Volunteer Spotlight, Girl Scouts Love State Parks Event Volunteers
Girl Scouts Love State Parks Event Volunteers
Girl Scouts Love State Parks Event Volunteers are the recipient of the 2022 Special Event of the Year for Greener Initiative.
In 2022, the statewide focus for the Girl Scouts Love State Parks event was to foster stewardship and promote conservation in our youth.
At Wekiwa Springs State Park, 114 Girl Scouts gathered to pick up litter in September 2022.
The success of this important community event can largely be attributed to the dedication of five volunteers who stepped up to work alongside Park Services Specialist Val Hahn.
- Volunteer Colleen Ryan, a resident campground host and paramedic, helped with the first aid station to ensure participant safety. She was looking specifically for heat exhaustion and possible rashes from interactions with plants.
- Volunteer Karen Hale ran the registration table for the participants. She helped set up and transport the tent, tables, buckets, pickers and forms to the event area. Karen enthusiastically greeted the participants and shared information about the activity.
- Volunteer Valerie Nieves prepared event maps that were sent to the all the registered participants. She also served as the Spanish interpreter during the event.
- Volunteer Ronnie Yarbrough coordinated a grant written by park staff, and he transported the 25 five-gallon buckets donated by Home Depot.
- Volunteer Caleigh Gilfillan is a Volunteer Relationship Manager for the Citrus Council Girl Scouts. She played a vital role in getting the advertisements sent to all local troop leaders and also served as a point of contact the day of the event. Most impressively, she was able to do a Girl Scout call that rounded up and silenced the entire crowd of participants for the interpretive program portion of the event.
- Wekiva Wilderness Trust representative Don Philpot worked with park staff to help provide the Girl Scout Patches and trash grabbers for the event.
Thanks to the volunteers who helped with the 2022 Girl Scout Love State Parks event. Because of you, the park was cleaned and more than 110 Girl Scouts learned about park stewardship.