Tom Collins receives President's Call to Service Award

Tom received the President's Call to Service Award in February 2009 at a meeting of the TMN Hill Country Chapter at the Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville. The award was presented in recognition of his volunteer work on behalf of three organizations:  TMN Cradle of Texas Chapter, TMN Hill Country Chapter, and Sea Center Texas. At the time of the award, Tom had donated over 5000 hours of volunteer service to these organizations.

Tom was a member of the Cradle of Texas Chapter from its founding in 2001 until 2006 when he moved away from Brazoria County. He served as president of the COT Chapter during its first year, and taught several Advanced Training classes.  He also contributed several articles and book reviews to the Chapter's newsletter Chapter News.

Tom is now a member of the Hill County Chapter, based in Kerrville, Texas. The Hill Country Chapter includes Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, and Kerr Counties "located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country."  Most of Tom's work with the Hill County Chapter has been with Monarch butterfly monitoring and other butterfly counts at the parks and nature centers in the area, both as a trainer and a participant.

The Texas Master Naturalist State Office and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department were the Certifying Organizations for this award