Special events and large programs require a great deal of volunteer support to make happen. We want to give a big thanks to all the volunteers who came out to support this year's TVT Challenge at Germantown and Twin Creek MetroParks and those that supported this year's Mud Day Celebration at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark--THANK YOU!
We'd like to welcome one of our newest Five Rivers MetroParks volunteers, Suchitra Nunekoppula, "Suchi"!
We met Suchi when she attended a Get Connected Help session, where she worked one on one with a volunteer coordinator to create an account and complete her qualifications and background check. She was then given an overview of how to navigate the site, find volunteer opportunities that meet her interest and availability and sign up for shifts.
Suchi became interested in becoming a Five Rivers MetroParks volunteer because she has a deep love of nature and enjoys visiting Cox Arboretum. She and her family moved here from India, where she earned a Ph.D. in Environment Science. She researched growing techniques and is looking forward to learning the methods the horticulture staff use at Cox. When asked if there was anything she'd like to share about herself, Suchi said, "I am so happy and thankful to finally have this opportunity and look forward to future involvement in related horticulture work and tree corps."
Read more about our amazing volunteers in other Volunteer Spotlights on our Volunteer Blog here.
Volunteer Positions & Upcoming Opportunities
Summer is a great time to get outside and volunteer! Check out these great volunteer opportunities available this month across your Five Rivers MetroParks!
New! Looking for opportunities where we need the most help right now? View our high-need, high-priority opportunities here. See something that interests you, but have questions? Contact a Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer.services@metroparks.org or call #937-275-7275.
Ambassadors
We're looking for Ambassador volunteers! Ambassador volunteers build awareness of the assets Five Rivers MetroParks offers to the community. Volunteers share their enthusiasm for Five Rivers MetroParks with diverse audiences at visitor centers, outreach booths, and events throughout the Miami Valley.
Check out all our Ambassador Opportunities offered in July:
Outreach Ambassador to Downtown Dayton businesses
Summer Music Series Ambassador at RiverScape
2nd Street Market Ambassador
Roaming Market Greeter
Visitor Center Ambassadors at Cox Arboretum or Carriage Hill
Sign up for an In-Person Visitor Center Ambassador Training
Visitor Center Ambassador Training: July 9, Carriage Hill
Conservation
Do you enjoy learning about birds? Volunteers are needed to monitor eastern bluebird boxes throughout the bird's nesting season (March-August). Monitoring eastern bluebird nest boxes help us track local population trends, understand how bluebird populations are reacting to environmental changes, increase the number of bluebird nesting sites, and provide us with a great activity to connect with our parks and learn more about wildlife. Click here to review the Bluebird Monitoring Training and learn how you can volunteer to support this important project.
Picture from AllAboutBirds.org
Gardening
Want to "glean" more ideas for your home garden and landscape? Get
Out & Garden with MetroParks' horticulture and education staff! Gardening volunteers support staff in caring for a variety of gardens throughout our parks. Volunteering alongside staff and other volunteers, individuals learn about plants and planting techniques. Through a shared goal to create beautiful landscapes and a bountiful supply of produce that helps to support the community, volunteering also allows you to work with like-minded people, and meet new friends. If you are interested in being a garden volunteer, you can learn more about those opportunities here in Get Connected. Don't forget to "Fan" the Gardening volunteer position to receive updates on our current volunteer opportunities in the gardens!
Interested in sharing the gardens with the public? Consider becoming a Garden Tour Guide! Read more about this exciting opportunity below under Programming.
Pictured: Volunteer Brenda Dowdy with WSU student volunteers at a gardening work day.
Park Maintenance
Come learn, grow, and give back to the trails you love with this exciting trail maintenance volunteer opportunity! Led by our staff Trail Specialist, these trail maintenance opportunities will focus on revitalizing the trail systems in the Twin Valley. Learn alongside like-minded individuals about the why's and how's in building and maintaining a sustainable trail system on these hands-on workdays. View the opportunities available here and sign up to support!
Pictured: Trail Maintenance volunteers including volunteer Ed Stevenson
Do you like getting your hands dirty, learning new skills, and supporting a variety of parks and conservation efforts? Register to volunteer at the Hills & Dales volunteer workday! The Hills & Dales volunteer workday engages volunteers in a variety of parks and conservation projects, from gardening to tree plantings, and from invasive species removal to mulching. View the opportunities available here and sign up to support!
Pictured: Park Maintenance volunteers mulching at Hills & Dales MetroPark.
Do you love history and have skills in farming, historic restoration, and farm animal care you want to share? Would you like to discover what life would have been like living on a farm in the 1880s? Make an impact by helping staff in the fields, in the barns, and around the farm at the Daniel Arnold Historic Farm at Carriage Hill MetroPark. View the opportunities available here and sign up to support!
Programming
Volunteers are needed to support a variety of fantastic paddling programs coming up this season! These introductory programs are designed to get participants comfortable on the water and teach basic paddling skills. Volunteers support the programs by assisting with participant registration, program set up and tear down life jacket fitting, and assisting participants in and out of boats. View our paddling program volunteer opportunities here and sign up to support.
Pictured: Try Paddlesports volunteers
Know someone who likes to fish, maybe even likes to fly fish? We're looking for fishing volunteers and fly fishing volunteers to support a variety of upcoming fishing programs. View the opportunities currently scheduled and sign up to support here. Or, refer a friend by sharing this information and having them contact volunteer.services@metroparks.org or #937-275-7275.
Pictured: Volunteer Phil Bush at a fishing program.
