Volunteers

Teamwork is the special sauce of success in any organization. Without it, there would have been no Super Bowl parade for the Ravens on Pratt Street and no renewed buzz about the Orioles' building on last season's remarkable progress. At a broader level, teamwork improves lives and community conditions for all. At United Way of Central Maryland, our mantra is "Give. Advocate. Volunteer. " This week, we celebrate National Volunteer Week, and I ask everyone to join me in thanking the thousands of volunteers across our region who gave of their time last year to improve the lives of others.

Annual luncheon The Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Awards Luncheon, at which the Association of Community Services of Howard County honors volunteers and staff for their service to the community, will be held at noon Friday, May 3 at the Ten Oaks Ballroom, 5000 Signal Bell Lane in Clarksville. For tickets and information, go to acshoco.org. Gardening volunteers The Howard County Conservancy seeks Wednesday morning drop-in gardening volunteers, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, to help maintain its thematic and native plant gardens.

In a pair of working gloves with the Ravens logo emblazoned on the front, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee painted broad brush strokes at a West Baltimore police station Friday to make good on a bet. Had the Ravens lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake would have traveled to the West Coast to complete a day of service, which was the wager she and Lee made on the February game. "I think San Francisco is a lovely city, but I am glad I did not have to go there in payment of a debt," said Rawlings-Blake, who traded in her signature high heels for a pair of wedge booties for the day of activities.

When officials in Washington evaluate the consequences of the sequester, Tiara Bland wants them to consider the sixth-grade girls at Mother Seton Academy. Bland, a 22-year-old AmeriCorps member at the Baltimore academy for low-income children, said the decision by government leaders to impose across-the-board spending cuts will shortchange the urban youths who turn to her for advice on math problems and life. Bland, who aspires to be a school psychologist, is one of 17 AmeriCorps members performing education and literacy work in Baltimore for the Notre Dame Mission Volunteers.

Tawes Garden & Shop Volunteers are needed to help with a variety of gardening tasks, including planting, watering, weeding and mulching. Also needed are tour guides, particularly in April and May, to assist the teacher-naturalist with large groups. Year-round programs need chaperones for field trips as well as assistants for nature programs. Shopkeepers are needed for two-hour shifts on a weekly or bimonthly basis in the gift shop at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in Annapolis.

Thank you to all of Catonsville for helping make the 12th annual Catonsville Middle School fundraiser a success. It was a success, thanks to support from the community and a core group of dedicated volunteers, some who have children in the school but many who do not. Local businesses donating manpower and equipment is the backbone of this operation. The volunteers would not have moved 14 tractor-trailers worth of mulch without their support. We would like to thank the following businesses: John Giles of Knockorp, ABC Rentals, Wall to Wall construction/remodeling, 21st Century Solar and Electricity, Build Source, Woodland Landscaping, NDX and Enterprise Rentals.

Mavis S. "Sherry" Sheedy, a retired Baltimore public schools art teacher and longtime museum docent, died April 4 of congestive heart failure at Carroll Hospital Center in Westminster. The Reisterstown resident was 74. The daughter of a civil engineer and a registered nurse, Mavis Sherron Grantham was born and raised in Whitney, Texas, where she graduated in 1956 from Whitney High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1960 in Spanish from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and later earned a master's degree in art education from Towson University.

Among the 78 calls for medical, fire and rescue service the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department received during the period April 7-14 were the following: 100 Kenwood Avenue, 2:34 a.m. April 11. Crews from the Arbutus, English Consul and Lansdowne volunteer stations and Catonsville, Halethorpe, Randallstown, Westview and Woodlawn career stations responded to the report of a fire on the campus of the Western School of Technology and Environmental Science....