September 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 114

Parks & reCreatIon at Work

Too often organizations neglect training of
volunteers as a beneﬁt.
Paw Patrol members serve as positive
role models for park visitors.
■■ ■Training-During their first six months
at the park, volunteers must complete a twohour session titled, Fundamentals Training:
Becoming Stewards, an Introduction to National Park Volunteerism, says Walters.
At this training, volunteers are asked
to fi ll out an application for the specific
position they want. After being accepted for a position, like Paw Patrol, their indepth training begins. Later, they may be
asked to participate in continuing education specific to their job responsibilities.
The Volunteer Enrichment Series, designed to provide up-to-date information,
is offered once a month.
Besides the human training, dogs
in the program must have successfully
passed the American Kennel Clubs' Canine Good Citizen certification test and
must retake it every year.
■■ ■Benefits-Volunteers get to spend time
with their dogs instead of having to leave
them home. In addition, a recognition event
usually takes place in the fall and this year
it will include a brunch, a train ride, and a
concert as well as a thank-you gift. With one
year of service under their belt, park volunteers get a personalized name badge and
earn bars that attach to the badge for every
1,000 hours of service. After 500 hours of
service, volunteers receive an American
the Beautiful Volunteer Pass, which gives
free admission into many national parks,
forests, and recreation areas for a year.
Uniforms are also provided.

" Give a Day Get a Game " at
Cincinnati Parks in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati Parks benefit from an average
of 8,000 volunteers who contribute 70,000
hours of service each year, says Christyl
Johnson-Roberts, volunteer coordinator for
Cincinnati Parks. These people serve on

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Parks & Recreation

SEPTEMBER 2011

the park board, a foundation, or advisory
councils, and they maintain garden spaces, support land management and maintenance programs, offer graphic design and
photography skills, and much more.
This year the parks partnered with the
Cincinnati Reds Baseball Team so both
could show their appreciation to the park
volunteers. Launched earlier this year,
the Give a Day Get a Game perk gives a
free ticket for a Cincinnati Reds game to
any volunteer who contributes four hours
of service.
■■ ■Training-Volunteers attend an orientation, which varies depending on the service
they will be doing, says Johnson-Roberts.
Episodic volunteers listen to a service learning talk before beginning their work while
long-term volunteers are provided with
the Give a day Get a Game perk gives
a free ticket for a Cincinnati Reds
game to any volunteer
who contributes four
hours of service.

whatever training they need. Anyone who
serves in a capacity where they pass information along to the public attends periodic
education sessions and regular meetings.
■■ ■Benefits-Since April of this year, more
than 5,000 Cincinnati Reds' tickets have been
distributed to volunteers. Johnson-Roberts
says the parks benefit from any amount of
service, so they are giving a generous gift

www.NRPA .ORG

in exchange for a generous gift of an individual's time. Volunteers receive free admission to public events that require a fee. They
are also invited to two appreciation events a
year where their hard work is honored and
new volunteer opportunities are announced.

Rewards of Recognition
Too often organizations neglect training
of volunteers as a benefit. One Internet
poster complained, " It was my fi rst time
volunteering with this agency-and it will
be my last time. When I got to the agency
there was no one there to tell me and two
student volunteers what to do. We were
ill-equipped to handle client queries: we
had not been trained and did not have expert knowledge. "
Many of the benefits provided by the
above entities aren't material items. All of
these park representatives said that their
volunteers don't care about gifts, but do
appreciate being thanked.
If you're trying to increase your volunteer
pool by adding new people, you might consider
some of the techniques
these parks use. If you
can find a popular entity to partner with, all the
better. Johnson-Roberts
says that the media attention brought in by Give a
Day, Get a Game drew
volunteers who normally
wouldn't think of serving
in a neighborhood park.
" With consistent budget cuts it is difficult to
provide gifts of appreciation for our volunteers, " Johnson Roberts says. " Benefits
like the Reds program offer a meaningful way for our volunteers to be recognized. "
HeAtHeR LARSON, of Tacoma,

Washington, frequently writes for trade
publications.

September 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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