From time to time, the newsletter profiles one of the wonderful people who help us out at our events or make presentations that extend the reach of our organization. Board members of most non-profits are volunteers, too, and this issue honors board member Jill Kunsmann.
Jill has her fingers in most of the pies at the Observatory. She is Secretary of the organization and the head of the Development Committee, which encompasses the Events Committee. She is the public face of the Observatory’s events, and she provides much of the muscle behind the scenes. She teaches about pollinators, oversees the Observatory’s social media presence, and tracks down grant money, event venues, plants for native pollinator plant sales, box lunches, and porta-potties with equal aplomb.
Like the duck that looks serene above the surface but is paddling wildly below it, Jill pulls off all of her tasks with grace, generosity, and humor.
Before she turned her energies to the Observatory, Jill worked at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. When she’s not checking off items on her Observatory to-do list, she raises and tags monarchs and is a birder, an avid gardener, and a devoted mother and grandmother.
Jill will be giving a talk about gardening for Monarchs at the W.J. Niederkorn Library on May 9, at 10 a.m.-- she’ll be the one wearing the Monarch cape.