Threads of Hope

With our busy lives, our homes, and our families, many of us believe we don’t have the time or energy to volunteer for a good cause. But guess what? The five recipients of Diablo’s 2007 Threads of Hope Awards set a stunning example of how it’s done, as they make major accomplishments in the name of community service.

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Mary Ann Hannon
Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness

Mary Ann Hannon has spent more years volunteering for the Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness—35 plus—than most people devote to a career. That’s some serious staying power. Ever modest, Hannon attributes her commitment to simply having had more time than others. “I was a stay-at-home mom,” she says. “I would sometimes even go to meetings and programs with one of my kids on my back.”

The wilderness, south of Pleasanton, covers some of the most secluded land in the East Bay Regional Park District. In her more than 2,000 volunteer hours, Hannon has led countless wildflower walks and special events, and worked with other volunteers to create an inventory of the park’s plants, which has resulted in the development of a spectacular herbarium at the wilderness.
 

“I’m sort of a self-educated plant person,” says Hannon, who has taken a taxonomy class at Las Positas College almost every spring for 20 years. “So I go out on botanizing trips and collect plants, mount them, and put them in the herbarium for people to enjoy and learn about.”
 

Aside from her passion for plants, Hannon has always been keen about sharing her knowledge of the park’s natural and cultural history with schoolchildren. Whether helping them appreciate a pinecone without taking it home or spending hours cutting tules for a Native American display, she volunteers mostly because she wants to pass on her love of the outdoors.
 

“If I can give children a better appreciation for the environment or make them aware of how special the world is, and have them take care of it as they grow up and become conscious of energy usage and picking up trash—it will have been worthwhile,” she says.

Her volunteer legacy doesn‘t stop there. Hannon has also served on an East Bay Regional Park District committee that organizes docent training at parks with a visitor center. “That took at least a whole year of going to meetings at the district level with staff, administrators, and volunteers from other programs,” she says. “But it’s something I’m really proud of.”

At 66, Hannon—now a grandmother of three—still donates at least two hours a week to the district. “I might take a break from the regular schedule of programs and monitor bluebird boxes or something,” says Hannon, “but I won’t ever leave completely.”