Volunteers

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Welcome 2011 Volunteers!
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Thank you for becoming a part of this exciting new project. Over 1,300 students representing 37 schools throughout the the city of Milwaukee have signed up to participate.! This is a far greater response than we anticipated but we are happy to accomodate the teachers, and students' enthusiasm. **Can you help?**

We are looking for two types of volunteers:

‍**VOLUNTEER DEMONSTRATORS** :
We are seeking volunteers to go to the 60 participating classrooms and demonstrate how to pot a geranium and give tips on how to care for it over the winter. Demonstrators will be given their teacher's name and contact information and schedule a mutually agreed upon time for the demonstration. Each student will receive their own plant to pot and take home. An additional plant will be provided for the classroom. Students will bring a container to use. **//See container options (bottom of page) that have been provided to teachers//**. Potting medium will be delivered to the schools prior to the demonstrations. Volunteer demonstrators will be responsible to pick up the barerooted plants from the storage facitility at Wil O Way Underwood in Wauwatosa prior to their session. //**[|See map]**//. Demonstrators will show students how to pot their geranium and discuss plant care issues such as where to place the plant, watering and clipping dead materials. UW-Extension will develop an Information Sheet and a video that volunteers can review before their demonstration. Demonstrators will be responsible to anticipate equipment and materials that may be needed for their demonstration and coordinate with the teacher or bring them along. //**See list of potential items that may be needed (bottom of this page)**//.

PLANT PREP AND MAINTENANCE VOLUNTEERS:
The first hard frost will trigger our plant collection and distribution efforts. City of Milwaukee crews will extract the plants and UW Extension personnel will deliver them to our holding area at Wil O Way Underwood. //**See map**//. Volunteers will prune plants down to "plantable" size. Plants will be counted out and prepackaged for participating classrooms.

‍**Timing:**
First Hard Frost (traditionally between October 15- November1). Wish we could be more specific but unfortunately our timing is totally up to Mother Nature. Plant Prep and Maintenance Volunteers will be needed 1-2 days after the first hard frost. Volunteer Demonstrators will be needed about 4- 10 days after the frost. There is some flexibility with getting the plants into the classrooms and the Demonstrator and Teacher will be able to schedule at a mutually agreeable time.

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 * Please contact Bridget Bannon Today at:** **bannonbe@milwaukee.k12.wi.us or call 414-243-9597 **======