Volunteer Appreciation 2024: Celebrating our incredible community
Our gratitude for our volunteers happens every day. Once a year though, we dedicate one week to celebrate them especially — Volunteer Appreciation Week. Here's a roundup of how we welcomed longtime and new volunteers to celebrate their efforts this year.
At WTA, our volunteers power everything we do — from hiking guide correspondents and trail crew members to ambassadors, advocates, magazine contributors and app developers. Our volunteers bring passion for the outdoors and a spirit of inclusion, not to mention a sense of humor and love of learning and dedication.
While we are grateful for our volunteers year-round, once a year we host a Volunteer Appreciation Week to celebrate everyone's efforts together.
"Plein Air" painting with Puget Sound crew leader Liza Noworyta. Photo by Liza Noworyta.
We just closed 2024's week of celebration out; here's a roundup of how we welcomed longtime and new volunteers as well as WTA members to celebrate their efforts this year.
Our volunteers love a bit of fun(ghi)
Mike Bellis — Northwest region trail crew leader and experienced mushroom hunter — shared his knowledge of mushroom gathering and foraging etiquette. The crew gathered a huge variety of mushrooms and ended the day with identification and sharing. It was a beautiful day and we learned so much!
Mike Bellis and mushroom crew. Photo by Kesia Lee.
Geology Lessons that rock your world
Geology expert (and longtime WTA partner) Gary Paull delivered an engaging presentation on the North Cascades' geology to a packed house at our new tool cache in Arlington. We just completed our new tool cache and this was our first time welcoming community members to this space. Gary's meaningful connection to protecting the North Cascades is an inspiration to the work we do and our volunteers.
Gary Paull leading North Cascades geology session at our new Arlington trail maintenance tool cache. Photo by Joe Olbrych.
Happy Babies: no bottle Required
Volunteer assistant crew leader Max Gordon, hosted a yoga class at Lake Sammamish State Park with stretches designed to prolong our hiking and trail work activities. There were plenty of downward dogs and happy babies! It was a fun, mindful way to care for our bodies after long days on the trail.
Celebrate & Gather
Our regional celebrate and gather events are when we celebrate our accomplishments and the year's award winners. You can see all the winners at our Rock Wall of Fame. The regional events include fun and good feelings as volunteers reconnect over food.
Candlelight and community at the Vancouver Celebrate & Gather Event. Photo by Andrea Waite.
Eastern Washington region celebration in Spokane! Photo by Amanda Baker
Northwest celebration at the cruise ship terminal in Bellingham. Photo by Jen Gradisher.
Olympics and South Puget Sound field manager Jeremy "Jay" Tarife sharing appreciations. Photo by Andrea Waite.
Puget Sound field manager, Joe Olbrych, recognizing Dede Chinlund with her crosscut award (500 work parties).Photo by Andrea Waite.
Online Connection: More ways to Engage with Wta
An online event showcased all the ways to get involved with WTA. It brought together familiar faces and newcomers and it was inspiring to hear what being a volunteer meant to our existing volunteers. If you missed it, you can check out the session recording to learn more about how you can support our mission.
We also showed off all the contributions of our volunteers during our our online 2024 Volunteer Statewide Celebration Presentation.
A Message of appreciation from our CEO
I want to convey my enormous gratitude to everyone who has volunteered with us and contributed to our mission this year. Every time I spend time connecting with volunteers I am inspired by the smiles, dedication and amazing work we are able to accomplish together. We couldn't do it without you! Thanks to each and every one of you for being a part of the WTA community.
WTA CEO Jaime Loucky talks to volunteer crew leader Carole Bianquis at Glendale Forest. Photo by Joe Olbrych.
There is so much to be proud of in 2024, but best of all its the community our volunteers have created. We are grateful for you and all you bring and we can't wait to see what we achieve together in 2025.
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