New Times Volunteers 2022

JA NUA RY 13 - JA NUA RY 20, 2022 • VOL. 36, NO. 26 • W W W.NE W TIMESSLO.COM • SA N LUIS OBISPO COUNT Y’S NE WS A ND ENTERTA INMENT WEEK LY

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VOLUNTEERS 2022 The SLO Botanical Garden [8], Shower the People [10], and the Los Padres Forest Association [12] NEW TIMES STAFF

ROOTED

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLO BOTANICAL GARDEN

IN SERVICE The SLO Botanical Garden’s wide net of volunteers shows community members’ green thumbs

BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL

A

meriCorps member Peter LePage said that SLO County would miss Sarracino knows his volunteering out on being more aware of the nature days at the San Luis Obispo preserved in El Chorro Regional Park— Botanical Garden are limited, but it’s an and the garden itself wouldn’t exist. experience he plans to draw from for the “We would lose an opportunity to learn rest of his life. about the natural environment of the “If I’m in this area as a teacher, I’ll Central Coast. We’re a part of the Chorro definitely use it as a resource and a county regional park. The land here was component in the classroom. But also, formerly part of the National Guard, and wherever I end up, a botanical garden it was ranch land prior to that,” Sarracino nearby would be a huge resource to bring said. “It would likely either be the kids and let them see the closed off or be a part of the natural world through that impressive trail network of lens,” he said.

SLO County, but there would Sarracino wants to enroll be no exhibits of native plants in graduate school to be a and other Mediterranean trained elementary school plants educating people teacher. But he also felt the about what they are and our calling to volunteer with relationship to them.”

AmeriCorps, which not only Volunteering at the garden gave him time to save money usually happens in two-hour VOLUNTEERS for higher education but also sessions, five days a week, introduced him to the SLO depending on the department Botanical Garden. that people wish to join.

Nestled in the heart of California, LePage said that most volunteers arrive which has the highest natural botanical early in the morning to help out while the diversity in the country, the garden is one weather is still cool. of the only facilities dedicated entirely to “We average around a 1,000 volunteer plants from global Mediterranean climate hours a month. During the lower periods, zones. it’s 800 to 900 hours. During the higher Ever since the idea for a SLO Botanical periods it can get up to 1,300,” LePage Garden germinated in 1989, the garden has highlighted introducing native plants said.

LePage is training to be a docent, an to communities as they occur in nature. educational guide who provides free Its website mentions a host of services tours to public. Her time with the SLO such as water conservation and green Botanical Garden helped her discover energy, botanical research, and housing a that she wants a career where she has horticultural library. front row seats to study plants.

But the botanical garden’s roots lie “I also have realized how important in its expansive volunteering program, it is to have a job that’s really fulfilling which ranges from conducting garden maintenance to leading educational tours and serving the community in some way. Right before I left for the holidays, for the public. As AmeriCorps fellows, a little boy ran up to me at the children’s Sarracino and his peer Megan LePage garden and said, ‘I really like it here,’” are two of the garden’s newer volunteer she said. “I was kind of amazed because services leaders who joined in August 2021. Without volunteers, Sarracino and I don’t know if at that age I would have

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PITCH IN Karen Darger is among the roughly 500 volunteers who help the SLO Botanical Garden with maintenance and many other tasks.

run up to somebody and been as open and compassionate about a place I was just visiting.”

SLO Botanical Garden’s extensive volunteering network spans seven departments. Some of them, like garden and facilities maintenance, are tasks volunteers learn in the field. Others, like office assistance and marketing, require previous experience. Currently limited to just the two of them, Sarracino and LePage told New Times that the volunteer services department could benefit from expansion given the sheer range of available activities. Before their 11-month term is up this summer, the pair hopes to set up a volunteer training program to streamline management.

“Our biggest hurdle is the various different ways the volunteers have engaged with the garden and reconciling them into one uniform structure,” Sarracino said.

One of the more outside-the-box volunteer programs is the option for county residents who must fulfill courtmandated community service activities to choose the SLO Botanical Garden.

“It’s something that they can do that’s not your standard ‘picking up the trash on the highway’ kind of thing. I hope that it’s more interesting for them. We can build a connection with somebody who may not have come to volunteer before and now is enjoying it and becoming part of the community,” Sarracino said.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic completely shut down the botanical garden from April to May 2020, LePage said that volunteers soon returned because so many of their activities are outdoor-centric.

