Urban Rivers is often joined by large volunteer groups, usually at the Wild Mile. Sometimes these groups are from fellow nonprofits and sometimes from companies organizing volunteer days for their employees. When the groups want to divide up, with some volunteers helping pick up litter on kayaks and others helping in the gardens simultaneously, it's difficult for Urban Rivers staff to assist both groups at once. That's where regular Urban Rivers volunteers could be really helpful.
Here is what you could do:
In the gardens, the main tasks are making sure volunteers are weeding the right plants and that everyone is wearing a life vest and generally being safe if walking on the gardens. It would be helpful if you already have a pretty good eye for our weeds, but if you want to do this and are still inexperienced, just email stephen@urbanriv.org after signing up for a shift. We can usually meetup 20 minutes or so before the group arrives to go over the current needs in the gardens.
OR (You don't need to do both)
On the kayaks, the main tasks would be making sure people are staying safe, answering questions, and getting people back around when they should be. It would be helpful if you've spent a lot of time out there volunteering for kayak clean-ups before. Ideally, you'd have taken one of the kayak rescue classes, but that's not required.
Here are the up coming volunteer days that we could use help with:
- Tuesday, August 25th, 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
- MHub, a community maker space, will be joingin us for a workday with kayak litter clean up and gardening. Two volunteers are needed at the Wild Mile.
- Wednesday, August 26th, 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
- Allstate will join us for a workday with kayak litter clean up and gardening. Two volunteers are needed at the Wild Mile.
- Thursday, August 27th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM
- A Chicago-based firm that funds energy transition (decarbonizing) projects returns for another short gardening-only service day.
- Thursday, September 3rd, 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM
- Northwestern University's water lab will join us for kayaking and garden maintenance.
- Tuesday, September 8th, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- LeapFrog will join us for a workday with kayak litter clean up and gardening. Two volunteers are needed at the Wild Mile.
