Volunteerism is a core value of community life in Marley Park. Contributions of time and talent from our neighbors is what makes this a vibrant and connected place to call home.

Leading up to National Volunteer Week, we asked residents to nominate neighbors who they felt deserved recognition for their roles as volunteers. This year’s honorees were named at a volunteer reception on Wednesday, April 17.

On behalf of the Marley Park Community Association, Inc. Board of Directors and DMB Community Life, please join us in congratulating the following honorees, as well as all volunteers, for the impact they make within our community and beyond. They are all pillars of our community and we thank them for their dedication and service.

Volunteer of the Year: Donna Bronski

Volunteer of the Year is selected by Marley Park residents through an online nomination process. This year Donna Bronski of Veranda Park received the most nominations.

Here are just a few of the many ways in which Donna has contributed in the last year.

• Served as chair of the Marley Park Transition Committee
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• Helped organize the Holiday Cookie Exchange, Mother’s Day Tea, and Veranda Park Block Party.
• Volunteered for the 
2018 Easter Egg Hunt.
• Co-lead Neighborhood Engagement for Marley Park Matters Coffee with Neighbors events.
• Served as MPCA Board of Directors secretary

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Here’s what her nominees had to say:

Donna serves on the Board and Transition Committee. She has been active in Marley Park Matters, supporting other team leaders, organizing the Coffee with Neighbor events. She helped Robin organize the Mother’s Day Tea and Cookie Exchange, she has helped with the Egg Hunt. She has also been a key organizer of the Veranda Park Block Party for the last four years!
 She helps out whenever she can and makes our community a better place.

Donna has served on the MPCA Board for over a year, seeing it through transition by not only being a Board member but a member of the Transition Committee; transition to resident control would not have been as smooth without her guidance, patience and good humor to light the way! (Seriously, she was key in keeping all the personalities of the Transition Committee working smoothly together!) She’s a long-time member of Marley Park Matters and really stepped up her game since she retired, devoting herself to organizing events (like Coffee with Neighbors) and supporting other Team Leaders (especially the Communications Team, talking me off the ledge more than once). She played a huge role in organizing the Mother’s Day Tea and the Holiday Cookie Exchange, she helped with the Egg Hunt—whenever anyone needs help, she puts up her hand! She has also been a key organizer of the Veranda Park Block Party for the last four years, bringing together 100+ neighbors for a giant potluck party (and greeting and talking with every single one of them).

Donna has not just directed her time and energy in retirement to volunteering in Marley Park, her support, her patience and her bright, sunny attitude encourages others to volunteer (or keep volunteering when we just aren’t sure we have anything left to give). Thanks to Donna’s presence organizing events seems to be less work (and more fun), meetings seem shorter and less tedious, and committees seem more productive. Even my teenaged daughter (who has been nagging me about getting this nomination in) is willing to volunteer at events or go to meetings all of her volition (without bribery or coercion) if Donna asks or will be there!



Donna has served on the Board, on committees (including the Transition Committee), been active in Marley Park Matters and been an integral part of many events (both the tea and cookie exchange would not have happened without her, she was bunny assistant for the Egg Hunt, organized the Coffee with Neighbors in the park, she’s helping with the Facebook page—if we need help, Donna is there!).

Since she retired Donna has thrown herself into working to make MP a great place to live! Hours and hours and HOURS a week of meetings and events and she is still ALWAYS positive and ready to engage her neighbors.




Brilliant Rose Award: Valerie Jackson & Young Life

The Brilliant Rose Award, a nod to the history of Marley Park’s land and the cultivation of a beautiful, blossoming community, recognizes volunteers whose spirit, commitment and service to our community are to be celebrated. This year we gave out two Brilliant Rose Awards, one to Valerie Jackson and the other to Young Life. Honorees were selected by the DMB Community Life team based upon nominations submitted by residents.

Valerie Jackson

This Founders Park resident serves our community in many ways, including:

• Leads the Philanthropic Focus Area of Marley Park Matters.
• Volunteered at all MPCA signature events in 2018.
• Chairs the Landscape Advisory Committee.
• Serves on 
MPCA Board of Directors.



Young Life

Led by Jon Cavaletto of Bumblebee Park, Young Life will do everything they can to help anytime you ask. We are thrilled to have this group as a partner and love watching these kids grow. Here are a few of the ways they helped in our community this year:

• Volunteered to help turn the Heritage Club into Neverland for Boo Bash
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• Organized PJs and Pancakes with Santa.
• Served as trash control and gate watchers at all MPCA signature events
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Legacy Award: Billy Bungert

The Legacy Award was established this year to recognize a resident volunteer who embodies the values and philosophies of Marley Park. It’s called the Legacy Award because those who will earn it have truly left a legacy in our community.

Billy Bungert of Mosaic Park is our first-ever Legacy Award honoree. She was selected by the DMB Community Life team based upon nominations submitted by residents.

For more than 12 years Billy has been a leader in our community. She’s a Marley Park original, and her love for this neighborhood shows in everything she does. To mention only a few of her accomplishments over the years, she organized the very first Marley Park block party in Mosaic Park, fundraised for the Veterans Commemorative Plaza, lead the philanthropic initiative in our community for many years, and started and led many clubs, most notably Grape Nutz.

Today, these beloved community traditions, events, and clubs are still going strong because Billy worked with neighbors to pass the torch to a new generation of Marley Park residents. Billy is moving out of our community this month, but she’s leaving behind a legacy that other residents will carry on in her absence.

We thank Billy for all she has done. 

Here is what her nominators said about her:

Billy has given so much to Marley Park during the more-than-a-decade she’s lived in our community. This past year she organized Bingo for a Cause and she supported all philanthropic events in our community. While she may not be the volunteer of the year this year specifically, I do think our community should recognize her with some sort of award for all of the philanthropic contributions she’s made in her 12 years in Marley Park. Our entire philanthropic program has been furthered so very much due to her dedication and persistence. She’s led so many donation drives over the years, brought people to feed the hungry year after year, coordinated blanket-making for children’s homes, coordinated the angel tree…the list goes on and on.


Billy has been one of the most active and supportive members of the Marley Park community over the last 12 years.
 Since she will be leaving, I hope that she will get the recognition and thanks that she deserves!