“It’s a funny juxtaposition: Our higherrisk volunteers declined, and then probably more young people [joined]. Now, it’s kinda leveling out. A lot of our retired, more sensitive population is coming back,” Sarracino said.

The volunteering duo is gearing up for Free Day at the botanical garden on Jan. 17 where community members, especially children, can explore nature and enjoy a guided walk at no cost.

One way to make the event and future happenings run smoothly? Sign up to volunteer.

“Learning about plants connects you to human history, cultural history, and science. It’s an avenue into engaging with the world in a more serious way,” Sarracino said. “If you want to learn about your local environment, or what you can do about climate change, or what you can do in your own life just to be healthier, the garden is a great place to start.

“I really became a new person when I started learning about different plants and our connections to them.” ∆ Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.

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This week’s online poll 1/13 – 1/20

What’s your favorite way to volunteer? m Helping people in need. m Working with youth. m Cleaning up the environment. m I pay my taxes and that’s enough.

Enter your choice online at: NewTimesSLO.com

CONTACT US TODAY! RiceRanchHomes.com www.newtimesslo.com • January 13 - January 20, 2022 • New Times • 9

Looking to Volunteer in the New Year?

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Join the team of volunteers that provide mobile showers to SLO’s homeless population.

All it takes is a 3-hour commitment to make a difference in others’ lives.

SHOWER LOCATIONS Sun: SLO Library (12:30p-3p) T/Th: UUSLO by Meadow Park (10a-1p) W: Grover Beach People’s Kitchen (11a-1p)

Contact our Volunteer Coordinator at: ccgrether@gmail.com Visit website for more info: www.ShowerThePeopleSLO.org

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SHOWERED WITH HOPE Thanks to volunteers, Shower the People gives its guests a chance to put their best foot forward

M

BY MALEA MARTIN

ore than six decades separate This person signs people in and Shower the People’s youngest hands out the items that Shower the and oldest People provides in addition volunteers. Ranging from 19 to the 15-minute shower: to 82 years old, people from new T-shirts, boxers, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, all walks of life help keep combs, and razors. the 100 percent volunteer“After that we have the run operation afloat. three shower units, and we Every week, rain or shine, have anywhere from two to the organization provides four cleaners,” Watkins said. showers to homeless and “The cleaners go in between low-income individuals at its VOLUNTEERS every shower and clean.” mobile stations, which are Each site also has a set up at sites in San Luis supervisor role.

Obispo and Grover Beach.

“They’re the one who Shower the People’s team of about is certain that things keep moving, is 25 volunteers includes a retired airline pilot, a retired physician, a mental health ready for the next person, because there’s usually a line of people who want to professional, and an air traffic controller, shower,” Watkins said. “They’re also the to name a few, said Gwen Watkins, ones who deal with any problems that Shower the People’s founder and general come up, and to be sure that the unit manager.

“People show up, even when it’s pouring itself is functioning correctly.”

Site supervisor Gross said he finds it rain and cold,” Watkins said. “Everything most rewarding to engage in hands-on is volunteer-run. We don’t have anybody volunteer work. who’s paid.”

“I like being out where the action is, When COVID-19 threw the right where people are getting the help organization a major curveball, the they need,” Gross said. volunteers stepped up, Watkins said.

Since the showers are mobile, Shower “When the pandemic hit, we took a the People also relies on volunteer couple months where we closed. During drivers. that time, we redid all our protocols and “We park at Saint Barnabas, the retrained our volunteers so that we could church in Arroyo Grande; they allow us deal with COVID,” Watkins said. “So we to park in their parking lot,” Watkins started up [again] after two months off, said. “So the driver will pick up the and we’ve been active ever since.” trailer and the van there and take it to Throughout the pandemic, Shower the our sites.”

People’s volunteer staff never wavered.

These volunteer positions keep the “They just want to keep helping. showers running smoothly, but behind We can see the help that it gives to the scenes, Shower the People has these people that have no other help,” Watkins said. “There was a core group of people who kept working as soon as we restarted, and most of them are still working. We were able to actually open more sites.”

A shower can seem like a minimal thing, but it has rippling positive impacts for the clients Watkins’ organization serves: It can help someone get a job and get off the streets.