Share your passion and knowledge of gardening and horticulture! Garden Tour Guides are needed at Cox Arboretum MetroPark to share information on seasonal horticultural displays and amenities throughout the park. This in-person training includes a "mock" tour of the park so that volunteers can see how a typical garden tour is conducted. Since garden tours at Cox Arboretum often involve driving visitors on our trams, volunteers will also have to check off on the trams. If this sounds like a volunteer role you would enjoy, click here to learn more and RSVP to the training.
Pictured: Volunteer Paige Conner at Cox Arboretum.
Special Events
It's back! Save the date for this year's Wagner Subaru Outdoor Experience Saturday, October 1st, and Sunday, October 2nd at Eastwood MetroPark! Volunteers will be needed for setup, tear down, event sustainability, action sports, paddlesports, and more!
Opportunities to Support Our Partners
Wegerzyn Gardens Foundation
Gift and Garden Shop
Foundation volunteers are needed to support the Gift and Garden Shop, located at the 2nd Street Market. Proceeds from the gift shop support special projects and programs at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark. For more information or to get started as a Wegerzyn Gardens Foundation volunteer, please contact the foundation at contact@wegerzyngardensfoundation.org.
New! Safety Tip:
Staying Safe this Summer
It's officially summer and it is HOT outside! Please remember to take care of yourself and each other. Here are some good reminders for keeping us all safe this summer:
- Keep hydrated
- Work with supervisor to lighten the workloads and pace yourself
- Choose lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
- Wear sunscreen
- Take breaks, and rest indoors
- Monitor for signs of heat-related illness
- Anyone showing symptoms of a heat-related illness should be moved to a cool space immediately and contact 911.
Note that during times of high heat, volunteer shifts may be shortened or canceled to protect our volunteers and staff.
Summer not only brings high heat but also our friends, the stinging and biting insects (hornets, bees, wasps, mosquitos). Be prepared by wearing bug spray and regularly checking for ticks. Keep an eye out for any signs of possible allergic reactions which may include:
- sneezing and an itchy, runny or blocked nose (allergic rhinitis)
- itchy, red, watering eyes (conjunctivitis)
- wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and a cough.
- a raised, itchy, red rash (hives)
- swollen lips, tongue, eyes, or face.
- In the case of a severe allergic reaction, call 911.
New! Get Connected Tech Tip
Did you know you can search and filter opportunities on Get Connected to easily find the right volunteer opportunities for you? Give it a try by opening the Get Connected site and clicking on Opportunities. Once there, type keywords into the Search By box to filter the opportunities by keywords. Example: If I type fishing into the search field, the site will pull up all of the scheduled fishing program support opportunities. Try it with other keywords like gardening, trail maintenance, tree planting, weekday, weekend, high priority, morning, afternoon, evening, youth, etc.
Help Sessions Available!
Want to learn more about Get Connected or the new CauseConnect App? Or, would you like to speak with a volunteer coordinator about volunteer opportunities and get assistance in finding the right volunteer opportunity for you? Sign up for a Help Session. These in-person one-on-one sessions are a great opportunity to learn more about volunteering with Five Rivers MetroParks!
Five Rivers MetroParks has a new volunteer management system called Get Connected. This new system is where we post all our available volunteer opportunities, schedule volunteer service, and volunteer training, and track volunteer hours.
If you have previously volunteered with Five Rivers MetroParks but have not yet updated your account in the new system, you will need to do so before you can volunteer. Use this link to easily update your account and complete the online qualifications: Get Connected and Start Volunteering.
If you don't know or remember the password that was emailed to you, you can reset your password here. If you are having trouble, you can learn more about navigating the Get Connected Site here or sign up for a Help Session with a volunteer coordinator here. We are here to help you!
Volunteer Incentive Program
In October, we asked all of our long-term, current volunteers to complete their volunteer onboarding qualifications in the new Get Connected system before December 31, 2021. As a thank you, we offered our brand new breathable volunteer t-shirt to all those who did. If you are a long-term volunteer with us who completed these qualifications before December 31st and have not yet received your new volunteer t-shirt, please contact volunteer.services@metroparks.org.
If you did not meet these criteria because you were a current long-term volunteer but missed the deadline or you are a brand new volunteer--Good news! We will be offering this brand new t-shirt to all volunteers who complete 25 service hours or more with us in 2022. Additionally, we will offer our volunteer hats for those who serve 50 hours or more in 2022, and we will continue to offer our service pins.
Find an opportunity here to get outside and volunteer!
Volunteer Services
Volunteer Services is available if you have questions or need assistance in signing up.
Contact us at volunteer.services@metroparks.org or #937-275-7275.
Your Volunteer Services Team
Candy Holloway - Horticulture & Sustainability #(937) 275-5006
Yvonne Dunphe - Outdoor Connections Programming #(937) 277-4147
Allie Zimmerman - Parks & Conservation #(937) 274-3176
Janelle Leonard - Business Operations & Visitor Services #(937) 277-5445
Jenny Hymans - Human Resources Manager of Volunteer Services #(937) 567-1413
Mobile app makes it easier to explore the outdoors
MetroParks' mobile app, powered by OuterSpatial, is free and available for both iPhone and Android devices. It includes offline mapping and navigation - and access continues even without a cell phone signal.
Use the app to plan your park visit, navigate the trails, take self-guided tours, find amenities and points of interest, and much more.
Stay active outdoors with resources on Nature is Open blog, social media
Five Rivers MetroParks' Nature Is Open blog includes articles about kid-friendly trails, Backyard Bingo cards, nature-based activities, and much more! Follow MetroParks on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for even more resources aimed at helping families connect with nature and stay active outdoors.
