Become part of our River Team by volunteering for a cleaner and healthier Rappahannock!

To accomplish our mission of preserving and protecting the Rappahannock, we rely on the help of hundreds of volunteers every year. Your help makes a difference!  As an FOR volunteer, you can donate your time to help us for a day at a special event, such as a river cleanup or a fundraiser, or you can sign up for longer term volunteer positions. Here are some common ways that people support us and a healther river: 

	Advocacy - Attend one of our Get the Dirt Out! Watershed Monitoring Workshops and become trained to help report erosion and sediment control violations in your area - Attend Board of Supervisor meetings in your county regarding any zoning or ordinance changes that may affect the health of the river
	Restoration - Assist with habitat restoration projects, such as tree plantings or bank stabilizations with our Student Stream Team or invasive species removal with Weed Warriors - Be a part of our annual River cleanups! Volunteers at our Spring and Fall River Clean Ups remove more than 3,000 pounds of trash from over 40 sites along the Rappahannock! - Adopt-a-Stream in your County to cleanup regularly
	Education and Outreach - Join our Livable Neighborhood program to improve water quality where you live - Staff FOR booth at events or give an FOR slideshow to civic groups - Write articles for our quarterly newsletter, River Views
	Organizational Support - Help us with data entry, mailings, website maintenance, and general operations - Join our fundraising or membership building committees - Volunteer at Riverfest, our annual Crab Feast Fundraiser as an event volunteer or assisting with the auctions - Grounds keepers: help us maintain our grounds, trails, and buildings with  your handy skills

You may be asking yourself, "How can I help? What can I do beyond the biannual Clean Ups and tree plantings? I want to make a bigger difference!" If so, you might want to consider becoming a regular volunteer or volunteer leader! 

As a small staff with lots of active programs, we constantly need the help of volunteers to achieve our conservation goals on behalf of the river! Below, you will find descriptions of some of our routine volunteer needs and positions, as well as special tasks in need of specific skills. 

For more information on any of the following volunteer opportunities (unless otherwise indicated), contact Sarah Hagan: sarah.hagan@riverfriends.org, 540-373-3448x117

General Volunteer Positions:

• Office Assistants - help assist our staff in the office with administrative needs that may include data entry or management; answering questions from visitors about FOR; helping prepare mailings, thank you cards, invitations to events, etc. We are searching for dedicated volunteers who can make a routine commitment of 2-3 hours per week. 
• Grounds Keepers - our grounds stay busy with over 6,000 children visiting them annually for our outdoor education programs and camps. As a result, we need lots of hands to help keep them safe and maintained. Tasks may include mowing, mulching and cutting back trails, removing invasive species, spraying poison ivy, etc. *Volunteers should be aware of environmental hazards like the possibility of getting poison ivy and checking for ticks. 
• Rappahannock Restore Corps! - Join our restoration efforts by helping to plant trees, removing invasive species with Weed Warriors, organizing a river clean up with friends, or helping to lead a rain barrel building workshop! 
• Conservation Art - Are you a talented artist looking to make a difference? Join our new effort to demonstrate that conservation can be both practical and beautiful by designing and painting rain barrels for sale. 
• Outreach Volunteer - Help share FOR's mission and many programs by representing us at outreach events. This is the perfect volunteer opportunity for someone who is passionate, engaging, and likes to interact with the public! 
• River Advocates - We need your help in speaking up for the river! A few times a year, we need citizens to write letters to state/federal agencies or politicians to attend public meeting to advocate for clean water. Join our River Issues e-list to be notified about these Action Alerts! 

Special Volunteer Needs:

• Film Festival Committee - Interested in inspiring activisim? Like watching movies? Come volunteer to assist in the production of the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival hosted by FOR! We need a volunteer committee to help review and choose films for our first annual film festival. Contact Rachael Poor for more details: rachael.poor@riverfriends.org, 540-373-3448x154
  
• Rain Barrels - FOR's supply of ready-made rain barrels is dwindling! If you'd like to learn to make rain barrels, take part in a rain barrel building workshop or become a volunteer leader, contact us today.
  **The next rain barrel building workshop will be held on Saturday, February 25 from 10am - 12pm at FOR HQ. Visit the events calendar to register! www.riverfriends.org/events.**
  
• Mobile Rainscapes Retrofits - We're training volunteers to implement this new program. Learn to assess runoff issues, design and size raingardens, amend soils, install rain barrels, and more!  For those with a knack for equipment, we'll train operators for our mini tractor/backhoe. 
  
