Large Volunteer Group Assistant (Garden or Kayak)

Description

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:

  • Thursday May 7th 9:00am-12:30pm - Chaberton at the Wild Mile
    • Gardening and kayaking

  • Thursday May 7th 4:00pm-7:00pm - HDR Foundation at the Wild Mile
    • Gardening and kayaking

  • Tuesday May 19th 1:00pm-4:00pm - WTW at the Wild Mile
    • Gardening only

  • Wednesday May 20th 1:00pm-5:00pm - Fine Tune at the Wild Mile
    • Large event with Kayaking and Gardening


Please note that all of these volunteer days start with a tour of the Wild Mile. If you want to attend that tour, you are more than welcome to, but if not, feel free to show up 30 minutes or so after the start time.

Location

Location Dot Shift The Wild Mile
905 W Eastman St
Chicago, IL  60642

Shifts

Begins Duration Open Spots Respond
Tue May 19, 2026 @ 1:00pm
to 4:00pm
3.00 hours 3 of 4
Wed May 20, 2026 @ 1:00pm
to 5:00pm
4.00 hours 4 of 6