VALLEY VOLUNTEERS, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - 9
Unpaid work builds nonprofits’ success
From board members to laborers, volunteers are key to valley organizations. By Mike Koshmrl
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t can’t be written off on a tax return like a cash donation, but people’s donated time is arguably just as essential to the basic operations of Jackson Hole’s approximately 200 nonprofit organizations. Volunteers help groups such as Friends of Pathways keep the region’s trails clear of brush and downed logs. At the Teton Raptor Center eager unpaid workers often do the dirty work of cleaning out enclosures that house injured birds of prey. It’s the volunteers, from gradeschoolers to retirees, who help organize and supplement paid staff at countless benefits, celebrations and other events and then stick around to help clean up afterward. At the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance volunteers are used not just as helping hands but as citizens who can advocate for and influence community planning and wild lands policies. In a sense, volunteers are an extension of the organization’s voice and reach. “Really, from my perspective, we couldn’t do anything without volunteers,” said Skye Schell, the alliance’s community engagement director. “What we’re trying to do is ask them to take on more leadership. “We’re using more of a community organizing model,” Schell said, “and distributing leadership and delegating it outwards instead of concentrating all of the leadership in my hand or our hands as an organization.” Volunteers, for instance, have
PRICE CHAMBERS / NEWS&GUIDE FILE
Volunteers Keith Goudy, Tara Meyer, David Lewis and Martha Whitmore nail new top rails onto an Elk Ranch Flats Ranch fence in 2013, replacing barbed wire that was hazardous to migrating wildlife. The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation’s fence-removal and -modification projects are some of the more labor-intensive volunteer opportunities in the valley.
guided how the Conservation Alliance puts social media to use, he said. They have also pressed the town and county to fund a wildlife crossing master plan by speaking at public meetings, staffing information tables and writing letters to the editor. Unsung unpaid heroes of the nonprofit world are the people who sit on boards of directors. It’s a purely volunteer job, and in return for their time board members get little more than camaraderie and the opportunity to help direct a group — and ideally an issue — that they care about. “Amazingly the Snake River Fund has been incredibly successful while using almost no volunteers except for our board of directors,” said Margaret Creel, the fund’s program direc-
tor. “Boards are critical to the functioning of nonprofits.” At Friends of Pathways volunteers are calling the shots at the director’s table, but more often they are found out in the field. Katherine Dowson, the group’s executive director, said 323 people put in unpaid time last year, accounting for a total of 830 volunteering hours. “Most of our volunteers are working labor on our trails,” Dowson said. “It’s amazing, really, how many volunteers we use. I think really it’s in support of the Bridger-Teton as much as Friends of Pathways.” The people who clean out and open up the valley’s trails pro bono range from Jackson Hole High School students to military veterans, she said,
and they are often associated with organized community service trips. The Teton Raptor Center’s legion of 93 volunteers, called “ambassadors” within the organization, logged nearly 2,500 hours last year. They helped the Wilson sanctuary’s limited staff do just about everything, Executive Director Amy McCarthy said. A typical Raptor Center volunteer duty could be rolling up one’s sleeves to clean out a coop, preparing a tasty dead quail for a raptor’s dinner or picking up a bird from the veterinarian, she said. “We are fortunate to have them, and we wouldn’t exist without them,” McCarthy said of her faithful volunteer helpers. Volunteers have also come out of the woodwork to help where McCarthy wouldn’t have expected. “This past year we had Danny’s Lawn Care show up one day, and they said, ‘We would love to come volunteer to do your lawn for you guys,’” she said. “It was totally unsolicited. I almost fell over.” At the Cougar Fund, a small organization with a staff of two, volunteer experts are brought in to lead educational presentations. They also assist with staffing booths and blogging and even get zipped up in a full-body cougar suit to entertain children at community events, Managing Director Penny Maldonado said. “Wearing the cougar suit is a unique experience,” she said. “You can’t see and it’s so hot, and you can’t really take it off because the little kids think it’s scary. I wore it at Old Bill’s, and it was a sauna. “Next year,” she said, “I’m going to make a volunteer do it.” Contact Mike Koshmrl at 732-7067 or environmental@jhnewsandguide.com.
St. John’s Medical Center thanks our dedicated volunteers
WHEELIN’ FOR HEALIN’ CART Brianne Beale Marlise Combe Diane Hanson Mallory Harrower Denise Joy Julie Matzke Danicia Quezada Izzy Trott PET PARTNERS Lisbeth Beise and Godiva Andrew Byron and Hoback Carolyn Daily and Sam Erin Downey and Clover Suzie Kirvinskee and Zeta Nina Lenz and George Robin McGee and Roxy Karla Pendexter and Rufus Amy Rojo and Tika and Finn Pam Sather and Ozzy Amanda Soliday and Otis Bayless Sword and Hoback Ellen Wilson and Tracy FRONT DESK Franz Camenzind Anika Holmquist Olga Johnson Dave Mills Hadyn Peery Jamie Pruess
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MISCELLANEOUS (MUSIC, PAPERS, ADMIN) Vickie Giles John Huff Barb Huhn Jane Kusek Elizabeth Philbrick Fontaine Souther Casey Stout HOSPICE Bette Caesar Dori Cote Elizabeth Gerhard Christine Goodman Karen Jerger Jean Jorgensen Linda Judge Dedre Mills Debbie Phillips Karin Ralph Ellen Rein James Riley Ellen Sanford Becky Schell Carol Schneebeck Patty Pappas-Staley Rebecca Studer Jane Sullivan Rick Walls Sue Wolff Barbara Zelazo LIVING CENTER Janet Anderson Tisch Brown Doris Bystrom Bette Caesar Carol Connors Missy Crosby Elizabeth Drapela Ellae Elinwood Vickie Giles JoAnn Grant
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Robin Evans Donna Glass Valerie Goettler Connie Hansen Stephanie Harper Margaret Hochheiser Kristen Irvine Shay James Paige Jannssen Jeannine Karns Becky Kimmel Lynn Kirman Kathy Kjellgren Emily Knobloch Michelle Kren Maralyn Larson Mary Ann Lawroski Kattie LeMieux Carol Lewis Sally Linhardt Mary Lohuis Katie Long Julie Matzke Joan Palmer Linda Rode Vicki Rosenberg Suzanne Salzmann Linda Scott Laurie Squillaci Regina Schultz Janine Teske Bonnie Vorhees Jean Webber Nancy Wilbrecht Janet Wood We apologize for omitting any names. To learn more about volunteering at St. John’s, call 739 7541
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ONCOLOGY Donna Clark Becky Frisbie Marge Glick JoAnn Grant Patty Hartnett Jane Kusek Diana Larsen Dave Mills Rene’ Woodmencey