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"The Other Side of the Clouds" - Video by NPCA featuring Workamper volunteers. After a lifetime of world travel and a retirement spent on the road, Henk and Georgia Parson decided to park their RV in Yosemite and become full-time volunteers.
The faces of Henk and Georgia Parson could personify a poster for volunteerism for the National Park Service (NPS). In 2004, NPS honored the Parsons with a Volunteer Accessibility Achievement Award for the 1,100-plus hours each donated over a two-year span to improving accessibility for persons with disabilities throughout Yosemite National Park.
Life is full of surprises and the Melton's wouldn't have guessed decades ago what they'd being doing now. What started as the a story of a coal miner and school teacher in the hills of southeast Kentucky, turned in to the story of two volunteers at Carr Creek Lake for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge called Linda Lanoue’s name from the Workamper News Hotline. She and her husband Fred had spent a couple of winters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and had visited the refuge many times. “But we weren’t looking for jobs in the winter of 2006-07,” Linda says. “I hadn’t even been reading the Hotline, but that particular day, the ad for volunteers at Santa Ana got my attention. We thought the volunteer roles would give us a chance to experience a different type of Workamping than we had done before. We already knew that the positions would be in an interesting place that we already liked."
For Nancy and Jerry Langer, volunteering is second nature. The Langers have enjoyed volunteer positions with the Bureau of Land Management in California, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota, Camas National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, Passport in Time at Coronado National Forest in Arizona, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, Alaska State Parks, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and more.
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy clacked her ruby heels together three times and said there's no place like home to get back to Kansas. If Gary and Sharon Goodreau want to get back home they jump in their motorhome, clack their work boots together and say there's no place like Tioga-Hammond. Close to their hometown of Wellsboro, PA, Tioga-Hammond/Cowanesque Lakes project provides the perfect volunteer spot for the Goodreaus. They enjoy the recreational activities offered such as Saturday night ranger programs and watching wildlife, but they also enjoy a few months close to home.
Volunteers have important and diverse roles at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes across the country. Some serve as park hosts greeting and facilitating the stay of camping families, others staff visitor centers and run interpretive programming, some maintain park facilities, and much more. Kathy and Jack Duke began their volunteer service after discovering a potential equestrian trail at Bardwell Lake near Ennis, Texas.
Volunteering is one way to Workamp. It can have many rewards for those who choose to give of their time and efforts to an organization. For Jaimie, it has given her an RV site and special experiences.
Kirk Wood is a Workamper and professional volunteer. He has worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Workamper News caught up with him for this interview at the Escapade in Missouri.
Cliff and Ruth Ann Anderson met as singles at Beginning Experiences, a support group for divorced or widowed individuals at their Wisconsin church. Ruth Ann served as co-leader and Cliff participated, anticipating retirement from the State of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. When he announced to the group his plans to go to Georgia and Florida and volunteer in state parks, Ruth Ann spoke up, "Cliff, I've never heard of anyone doing such a thing!"