• Interpretive Trip Guides - Our on-water programs and trips allow us to engage the community by providing an avenue for both recreational fun and education! Having a positive experience with the guides on the interpretive trips often prompts people to become a more active force for a healthy and scenic river. If you're interested in acting as a guide in 2012, please contact us today!
  
• Children's Fishing Program - FOR's education department leads an after-school, weekend, and summer fishing program for children.  We are looking for a skilled volunteer willing to work with and teach children about the basics of fishing.  The goal is to give our participants a life-long hobby that will deter them from pursuing less desirable activities. Please contact Cassie Pallai at cassie.pallai@riverfriends.org or 540-373-3448 x 118 if you're interested! 
   

Check out our programs supported by volunteers!

	Weed Warriors- Invasive Species Removal Participate in a morning of removing invasive species from our grounds and the Rappahannock's forest buffers. Jackie Nelson will teach you how to identify and properly remove plants such as Tree of Heaven, Purella, Kudzu, Wineberry, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Stiltgrass, Privet, Honeysuckle, Garlic Mustard, and more!  It is important to dress appropriately! Wear long pants and tennis shoes. If you have questions feel free to contact Jackie Nelson at jmn55@comcast.net or call (540) 373.3448.
	Mobile Rainscape Retrofits This brand new project aims to "slow it down, spread it out, and soak it in" when it comes to stormwater runoff. Volunteers involved in this program will learn how to assess runoff issues, design and size rain gardens, amend soils, install raingardens, and more!
	Student Stream Team Tree Plantings Join Learn and Serve students from Colonial Forge High School in a day of planting trees on sites along the Rappahannock. The vegetated area near a stream, also called the "riparian buffer," serves a critical role in the ecological integrity and health of our waters. It decreases pollution and sedimentation associated with runoff, contributes to bank stabilization, and provides habitat and corridors to native wildlife.  Help us restore the banks of our river to what they should be!  Call Hannah at (540) 373.3448 ext. 153 with questions.
	Get the Dirt Out! Workshops Become an advocate for the river by joining this citizen monitoring program that has already been successfully established on other rivers across the nation! You can help prevent pollution into our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.  Learn to identify poor erosion and sediment control practices at sites of construction or development, and how to report these deficiencies.  To learn more about the history of the Get the Dirt Out! program, visit www.getthedirtout.org.
	Bi-Annual River Clean Ups April 28 and October 20, 2012 Each spring and fall, FOR hosts a River Clean Up in conjunction with the Learn and Serve students from Mountain View High School. The cleanups attract volunteers from near and far. In the fall of 2011, volunteers collected over 7,000 lbs. of trash from more than 40 sites along the Rappahannock and surrounding streams! Visit the cleanup website to register!
	Operation Spruce Up Saturday, March 19th, 2012 from 10am- 4pm Each year we do a spring cleaning called "Operation Spruce Up." Volunteers come for a day of service assisting us with building repairs and maintenance, clean ups, trail maintenance, and more to help prepare FOR for its educational programs, interpretive trips, and spring events.  There are tasks for all skill levels. Boy/girl scout troops, school groups, individuals, and families are welcome. Handymen (and women) are always appreciated. Please contact Sarah at (540) 373.3448, or at sarah.hagan@riverfriends.org, if you're interested in participating.
	Become a Trip Guide One of the most important ways to become involved in the health of our river is by exposing its beauty and scenic qualities to others! Each year, our Calendar of Events highlights interpretive trips on the Rappahannock, including hikes, floats, tubing trips, and more.  If you have recreational experience on the river, are an experienced paddler, or have knowledge of the history and ecological diversity that thrives on the Rappahannock, and are interested in assisting on some of our trips, contact Sarah Hagan at (540) 373.3448 ext. 117.

 Click on any colored date below to register or learn more about upcoming volunteer events!

February 2012 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Come Lend a Hand...
For a Cleaner Rappahannock

For decades, individuals and groups along the tidal Rappahannock have routinely cleaned their riverfronts of accumulated trash. But some shorelines need extra help, and some don't have anyyone taking care of them at all.

In the Fall of 2011, Friends of the Rappahannock is launching this community event in the Northert Neck and Middle Peninsula to connect willing workers with shorelines in need of help.  

