Volunteer Spotlight: Ken Brown

By Alexa Sinatra

Phipps is well-known for our beautiful gardens, seasonal flower shows, pioneering sustainability initiatives, informative educational programs and community outreach. None of our work, however, would be possible without the knowledge and dedication of our volunteers. In this series of profiles, we meet some of the people who give their time to make Phipps possible.

A typical day for volunteer Ken Brown takes place in the Tropical Forest where he picks up dead leaves and trims dead plants. Ken has been a reliable volunteer for just about 10 years. His father was very into vegetable and flower gardening which is where Ken began learning the tools of the trade. You can now find a lovely garden at his home in the South Hills featuring his favorite thing to plant, tomatoes.

Ken has experienced a lot of amazing things during his time at Phipps, but his favorite has to be volunteering with Santa Claus. He had so much fun keeping everyone in line and taking pictures of families with Santa all while savoring the holiday magic radiated by Phipps in the winter. His now 12-year-old granddaughter has been coming to see Santa at Phipps since she was a baby!

Outside of Phipps Ken dedicates his time to even more volunteering by repairing wheelchairs to be shipped to countries in need or helping respond to emergencies at the Red Cross. Ken was inspired to volunteer at Phipps because of his fascination with how perfect the displays always looked. He takes pride in contributing to these immaculate displays so that guests can be just as astonished as him.  

When asked his favorite thing about volunteering at Phipps Ken says, “At the end of the day it seems like I made a difference.” Surely, Ken will continue making a difference through his extensive volunteer ventures which Phipps is happy to be a part of!