PETERSHAM – Prior to the end of his term, former President Joe Biden awarded Larry Buell, a lifelong resident of Petersham, and his wife Katja Esser with the U.S. President’s Award for Volunteer Service.

An event honoring the couple will be held at 3 p.m. this Sunday, March 16, at Petersham Town Hall. The couple were unable to make it to a ceremony held Jan. 21 in Washington DC, where Buell and Esser would have received their awards alongside other recipients.

To qualify for the honor, recipients must be able to document that they have completed at least 4,000 hours of volunteer service in their lifetime.

“I’m definitely honored to be receiving this award,” said Buell. “I’m proud that the days and hours I have contributed to my greater community are being recognized with such a prestigious award. My work has allowed me to make many of my visions come true. However, there are many others who have contributed their own service to help turn those visions into reality. This award honors not just me, but all those who have time and effort in support of my visions.”

In 1980, Buell founded the Outdoor Leadership program at Greenfield Community College. Fourteen years later, he founded the Earth Education program at GCC. He retired from the college in 2004 as Professor Emeritus of Human Ecology.

Other highlights of Buell’s volunteer initiatives include establishing the Land Back Movement to return land to the Nipmuc Indigenous people, as well as co-founding the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society, the Quabbin Visitor Center and the Petersham Friday Market.

In 1965 he served as an ambassador of sports, accompanying the Springfield College basketball team on a trip to other countries. Buell has participated in many Petersham Historical Society programs and has organized in-the-field events focusing on Sense of Place and Sacred Landscapes. He is also founder of the University of the Wild in Petersham. Overall, Buell’s volunteer service to Petersham, North Quabbin and other area communities spans six decades.

On one of her websites, Esser, a native of the Netherlands, is described as an inspirational artist, mask and costume designer, ritualist, teacher, photographer, healer, and performer. Her works have been exhibited in the Netherlands, New York and Boston. She has studied ritual mask making, different forms of movement and voice. In addition, Esser has created sacred ceremonies for the seasons since 1992 for small and large groups of people, of which the Summer Solstice at America’s Stonehenge in North Salem, New Hampshire, is most well-known.

“I’ve dedicated my life to helping people connect with their true nature within, the wild without, the earth, and our ancestors in a sacred ceremonial way,” Esser said.

Esser said she was surprised to learn of her award.

“I do these things because I believe in them, and I want young people and others to experience and better understand their connection to everything around us,” she said.

The couple were nominated for the President’s Award for Volunteer Service by Mary Swenson, a member of the President’s Awards Planning Committee. She came to know Buell and Esser while working with Buell on a project at UMass Amherst which expanded credits for students pursuing self-directed learning.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.