Our principles are:

1. We clean shorelines where we have permission, only!
2. We have fun !
3. We serve as an umbrella to match shorelines to volunteers - via this website  If you have an existing site that you have been cleaning....that's great - Thank You!   If you would like to register it here, then we will be sure to avoid duplicating your effort.   If you need more volunteers or supplies, we'll be happy to help with that, too.
4. By helping coordinate large numbers of volunteers, we hope to be able to provide support like bags, "litter gitters", and a subset of volunteers who are willing to use their boats in supporting trash removal.

So, How I Sign Up?

1.  Check the list below to see if there is a cleanup location already identified for the area you want to clean.

If there is, just click SIGN UP on the row.
If not...do you know of a shoreline you would like to clean where you can help secure landowner's permission?
  please contact Richard Moncure, Jr  (richard.moncure@riverfriends.org) or Lowery Pemberton        (lowery.pemberton@riverfriends.org) for assistance.  We'd love to add the site to our network.

2.  If you sign up online, check you email for details about your site, and about inclement weather procedures.

3.  Show up at the designation location and time...and make a difference !

If you would like to register a SITE, click here! 

Perfect for Scout Groups ! 

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

The River Thanks You!

Friends of the Rappahannock is a volunteer-driven organization.  It is the help of our many dedicated volunteers that allows us to be the voice and active force for a healthy and scenic Rappahannock. The River thanks you all!

Thank you to our 2011 Volunteers! 

Office Assistants: Janet Wright, Abbie Rogers, Hannah Hopkins, Abby Kimmitt, Kira Lanewala, Matthew Schoen, Laura Bryant, Dot Bourdon, Mary Cadwallender, Kate Cataldi, Brendan Downey, Brittany Combs, Casey Evans

Grounds Keepers: Luke Burgess, Ehren Guzman, Fred Shane, Mike Blashford, Jon Reed, Kevin Fick, Keith Jett, Jonathan McLaughlin, Matthew Randels, Matthew Schoen, Casey Evans, Ferris Hodder

University of Mary Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Challenge: UMW Women's Crew Team (Lindsay Cutler, Morgan dePaulo, Katherine Wilson, Eva Campbell, Laura Page, Maggie Auer, Casey Heigh, Amanda Hartzell, Taylor Wilson, Emily Webber, Diana Pistochini, Katherine Pistochini, Stephanie Lefferts, Alison Stevens)

Get the Dirt Out!: Angi Atkins Dodge, Mike Dodge, Rebecca Gantt, Nick Dumais, Hall Carter, Lindsay Walker, Aliyah Jameer, Janet Wright, Ehren Guzman, Samantha Corron, Abbie Rogers, Anna Smith, Jeff Anderson, Emily Montgomery, Brittany Combs, Drema Khraibani, Cynthia Battles, Melanie Szulczewski, Ed Overton

Environmental Education Interns: Marianne Mannix, Samantha Corron, Amber Collins

Graphic Design Volunteers: Ashleigh Buyers and Marlene Logan

Deck Reconstruction: Fred Shane, Bill Scaife, David Gallahan, and Christopher Neul

Technology Assistance: Brendan Downey 

World Water Day: A special thanks to our artists: Gabe Pons (PONSHOP); Jeremy Gann (Studio 22 at Liberty Town Arts Center); and students from Brooke Point, Colonial Forge, Mountain View, and Riverbend High Schools! UMW Ecology Club, Rapphannock Chapter of the Sierra Club, Tree Frederisburg, Dave Pierron, Lindsay Washington, and Dave Stumpf

Weed Warriors: Jackie Nelson, Melissa Zubick, Meredith Radel, Karen Nagy, Jenifer Guia, Matthew Randels

Citizen Water Quality Monitors: Guy Peno, Mary Ellen Stanley, Gail Wertz, Janet Wright, Grant Gates, Kristen Murphy, and Tim and Joche Koomson

Operation Spruce Up: Daria Blom, Zac Christian, Chris Casey, Greg Ebner, Jenny Slovak, Jonathan McLaughlin, Matt Mens, and Christian and Noble Arsenault

