Celebrating Royal BC Museum Volunteers

Working From Home to Support the Museum During the Pandemic

By Sandra Hudson, Communications Consultant

Lisa Newell making origami boxes for volunteer recognition pins. Rick Harbo enjoying field work. Robb Bennett collecting spiders in the alpine.

Liz Keay, a longtime employee of the Ministry of Health, is also a volunteer, currently working from home for the botany department. Liz spends her time at home doing database work, transcribing specimen labels onto spreadsheets. Being a part of the history of BC is important to Liz, and she hopes that her work will assist in making information more accessible. Once she retires, Liz aims to expand her volunteer role at the museum—she says her only regret is that she didn’t begin volunteering sooner.

Lisa Newell has volunteered for the museum for the past two years, thanks to the Garth Homer Society, who arranged her volunteer opportunity. Normally, she works in the volunteer lounge, where Holli Hodgson, Royal BC Museum volunteer services manager, discovered Lisa’s talent for making origami boxes. During the pandemic, Lisa has been volunteering from home, making boxes for the presentation of volunteer service recognition pins. When asked about her experiences at the museum, Lisa said, “I’d like to work there forever.” Research associates have been impacted less by the pandemic than many other museum volunteers, as they already carry out their work from across BC. Rick Harbo has volunteered as a research associate at the Royal BC Museum for the past nine years, following a 36-year career with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Rick specializes in the identification and research of species around Vancouver Island and in the Salish Sea. While the pandemic has left Rick unable to visit the museum, he has carried on with his own field work, as well as writing and publishing. Rick finds it particularly rewarding to contribute to the scientific knowledge of our coast, saying he plans to continue to volunteer indefinitely.

Another research associate, Robb Bennett, has worked as a volunteer in the entomology department for the past 10 years, following a career with the BC Ministry of Forests. Robb works alongside museum staff researching the diversity of spiders in BC, which Robb calls his dream job. Throughout the pandemic, Robb has continued his volunteer work, writing articles from his home office for publication and working in his home lab. Like Rick, Robb plans to continue his volunteer role for the foreseeable future.

Thank you to all our volunteers! You inspire us every day!