Gladys Welker named Volunteer of the Month

Lansing - Retired Mason-area farmer Gladys Welker has been named Michigan Farm Bureau's Volunteer of the Month for February 2008 for her outstanding work in educating young people about agriculture and promoting Michigan's second-largest Industry.

For the past five years running. Welker has organized the Ingham County Farm Bureau's Project RED (Rural Educatiion Day) event, which annually gives more than 600 third and fourth graders direct, hands-on experience with the industry that fills their stomachs and puts clothes on their backs.

Project RED gives children an opportunity to learn first-hand about how farming really works. Students circulate among dozens of thematic learning stations, each staffed by volunteers addressing a different facet of modern agriculture. Behind the scenes, Welker coordinates all the learning stations and their lessons, a barn full of various common livestock animals, and the small army of volunteer instructors, lunch aides, registration workers, and traffic directors that make it all happen.

"Gladys is always volunteering her time somewhere and can always be counted on to lend a helping hand when needed," wrote her nominator for Volunteer of the Month honors. "She works on telling the story of what agriculture is and how it affects people's everyday lives."

Welker has also co-chaired the Inghan County Food Stand at the county fair for the past eight years. In addition to supervising building maintenance, meal preparation and vendor orders, Welker personally bakes more than 100 pies to be served throughout fair week, and coordinates all the volunteers involved in everything from counter service to cleanup.

"Her passion for agriculture drives her to accomplish all these tasks selflessly," her nominator wrote. "She works for the good of the whole and seeks no recognition for her work."

Since 2004, Welker has represented the Promotion and Education program on her county Farm Bureau's board of directors. In 2006, she also took an active role in Ag Day at the Capitol, an event that puts Michigan's agriculture industry in direct contact with lawmakers, both in their offices and under the Capitol rotunda.

Though now retired from farming and renting their crop land, Welker and her husband Gerald still live in Vevay Township. They have two grown children, three stepchildren and two grandchildren.