“I think the volunteers are all driven by what a difference it makes—from someone coming in to take a shower, to after the shower,” Watkins said. “People are so thankful. They feel like new. I think that keeps all of us coming back.”

That’s the best part of the job for site supervisor David Gross: seeing how the showers impact the people he serves.

“It’s always heartwarming to see someone come out of the showers with a big smile on their face, especially if you could tell they had been having a rotten morning before they saw us,” Gross told New Times.

“Every once in a while, we’ll get a visit from a former guest who now has a job and a place with their own shower, and who comes back to share their success story with us, and that’s nice, too,” he said.

From writing grants to procuring donations to cleaning the showers, everything about Shower the People is volunteer-run.

“We let everybody pick their own role, because [the roles] are diverse,” Watkins said. “For actually working at the site, the first volunteer that you would meet would be the intake person.”

10 • New Times • January 13 - January 20, 2022 • www.newtimesslo.com

even more volunteers who keep the organization’s internal operations going.

“The administrative manager oversees our volunteer schedule, so that everybody can schedule themselves in,” Watkins said.

“He also procures all of our goods. He’s this incredible buyer; he looks for bargains and finds them, and it’s just remarkable the amount of work he puts in.”

Other operations positions include a data tracker, who analyzes the intake information Shower the People gets when guests check in for a shower; the operations manager, who maintains the trailers and manages repairs; and the volunteer coordinator, who is responsible for staffing. Watkins is the general manager, so she oversees all of the other roles. She also does grant writing and communications for the organization.

Right now, the mobile showers are at the San Luis Obispo library on Sundays from 12:30 to 3 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church in SLO on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and at the South County People’s Kitchen in Grover Beach on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

With plans to add a new site at the Gala Pride & Diversity Center this year, the organization is always looking for additional volunteers.

“We can handle all the volunteers that come because there is always something,” Watkins said. “Our volunteers, I can’t tell you how wonderful they are. It’s fun to work with them.” ∆ Reach Staff Writer Malea Martin at mmartin@newtimesslo.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHOWER THE PEOPLE

CHANGING LIVES Shower the People, an organization that’s 100 percent volunteer run, provides free showers to people who need them.

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www.newtimesslo.com • January 13 - January 20, 2022 • New Times • 11

NATURAL

BE A VOICE FOR A CHILD IN FOSTER CARE

STEWARDS Los Padres Forest Association volunteers with a passion for the outdoors help maintain local backcountry trails and more

BY PETER JOHNSON

Volunteer with

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CASA® of SLO County With the support of a CASA volunteer, a child in foster care is more likely to succeed, receive vital services, and find a safe, permanent home. CASA volunteers work one-on-one with a child or group of siblings. They get to know the children, gather important information from reports and professionals, and advocate for the children’s best interests related to their education, health, living arrangements, and general wellbeing. No experience is necessary. We provide all of the training you’ll need plus a dedicated staff supervisor to provide resources and support.

“Our most significant accomplishments as CASA volunteers happen every day – when an overlooked opportunity is found, a service is secured, or an adult connection is made that will help keep a child safe and give him or her an opportunity to succeed.”

Conant has led his fair share of work n the tranquility of the Los Padres vacations—having started with the LPFA National Forest at sunrise, the camp in 2005 as a volunteer, before convincing cook wakes up, rolls out of a tent, and the nonprofit’s board in 2013 to hire its starts prepping coffee, breakfast, and first-ever executive director (“I’m living bagged lunches. the dream,” he said).

After fuel and caffeine, a small army A man infected with “Los Padres-itis,” of about 20 volunteers is ready to start as he calls it, Conant just can’t get enough their day in the vast and wild Los Padres of the forest. The second backcountry—a forest that largest in the state, spanning encompasses 1.75 million five counties, Los Padres is so acres of the Central Coast. vast and diverse that there’s Their mission for the next always something new to seven to 10 days is to help discover and fall in love with, restore whatever trail or he said. trails they’ve targeted for that “There are a lot of different expedition, whether it’s in the flavors,” said Conant, a Santa Sespe Wilderness of Ventura Barbara County resident.

