Did you make your New Year’s resolutions? Perhaps you vowed to spend more time outside, or made a personal commitment to give more time to community organizations that support the things you love.

One of our resolutions at Friends of the Wissahickon is to bring new volunteers into the Wissahickon Valley. Through new relationships with community members, we can tackle new projects while still managing our core responsibilities as caregivers of the park.

Each year, FOW volunteers give more than 12,000 hours to help protect, preserve and enhance the Wissahickon. There are so many ways to support us — we place high value on the work volunteers do for the park and we offer many ways to make that volunteer experience a rewarding one.

We have three ways volunteers can help. In each of these areas, committed volunteers will complete core classes, learning about park history, watershed health and the Friends as an organization and its current projects. They also receive first aid/CPR/AED training. 

Once classes are completed, volunteers will have the option to pursue additional classes focused on their particular interests and expectations: 

Love working with chainsaws and other tools? Perhaps you should be a Crew Leader. These volunteers become skilled in leading volunteer work groups in the park — building trails, restoring habitat, repairing and maintaining structures, removing trash and graffiti and sharing their knowledge and expertise with others. They work directly with staff to help plan and lead volunteer workdays throughout the park. Crew leaders can choose to focus on trail work, habitat restoration, structures or trash and graffiti removal. 

Love to talk to other people? By becoming a member of the Outreach Corps, you will have the opportunity to represent FOW in the park and in surrounding communities. Many visitors to Wissahickon Valley Park aren’t familiar with FOW — these volunteers help spread the word about FOW and the work we do. 

Have you always wanted to be a park ranger? Start as an FOW Trail Ambassador. Trail Ambassadors are park docents who help visitors with anything from directions to safety needs to park history, flora, fauna and geology. 

There are some cool perks for FOW volunteers — hats, uniforms, classes about history and plants and animals in the park, discounts at Valley Green snack bar and Cedars House café, and special events like workshops, outings and lectures. 

Being a volunteer is rewarding and fun. We look forward to hearing from you! Contact FOW Volunteer Coordinator Christina Anthony at anthony@fow.org for more information.

Erin Mooney is a publicist for Friends of the Wissahickon. Reach her at erinrosemooney@gmail.com.