You can either post your hours in VMS, or you can submit a paper timesheet so we can get your hours included in the monthly report we need to submit on by the 5th of the following month. E-mails are sent with a copy of the timesheet, or you can get one online.
If you want us to input your hours, please email your hours to bcmgardeners@yahoo.com or leave your timesheet at the Extension Office by 5:00 pm by the 3rd of the month. I also need sign-in sheets, and those can be emailed to the Master Gardener email or left at the Extension Office. Please be sure the hours are either posted in VMS or submitted for us to post by Wednesday evening.
Certified Master Gardeners need 20 Volunteer Hours and 10 Education Hours each year. You can check VMS any time for your yearly total, or you can check with me so I can let you know what is on your record.
Please contact me if you have any questions or problems with your hours.
Thank you,
Jackie Sledge
TIMEKEEPING
Why report? Volunteer hours are reported to better measure community benefits. The successful public and private partnership between Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the BCMGA benefits the community through educational programming, activities, community projects, and shared expertise by significantly multiplying the outreach of Extension. It is important to keep reporting hours even after the requirements to be certified have been met. The success (and continuation) of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is heavily dependent upon BCMGA, and an important measurement of the Association’s value is the number of hours contributed to the community. So for the Association and for Extension, it is important that every volunteer hour is reported.
A. Reporting Extension, Community, and Continuing Education Hours
1. Members are responsible for maintaining a record of and reporting all extension (EXT), community (COM), and continuing education (CEU) hours earned.
a. Members report hours using forms developed by the Membership Chairman and approved by the Executive Committee.
b. Members may submit completed forms by email or paper copy. Members may hand deliver or mail paper copies and should keep a copy for themselves to help resolve any question about the acceptability of hours reported.
c. Use of approved forms helps the Membership Chairman—who is also a volunteer—complete his/her work in a more efficient manner and facilitates reporting to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent and Texas Master Gardeners.
2. Members should report all hours to the Membership Chairman monthly.
3. The following guidelines apply for reporting:
a. Report volunteer hours in increments of thirty (30) minutes, rounded up or down. For example, if the time is “1 hour 10 minutes,” report “1 hour.” If the time is “1 hour 20 minutes,” report “1.5 hours;”
b. Separately identify “Extension Hours,” “Community Hours,” and “Continuing Education Hours” on the reporting form; provide enough detail to allow the Membership Chairman to determine what project was involved and have a general idea of what work was accomplished;
c. Members may not include travel time to and from an Extension, Community, or Continuing Education event in their reported time, except for as designated by the Plant Sale Chairman for investigating new vendors or picking up plants for the plant sale.
B. Definition of Approved Extension Hours
1. Committee meetings (awards, board, library, communications, membership, program, special projects, etc.)
2. Any non-horticultural events related to assisting the Extension Office (nutrition lessons; office work; stuffing bags for fair or Kids, Kows & More; state 4-H show; West Texas Fair (except in Association with Food & Fiber program), Farm and Ranch Show and Women’s Fair (except giving horticultural presentations).
3. Business meetings for BCMGA.
4. Newsletter or website (unless research is required for topic; then may be CEU).
5. Trainee classes (unless specified as advanced training by the Master Gardener Coordinator).
6. Refreshments brought to meetings or trainee classes (1 hour maximum).
C. Definition of Approved Community Hours
1. Volunteers may report any approved volunteer activity that promotes the BCMGA Mission Statement to assist the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in providing unbiased, high quality, relevant horticultural education and service to the people of Taylor County and the State of Texas through outreach, teaching, and demonstration projects. This includes teaching safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that promote the development of healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities. Examples of reportable volunteer activity are holding approved classes on gardening, assisting organizations in laying out, designing, and building gardens and landscapes and teaching individuals how to maintain gardens/landscapes. However, the ongoing maintenance of the garden/landscape is not reportable volunteer hours unless the Executive Committee has deemed the garden/landscape as an approved BCMGA Volunteer Project.
