PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release.
Contact: Chelle Koster Walton
239-699-4754
Caption: Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland (far left) and Refuge Manager Kevin Godsea (second from right) present (left to right) Karl Werner, Cheryl Tice, Sharon Jones, and Richard Jones with 1,500-hour awards.
Refuge, DDWS honor volunteers
“Ding” Darling Refuge and “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) celebrated their annual Volunteer Appreciation and Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 18, at The Roost at J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island.
“Gathering at The Roost for games, socializing, lunch, and awards has become the new ‘Ding’ Darling tradition,” said Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland. “Our volunteers mean the world to us, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to operate the refuge without their devoted help.”
The paella lunch was made possible through DDWS by the Is Cloak Volunteer and Visitor Services Philanthropic Fund and Tom Edgar Volunteer Endowment Fund.
Refuge staff reports that in the past year, 118 volunteers worked 10,250 hours at the refuge, the equivalent of five fulltime employees.
“As federal budgets continue to shrink, so does refuge staff,” said DDWS executive director Ann-Marie Wildman. “Our volunteers are our saving grace.”
DDWS formed in 1982 specifically to support a volunteer corps after the opening of the refuge’s first visitor center that year. More than 11,000 people visited in the first month after the center opened, overwhelming a staff unaccustomed to dealing with the inquisitive public. For more information about the refuge volunteer program, contact Ranger Tucker Phillips at [email protected].
Below is a list of volunteers who won awards for reaching hour and year achievement levels.
HOUR AWARDS
100 hours: Ruth Brooks, Rebecca Clemens, Larry Dean, Michele Fisher, Donald Grant, Jennifer Littman, Joan Martyn, Mike Terelle, Kathleen Whitcomb, Pete Wiese
250 hours: Allen Antley, Charlie Lais, Joanne Prestia, Jon Sperry, Joy Sperry
500 hours: Bill Dunn, Laurie Harkey, Ross Spencer, Vince Thomalla, Diana Wideman, Susie Wilson, Catherine Grega Boucher Albert, Laura Rudolph
1,000 hours: Susan Beittel, Robin Kirk, Bill Michels, Debbie Michels
1,500 hours: Sharon Jones, Richard Jones, Cheryl Tice, Karl Werner
2,000 hours: Elaine Swank
YEAR AWARDS
10 years: Marion Evans, Jan Lucree, Cathy Swerdlick, Tom Ware, Diane Wien
20 years: Karl Werner
30 years: Jim Sprankle
ABOUT DDWS
As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, DDWS works to support J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge’s mission of conservation, wildlife and habitat protection, research, and public education through charitable donations and Refuge Nature Shop profits. To support DDWS and the refuge with a tax-deductible gift, visit dingdarlingsociety.org or Ann-Marie Wildman at 239-789-8991 or [email protected].
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