United States Eventing Association

The 2023 Wrap-Up on the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program Leaderboards

This past year has been a great one for eventing in the U.S., but it was also an amazing year for members of the USEA’s Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP). Over the course of 191 events which utilized eventingvolunteers.com to track volunteer hours, an impressive 4,134 volunteers dedicated 70,720 hours of volunteer time to horse trials across the country. The Volunteer Incentive Program, which was formed in 2015, was created to recognize the USEA’s dedicated volunteers through national and area leaderboards which award year-end awards and prizes. Here are the volunteers that topped the leaderboards across the 2023 season!

The Top 10 volunteers on the national volunteer leaderboard were all VIP medal recipients. The VIP Medal Program has been recognizing volunteers who consistently serve the sport since 2020, and there are now more than 40 volunteers who have been recognized for receiving their Bronze (500+ hours) or Silver (1,000+ hours) medals through the program.

Holding strong to his lead from mid-year on was the 2023 USEA Volunteer of the Year, Jim Moyer of Gig Harbor, Washington. Moyer’s contributions throughout the year bumped him up from Bronze Medal status to a VIP Silver Medalist. He concluded the 2023 season with an impressive 687 hours of service. Coming in second place was Susan Hart of Oxford, Pennsylvania, with 663 hours, and Elizabethton, Tennessee resident David Slagle brought home third with 475 hours.

Looking over to the USEA VIP Medal Program, Slagle holds the all-time highest recorded number of volunteer hours with a whopping 1,793 recorded hours of service. Excitingly enough, if he continues on his track record Slagle might be the first-ever recipient of the coveted Gold Medal since the inception of the VIP Medal Program. A Gold Medal is awarded to volunteers who have logged a total of 2,000 hours or more of volunteer time.

New VIP Medal winners for 2023 are listed as follows:

• Silver (1,000+ hours)
  • Jim Moyer
  • Shelley Ryan
  • John Bandrofchak
  • Dennis Davis
  • Bobbie Davis
  • Margaret Potorski
• Bronze Medal (500+ hours)
  • Kimberlee Meeks
  • Roger Chick
  • Sarah Airhart
  • Beth Diamond
  • Amanda Ang
  • Vicki Baumgardner
  • John Marshall
  • Scarlett Schall
  • Cheryl Steele
  • Patricia Scott
  • Golly Martin
  • Carol Lee
  • Mary Fike

In total, there have been 47 Bronze Medals awarded and 16 Silver Medals awarded since the program’s creation on December 1, 2016. Looking at the Silver Medal recipients, six of those were crowned in 2023, as well as 13 new Bronze Medalists. What a fantastic year for the VIP program!

Several factors can influence the number of hours each volunteer has, factors including the frequency of events in each area, geography and the ease of travel and how many events are using EventingVolunteers.com. Whether it’s 100 volunteer hours or 10, every top volunteer from each area deserves recognition for their hard work! Below are the current top three volunteers from each USEA area.

Area I

1,495 hours - 145 volunteers - 15 events

1. Margaret Potorski - 50:53
2. Pat Wright - 42:42
3. Crystal Santos - 38:31

Area II

23,973 horus - 1,389 volunteers, 52 events

1. Susan Hart - 663:25
2. Dennis Davis - 319:25
3. Barbara Davis - 285:35

Area III

11,107 hours - 531 volunteers - 53 events

1. Jerry Buell - 362:37
2. Dick Owen - 326:34
3. Lynne Buell - 289:37

Area IV

1,636 hours - 130 volunteers - 7 events

1. Kelly Cross - 78:15 hours
2. Michelle Keene - 68:45 hours
3. Amy Roberts Werner - 50:30

Area V

936 hours - 127 volunteers - 10 events

1. Debra Sue Waters - 44:02 hours
2. Katie Morgan - 28:41 hours
3. Connie Buscha - 25:31 hours

Area VI

3,602 hours - 242 volunteers - 19 events

1. Mickey Sanchez - 150:25
2. Layla Schackner - 143:04
3. Golly Martin - 132:10

Area VII

4,835 hours - 266 volunteers - 11 events

1. Jim Moyer - 634:15
2. Sarah Airhart - 202:47
3. Joe Hannan - 107:15

Area VIII

21,139 hours - 1,288 volunteers - 14 events

1. Shelley Ryan - 355:30
2. Debbie Hinkle - 343:22
3. Carroll Crowl - 334:10

Area IX

1,201 hours - 105 volunteers - 8 events

1. Jameson Cahill - 62:30
2. Laurel Pye - 50:30
3. Kayla DeHart - 45:05

Area X

791 hours - 48 volunteers - 2 events

1. Elizabeth Patten - 90:04 hours
2. Terri Renwick - 63:32 hours
3. Brian Murphy - 58:26

About the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport, the unsung heroes, and the people who make it possible to keep the sport alive. In efforts to recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that volunteers put into eventing, USEA formed the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) in 2015. In 2017, an online management portal was designed for volunteers, organizers, and volunteer coordinators at EventingVolunteers.com (available as an app for iOS and Android).

Volunteer incentives include national and area recognition, year-end awards with ribbons, cash prizes, and trophies, a top ten USEA Volunteer leaderboard, and a Volunteer of the Year award which is given to the volunteer who tops the leaderboard by accumulating the most volunteer hours over the USEA competition year. Click here to learn more about the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program