Barbara Low

Recording your recertification hours is a very important part of being a Master Gardener.  Our organization is based on gardening education and volunteers’ hours.  In addition to providing documentation for your recertification, these hours are needed to provide funding for Oregon Master Gardeners.

This task may seem daunting at the beginning, but the more you do it the easier it becomes.

Currently we are required to have

• 20 hours of approved volunteer service. Half of these hours must be in the category of direct or indirect education efforts – which are detailed on the OSU Extension website.
• 10 hours of approved continuing education.
• These 30 hours (minimum) are to be earned from November 1^st to October 31^st.

The steps are easy to follow as long as you take your time –

• Login into the JCMGA website
• Login into the JCMGA Member Portal
• On the right-hand side you will find a side bar with Member Links – click on Report Your Hours

This takes you to the OSU Master Gardener Volunteer Reporting System (VRS)

• This page has lots of good information on it. Take time to check out the following –
  • New Categories List – located on the right
  • Videos on “How to Report Hours” – located at the bottom
  • VRS Information Fact Sheet – located at the bottom
  • FYI – JCMGA does use VRS for reporting our hours
• If this is your first time reporting your recertification hours, you will need to click on the link Enrollment in VRS – located at the top left – and follow the directions.
• If you have recorded your recertification hours before, you should put in your email address and password. You have the option to have the program remember your password.
  • At the beginning of each reporting period, there is an additional step that needs to be completed before logging in. Below your password box, there will be a document to read concerning the conduct expected of all Master Gardeners. Once you have read the document, check the box and continue to log in.
• Click on the Report My Hours link – located in the left-hand side bar – about midway down.
• After entering your data, click on “Insert record” to finalize your submission. You can edit your hours at a later date if you need to do so.

People keep track of their hours in a variety of ways before they input them into the OSU Volunteer Reporting System.

• Many people use a calendar or log to keep track of them.
• Some people officially report their hours weekly, monthly, etc.
• You can enter your hours for each individual event, or you can “bundle” them. By bundle, we mean you can take the number of volunteer hours – as long as they are the same coding – for a month or longer.  You would need to explain it in the description box.

If at any time you have questions about this process, please feel free to contact Barbara Low, Sandy Hansen or Jane Moyer.

                                                     Have a wonderful year gardening!