Florida State Parks Recognizes National Volunteer Month

[tflaris]

~The Florida Park Service appreciates and thanks our volunteers for more than 1.3 million hours of service.~


Dolores Schuster, Female Volunteer of the Year.

April is National Volunteer Month and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Park Service would like to congratulate the winners of the 2013 Friends of Florida State Parks Volunteer Awards. Each of the five regional offices hold ceremonies to recognize the contributions of volunteers, which include more than 7,900 regular service volunteers and 19,937 occasional service volunteers. Last year, regular service volunteers contributed 1,340,230 hours to the state park system.

National Volunteer Month celebrates and promotes the spirit of volunteerism throughout the country and raises awareness about how volunteering changes lives and strengthens communities. Over five weekends, volunteers gathered around Florida for award ceremonies. The Irene DeLaby Award recognizes volunteers who have contributed more than 10,000 hours of volunteer service. The following five people were recognized:

Don Philpott

Robert Barnett

Teresa Barnett

Jim Watson

Ronald Wipp

During the volunteer appreciation picnics held in February and March, the Friends of Florida State Parks, Inc. presented their annual awards to individuals and groups whose volunteerism has made a significant impact in the past year. The winners are selected via nomination by the Recognition Committee in nine categories. The 2013 winners are:

Adult Male Volunteer of the Year, Darrell Smith of Highlands Hammock State Park, Sebring

Adult Female Volunteer of the Year, Dolores Schuster of Henderson Beach State Park, Destin

Youth Male Volunteer of the Year, Frank Ward of Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Homosassa

Youth Female Volunteer of the Year, Erica Shewbart of Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Homosassa

Citizen Support Organization of the Year, Friends of Highlands Hammock State Park, Sebring

Special Event of the Year, Bloody Battle of Fort Mose by Fort Mose Historical Society, St. Augustine

Short Term Project of the Year, Universally Accessible Canoe/Kayak Launch by Friends of Oscar Scherer, Osprey

Long Term Project of the Year, Springs Interpretative Trail by North Florida Springs Alliance at Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park, Live Oak

Volunteer Team of the Year, Education Team at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park, North Palm Beach


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Kelly Jessop]

~Long Term Project of the Year, Springs Interpretative Trail by North Florida Springs Alliance at Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park, Live Oak

Thanks for your post Tony.

I think this is pretty cool. The interpretive trail at Peacock is recognized as the best long term project in the state of Florida. This does two things 1) give Peacock more intrinsic value because it is an educational resource 2) this was completely designed,built and paid for by cave divers!!! In recognition of National Volunteer Month,a big thank you for all the people who helped with this project.

[sskasser]

This is wonderful news!! Kelly, congratulations and thank you for spearheading such an awesome project!