2. Although the ultimate accountability for programs administered by the BCMGA lies with the Taylor County A&M AgriLife Extension Agent, the Projects Committee is responsible for evaluating every such request received for a community project. The Project Committee will look first at the requesting organization, the scope of work to be done, costs, and who has the ultimate responsibility for maintenance of the project. The Project Committee then submits the proposal to the Executive Committee for approval. Once approved, volunteer hours will be accepted for Master Gardeners working on that project.
3. Requests for speakers are directed to the Vice President to arrange for presentations. Once approved, volunteer hours will be accepted for Master Gardeners making presentations.
4. The current list of approved projects is posted on the BCMGA Home Page under What We Do: Projects, at www.bcmgtx.org. The Projects Committee Chairman will update this list as new projects are added and old ones are completed.
5. BCMGA highly encourages Trainees and Interns who are working towards final certification to work on approved projects. These projects are a major part of the BCMGA organization and require many volunteer hours to accomplish the stated goals.
6. If a member has any questions about whether the project on which they volunteer time is currently approved, they should either contact the Membership Chairman or check the website.
7. Community hours credited to the BCMGA cannot be credited to or from another volunteer group or program. For example, hours done for the Master Naturalists cannot also be reported to the Master Gardeners.
8. Preparation and research for presentations, workshops, and other training of both Master Gardeners and/or the public will be counted as CEU hours, and making those presentations will be counted as COM hours.
9. BCMGA will discuss new projects during membership meetings and announce them in the newsletter and on the BCMGA website. BCMGA also uses email as an important notification tool to keep members current on Extension, Community, and Continuing Education opportunities.
10. The Project Committee will annually review ongoing projects to determine if the project furthers BCMGA’s educational mission and how, contributes to or erodes BCMGA’s focus on public education, is worth the use of volunteer time and exposure, and whether there may be potential interest within the BCMGA membership in doing the project properly.
A. Definition of Approved Continuing Education Hours
1. Continuing education in the various facets of gardening is a critical part of being a BCMG and provides an opportunity to focus on specific interests. Lectures, workshops, hands-on training, all of these are important not only for advancing our knowledge but also for meeting other Master Gardeners and the public.
2. CEU opportunities are made available through the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and other agencies such as Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas Forest Service, along with Master Gardener sponsored activities or any number of short courses that are provided by other outside activities, as approved by the Master Gardener Coordinator.
3. Additionally, there are many good on-line programs via the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension website, such as Earth Kind and Tomato 101 learning modules, along with various other programs that provide a good learning experience. These programs can be found at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.
4. Understanding that there may be times when our members’ access to continuing education is limited by physical restrictions, educational television programs may be considered an acceptable form of continuing education. However, members must obtain prior approval from the Membership Chairman for those educational television programs before those hours can be accepted. Contact the Membership Chairman with any questions regarding this option.
5. If a Master Gardener is a member of another volunteer organization that does not report hours for credit, garden-related educational programs provided by that organization may count as education hours for the BCMGA. However, business meetings, board meetings, plant sales, or other activities done on behalf of the other organization do not count as BCMGA volunteer hours.
6. Members may not count educational training sessions that are taken to certify or to meet a membership requirement necessary to become a member of another volunteer organization as education hours for BCMGA. For example, training classes necessary to certify as a Master Naturalist would not count as BCMGA hours. However, taking a class in plant identification organized by the Native Plant Society (NPSOT) would be reportable education hours since NPSOT does not require any reporting of hours or training to be a member of that organization.
7. Training for Master Gardener Specialist status is approved CEU hours, even if Specialist status is not achieved. Travel time to and from the training is not approved hours.
8. Once certified as a BCMG, the Taylor County AgriLife Extension Agent will deem certain classes of the BCMGA annual training classes as approved advanced training to increase knowledge of a particular subject. These are approved CEU hours.
Should there be any question about the validity of hours submitted for CEU credit, the Membership Chairman will send information to the Taylor County AgriLife Extension Agent for review and final approval.
Examples of Hours Not Approved:
1. Working on your own without approval of committee chair;
2. Reading a gardening book, watching HGTV programs, or visiting “Home and Garden show” booths;
3. Landscaping work at your church;
4. Helping a neighbor with their yard;
5. Employment hours.