County or Figueroa Mountain VOLUNTEERS “The Sespe [Wilderness] has in Santa Barbara County. its own flavor. It’s got more “We get tons and tons dramatic mountains but it’s of work done,” said Bryan drier. And San Luis has nice rolling grassy Conant, executive director of the Los hills with oaks and—I love the San Luis Padres Forest Association (LPFA), a backcountry. I’ve just started learning 33-year-old nonprofit that oversees about it in the last five years and I’ve kind various volunteer projects in the forest. fallen in love with it.”

“It’s usually just trail work, mostly It’s that passion for the forest—and cutting back brush, clearing trees, and the outdoors in general—that draws redefining the tread on trails.” volunteers from up and down the Central These “work vacations,” as they’re called, Coast to contribute to LPFA-led projects. take place two to four times per year, Those volunteers run the spectrum of generate up to 1,000 cumulative hours of age, but the most dedicated workers tend volunteer labor, and are the most popular to be in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, since offering for volunteers with the LPFA. they often have more time available, What’s the payoff? A vastly improved Conant said.

Los Padres trail system, a chance to “I think most people in their 30s are connect with the forest and its stewards, having families and are busy with that and a huge sense of satisfaction. sort of thing. And then you see them start “At the end of the day, you get to see popping back again in their 40s,” he said. what you accomplished as a group, as According to an LPFA 2021 year-end an individual, as a team. And it’s there,” blog post, volunteers donated 23,000 Conant said. “It’s like wow, earlier hours of combined time to the forest last today we had to crawl through this, and now we can just walk through it like a LOS PADRES continued page 14 normal trail.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS PADRES FOREST ASSOCIATION

TRAINING CLASSES START ON JANUARY 24, 2022 For more details and to attend a Volunteer information session, visit us online at

SLOCASA.ORG 12 • New Times • January 13 - January 20, 2022 • www.newtimesslo.com

TIMBER! Los Padres Forest Association volunteers work over Thanksgiving weekend to clear the Condor Trail, blocked by a downed tree.

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year—quite a feat given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. And their contributions weren’t just on VOLUNTEERS trails. LPFA workers removed graffiti, repaired campgrounds, helped create and distribute educational material to those visiting the Los Padres, and more.

“It’s not just going on a trail and swinging a tool, though that’s what most volunteers do,” Conant said. “We also have volunteers who go out and interact with the public, work with the visitors centers, do cleanups or graffiti removals, install signs, or work with scout groups.”

Conant said that over the years, the LPFA has become more of a partner agency to the U.S. Forest Service, the federal agency that’s in charge of the Los Padres National Forest. The two groups work hand in hand these days.

“We’re in constant contact with them,” he said. “We’ve actually developed a really close relationship with them and have garnered their trust, especially in the last couple years. They are trusting us with a lot more than what we’ve been able to do in the past.”

LPFA’s growing list of responsibilities in the forest range from doing campground renovations, to taking on more advanced projects, like a recent fencing project in SLO County to block motorcyclists from accessing wilderness areas around High Mountain Road, near Lopez Lake.

Given LPFA’s increasing role, Conant said the nonprofit is always looking for new volunteers with niche skills and expertise to help bolster the organization.

“Constantly getting new people with new skills [allows us] to provide more for the Forest Service,” he explained.

One of Conant’s goals for 2022 and beyond is to pursue more forest projects in the SLO County region of the Los Padres—whether in the Santa Lucia mountain range or on the Big Sur coast.

“Most of our volunteer projects are based in Santa Barbara and Ventura, but we are starting to branch out into San Luis,” Conant said. “We have a couple of volunteers who are interested in starting to lead more regular volunteer projects out there.”

Conant noted that there are fewer Los Padres-centered volunteer groups in SLO County.

“San Luis has CCCMB [Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers], which is a very good organization for mountain bikes, but there’s not a whole lot of people caring for the wilderness areas,” Conant said. “Fortunately for San Luis, there hasn’t been a whole lot of fires in the backcountry, and fires are what really cause trail damage. It sparks this mad regrowth in the trail and all of a sudden those trails get completely overgrown again. In San Luis, the trails are in generally pretty good shape compared to a lot of the other parts of the forest, but we’re really looking forward to developing more frequent volunteer work there.”

Whatever projects LPFA takes on in the future—from 10-day work vacations in the backcountry, to short, weekend day trips—its success will depend on maintaining its base of dedicated, passionate volunteers.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood,” Conant said. “They are the heart; they are the soul; they are everything.” ∆ Assistant Editor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.

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