Cheers for Extra Special Volunteers!
Read about extra special volunteers in this section of our website.
Winter 2010 Cheers: Sally Keller
Once in awhile, a volunteer comes along, and helps out in so many vital ways, over and over again, that you just can’t imagine the group without her. Nearby Nature’s Sally Keller is one of those wonderful folks.
A seasoned educator with years of experience, Sally enjoys kids of all ages, in all sorts of weather, inside and outside. Time after time, and often at the most critical times, Sally answers our call for help. One of our only volunteers who conducts classroom visits on her own, this winter Sally played an especially key role in our program. Almost evrery week she visited a school, teaching kids about everything from Willamette River history to aquatic animals. Thank you so much, Sally, for all your contributions to our work. We couldn’t do it without you!
Cheers for our Fall 2009 Nature Guides!
This fall, we were especially grateful to our wonderful volunteer nature guides and student interns. These folks showed up in Alton Baker Park, rain or shine (and there was LOTS of rain this fall), smiles and teaching hats on, every weekday morning from late September through mid-November. For two plus hours, they wandered the park’s woods and meadows with excited kids in tow, teaching about everything from river ecology to Kalapuya Indians. In the words of one of this fall’s visiting teachers: “Even with the torrential downpour, I kept hearing ‘That was the best field trip ever!’ all the way home.” Three cheers for the dedicated folks who spent nearly 500 hours making this program a great success this fall. An especially big thanks to interns Casey Pagels and Duncan Geisler, who spent 60+ hours each at the park this fall!
Cheers for our Spring 2009 Interns!
Wow! What an awesome group of interns we had this spring! Three big cheers for Tracy Wright, Sierra Predovich, Renee Gabriel, Yael Grundstein, Nicolette Getty-Beck, Meesh Michan, Sarah Jo Pond, and Clare Gordon. These eight enthusiastic, creative, and dedicated volunteers led nature walks (all eight) and directed pond study (Tracy, Renee, Meesh, Sierra, and Sarah). They painted murals for our Learnscape (Clare and Nicolette) and created a cool new watershed model (Sarah). They helped with the newsletter (Tracy) and worked with our composting program (Clare). We certainly would not have accomplished nearly as much this spring without them. Lucky for us, Tracy, Nicolette, and Yael will be sticking around for the summer as well. Thanks so much to all of you for your many contributions!
Cheers for our Winter 2008-2009 Learnscape Volunters!
What fun it has been to get started in earnest on our Learnscape this fall and winter! And how wonderful it has been to see a whole new crew of volunteers involved in our projects. For folks who love to get their hands dirty, their feet wet, and their brows sweaty, our site work has been so much fun. And even our artistic friends have had a chance to put their talents to work! A big thanks to Dan Peramabo for building a really cool 4’ x 8’ worm bin (vermitopia), Kelly Casad for creating two lovely murals, Teresa Finn who has come to many of our Saturday work parties and helped remov
