittany Bowden
- Marissa Bracken
- Randi Bradley
- Jim Brown
- Paul Burnett
- Tyson Cheshire
- Nathan Chow
- Hailey Cook
- Willa Crow
- Susan Evans
- Bryan Felix
- Deborah Greenwell
- Michelle Groncki
- Mary Hargis
- Don Hickman
- Barb Hudson
- Katherine Huven
- Ailee Justo
- Jackie Kent
- Ethan Kinney
- Rose Kulish
- Emma Lundgren
- Shania Mariani-Bethel
- David McCool
- Edgar Mendoza
- Remington Minor
- Nicole Mobley
- Mike Monson
- Caroline Mullin
- Steve Munson
- Christina Myers
- Pam Nelson
- Phyllis Rogler
- Julia Salcedo
- Harry Senekjian
- Autumn Slade
- Stephanie Speicher
- Toby Stephens
- Anita Stevens
- Rachel Torres
- Jack Wahlen
- Teresa Williams
- Clay Wright
- Peter Zwygart