Feb. 3, 2002 – When opportunity came knocking, Venus Green was on the spot and ready to respond.
After seven months as a V.I. National Park volunteer, working at whatever needed doing, she stepped into a job as concession management assistant. "I handle all the contracts," she says.
Deputy Supt. Judy Shafer says that when she is looking to hire people, the fact that a candidate volunteered for a park somewhere along the way counts for a lot. "It shows you cared for the park," she says. She said volunteering is also a way to leave a little of yourself behind.
Green was recently named the park's volunteer of the year. The Friends of the Park, a group that raises money to fund park projects, also recently named its volunteer of the year — Elizabeth Ban.
Ban is a Yale graduate student who spent last summer working on Friends projects such as redesigning the group's brochure and developing a video for use by the park.
Green had retired from the U.S. Army, where she spent 22 years as an air traffic controller. After living around the world, she was glad to return home to her native St. Thomas but wasn't ready for the rocking chair. She looked to the park for a volunteer opportunity because she enjoyed spending time there. "I like hiking," she says, noting that at one point in her volunteer career she led hikes down the Reef Bay Trail.
There are many volunteer opportunities both at the park and with the Friends group. Shafer says it would help if someone would adopt a beach or a trail to keep it up to snuff. "We're looking for a diverse range of talents in interpretation, maintenance and resource management," she says.
The Friends program coordinator, Becky Bremser, says the group needs help in its office and at the Cinnamon Bay archeology dig, which is now in the cataloging phase. Shafer and Bremser both says they will match areas of expertise and interest with a volunteer job.
And if the Friends doesn't have anything that suits you, Bremser promises, she will send you to see someone on the park staff.
There are park volunteers who have been helping for as long as 20 years. However, many of them are winter residents who leave their duties at the Visitor Center or the Trunk Bay kiosk behind when they head back north at season's end, and this leaves the park with gaps to fill.
Shafer estimates that park and Friends volunteers donate 10,000 to 12,000 hours of their time a year. Anyone else interested in joining the ranks of park volunteers should telephone Paul Thomas, chief of interpretation, at 776-6201, ext. 252. To volunteer at the Friends, call Bremser at 779-4940.
