Volunteer Spotlight, Sue Hamburger
Sue Hamburger
Savannas Preserve State Park
In October 2015, Sue Hamburger went to Savannas Preserve State Park for a Saturday morning guided kayak tour. The tour guide, Joette Smith, talked about volunteer opportunities. Sue had already filled out an application but hadn’t heard back yet. So Joette brought her up to the Education Center and got her signed up right away. She’s never looked back!
Sue’s love for nature and Florida outdoors began as a young child when she visited Florida numerous times on family vacations. This love continued into her education as she took every ecology course offered at her college. Since then, she has continued to develop and deepen her knowledge of Florida’s environment so she can assist our visitors with everything from the history of the Savannas and the surrounding area, to the importance of the keystone species – alligator and gopher tortoises – in the park.
Today, Sue primarily spends her volunteer time at the Savannas in the Friends of Savannas officer on her computer ordering stock for the Gift Shop, sending ‘Thank you’ letters and membership cards to CSO members, filing documents in the archives and updating the Friends of Savannas website. Sue pops out occasionally to answer questions from visitors, troubleshoot the Square cash register system, and rearrange or add stock in the gift shop. She is a jack-of-all-trades as exemplified by the wide-ranging tasks she assists with at the park.
Sue’s favorite aspect about the park is that it is a preserve; we concentrate on sharing with visitors the beauty of the last freshwater marsh habitat on Florida’s east coast. This is the Real Florida. Once we can get past the preconceived notion that it’s just a quiet space - sometimes so quiet it can appear to be empty - to really see the individual plants and animals and their role in the ecosystem, you never look at this landscape the same again.