Student Stream Team Tree Planting: Susan Easter and the Learn and Serve students at Colonial Forge High School (Connor Purcell, Lizzie Archer, DJ Haskin, Brandi Owens, Kristen Castilleja, Kathleen Namey, and Courtney Penzo), Nick Easter, Tim Liebe, Austin Gonzalez, Jessica King, Melanie Domenech, Kyle Johnson, Drew Lazafazma, Kevin Namey, Ferris Hodder and Samantha Corron (UMW Eco Club), Janet Wright, Nate Curtis, and Joe Ferdinanson

Interpretive Trips: A special thanks to Bill Micks and the staff at the Virginia Outdoor Center for donating all boats and assisting with trip logistics! Trip Leaders: David Coppola (Lauck’s Island), Dr. William Trout (Historic Canal and Lock). Guides: Joan and Mike Allen, Katie Abel, Carol Brooks, Bob Sargaent, and Johnny Wolfe

Executive Committee (Board): Kandy Hilliard, Billy Withers, Ken Machande, Tracy Houck, Rebecca Hamner, Mike Fray, John Mitchell, Lisa Parish, Linda Dort, John Moen, Richmond McDaniel, Wayland Marks, Mike Cherwick, Lloyd Harrison

 A Special Thanks to our Volunteer of the Year, Janet Wright! 

Janet has already put in over 100 hours of community service with us this year. She assists weekly in our office, attends outreach events on FOR's behalf, and serves as a Citizen Water Quality Monitor, assessing the health of tributaries that run into the Rappahannock River. 

As a small non-profit with big visions, the scope of our mission, to protect and preserve a healthy and scenic river for this and future generations, extends well beyond our hard working staff. There are many faces that contribute to making FOR’s goals into realities, and it is because of the work of dedicated volunteers that we are able to achieve so much as an organization. 

Janet Wright grew up in Massachusetts, but fondly remembers summer visits to her grandparents’ farm in Nova Scotia. She recounts summers spent helping to tend and collect the vegetables, clamming at low tide, the scent of her grandmother’s baking in a stoked wood stove. As she describes these experiences, she explains:

 The River Philip bounded the farm on one side where bald eagles fished building their nests in trees near the farmhouse… [Here,] I absorbed an appreciation for the way my grandparents tended the fields, woods and animals with knowledge and care so that, as we might say today, their lives in their environment were sustainable. I also absorbed an appreciation for water - the soft water in the rain barrel, the hard water from the house well that was delicious, the mineral-laden undrinkable well-water on other parts of the farm, the questions of upstream contamination sources on the river.

She is sure that these early experiences helped to steer her courses of study later in life. A graduate from Middlebury College with a BA in Geography and later studying Hydrology at the graduate level at the University of Arizona, Janet pursued a career with the government to be a protector of our natural resources and “fix” environmental contamination. She retired in 2009 after 38 years of federal service, almost all of which was spent with the US Army Corps of Engineers. She spent the last 20 years of her career working for Headquarters in Washington, DC working in environmental cleanup programs, most recently the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program.

Prior to retirement, Janet had minimal time to pursue volunteering or recreational opportunities, like kayaking.  A Stafford resident since 1978, she was always interested in the Rappahannock and the health of the river, and in that way was member of FOR before it even existed. Since retirement, Janet has pursued many opportunities on the river. Recreationally, she, her husband, Mike, and their two sons, kayak together and have attended many of our interpretive trips over the years.  Beyond that, Janet has dedicated much of her time to FOR’s cause. She serves as one of our citizen water quality monitors; contributes to preparing for Riverfest; and donates time both inside and outside of our building assisting in the office, attending outreach events, and removing invasive species with our Weed Warriors program.

She says, “It is a privilege to volunteer at FOR.  I like the boots-on-the-ground, paddles-in-the-water hands-on approach to problem identification and problem solving; the leveraging of resources so that ideas and energy are magnified and not a penny is squandered; the opportunities for personal growth and leadership development afforded the AmeriCorps staff while they expertly handle their assignments; the enthusiasm and energy displayed in tackling issues in a very focused, methodical way.  I'm glad to be a part of it in any way I can.”

Janet is just one of many dedicated individuals that we are fortunate enough to work with and get to know through their time volunteering. We, as an organization, are so lucky to have the help and support from a community of volunteers, passionate about the river and environment around them. In my short time here, I have met so many wonderful people that to shine a spotlight on every volunteer that contributes to our mission would create a night sky, aglow with the light of a million dancing fireflies.

A special thank you to Janet and gratitude to all of our volunteers. 

This Page is currently under construction! Please check back to meet our volunteers!