The OSG Board of Directors

 

Co-founder Rebekah Washington wears many hats as the Landscape Designer, Public Relations and Project Manager for OSG. A Native Washingtonian, she holds a Bachelor's of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon along with minors in Biology, Geography, and Environmental Studies. Landscape Architecture was not her first choice as a career. She remembers her startling declaration to her parents that she wanted to be a meatball maker (at age 5). The culinary world may have lost one the greatest meatball makers ever known, but she doesn't regret her choice. She loves creating gardens and firmly believes that each one built makes a difference in the world. "Building a garden is something tangible you can look back on," she says. "Something you can point to and say: I made that. In the type of world we live in today I made something beautiful and I did something worthwhile."



Mary Anne Collins calls herself the "novice gardener" of the group,  yet has a long history of volunteering time, energy and resources to a variety of organizations and causes.  Some of the groups she's worked with are Ronald McDonald House
Charities, Boy Scouts of America and the Caring Cabin.  Quite frequently Mary Anne volunteers her time and skills as a Marketing professional to help build awareness and bring in additional volunteers and backing for the causes she supports.  While a writer by trade and avocation, she's not afraid to dig in and get her hands dirty!



Susan, one of the co-founders of OSG, brings diversity to the Board of Directors, being the only Hobbit among the humans. She serves as the Volunteer Coordinator and is in charge of fundraising, at which she is exceptionally adept (something to do with a ring of invisibility and long-lost dragon treasure, we've never quite figured out the details). She is hoping someday to complete her college education in Non-Profit Management; she handles all of OSG's paperwork as an extracurricular activity. Sue has a 35-year history of volunteering, from stocking food banks and emergency centers to coaching Little League and the Challenger Program. She is a single mother of four (ages 21-30) and an adoring grandmother of another regular OSG volunteer, Ashley, age 10. Sue is most content when she putters around in the garden, and she believes that even the smallest barefoot person can change the world.


Co-Founder Johanna Washington is a Certified Therapeutic Recreational Specialist which will come in handy when we build a garden that meets the needs of those who are disabled or require adaptive designs. She is a whiz at coordinating travel and she has the smoothest pick-up line this side of the Mississippi--which is why she's also the Co-Director of Public Relations. Her passion is working with people and showing them how to not just survive life after a disability, but how to live life by recovering their past activities using adaptive techniques, as well as assist them in becoming functioning independent members and advocates of the community. A volunteer most of her young life, including the Red Cross and Therapeutic Horseback Riding, she currently volunteers at Camp Access, a 4-day summer day camp for kids with disabilities that teaches them to "never confuse disability with inability."


Librarian for a private elementary school and mom of three, Amy "Primula" Buckles enjoys living among the trees and flowers of her native Oregon. She frequently volunteers at her children's school and helps with the Food Cupboard ministry of her church. As community archivist and moderator, she has voluntarily supported and helped develop an extensive online community over the past five years. She enjoys writing, poetry, painting and gardening, and maintains multiple websites.  Amy is our current site Webmaster and administrator for the Potting Shed forum, as well as being the archivist for the OSG Library.



Brit Mosely hasn't submitted her bio yet,  so we'll just say she has really funny t-shirts and can weed like there's no tomorrow.  She's also a pretty good cook.








Jason is the Security and Technical Director of OSG. Lacking his official biography being submitted for the website, we get to make things up about him.
He was raised by a herd of bison, and spent his formative years migrating back and forth between Northern California and Alaska. His origins are unknown, and his resemblance to his herdmates has led to speculation that he is in fact a newly-evolved, sentient breed of buffalo. Jason remains ardently opposed to the Al-Can pipeline to this day.




Julianne has also neglected to submit a biography, so we'll say she is the next heiress of a powerful family dynasty in the clothing industry. Before she is allowed to claim title of the family fortune, she is required to complete a series of Sisyphean tasks to prove her worthiness. One of her early challenges was to tame Jason the Bison, which has required ongoing vigilance and intervention on her part. But her contributions to OSG are far from limited to keeping Jason from grazing on people's lawns.

Additional Staff

Brit Mosely: Weeder extraordinaire.

with thanks to Jeanine Renne:
Original Site designer and Stepping-Stone Maker Extraordinaire