A volunteer helps test water quality at the Saturday Stream Snapshot.

Volunteer and Community Service Opportunities:
The volunteer program is a vital component of the educational goals and quality mission of Greenacres. Volunteers enhance Greenacres' programs by sharing their unique background, skills, and knowledge while at the same time opening themselves up to many new, enriching experiences. Greenacres’ Volunteer Program has several goals:

To provide an opportunity for community involvement.
To increase the number, types, and quality of programs offered to groups.
To enhance staff expertise and supplement staff resources and experience.
To promote the conservation of natural resources, wildlife, and habitats.

In order to meet these goals, Greenacres strives to provide an environment where the skills and interests of volunteers benefit the Foundation while providing a satisfying and rewarding experience. Greenacres enhances volunteer skills and knowledge through orientation, training, and update sessions. Volunteers are encouraged to provide input into educational programming.

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer? Please sign up online and a Greenacres staff member will contact you to discuss your interests and availability.

Current Volunteer Opportunities
The following are descriptions of current volunteer opportunities. New opportunities are added as programs and needs change.

Arts Center:

Docents: The Greenacres Arts Center has volunteer opportunities for individuals willing to serve as docents for a variety of needs including working with school children during educational programming, conducting guided tours, and/or serving as support staff.

Agriculture and Environment Education:

Adopt-a-Bed: Each spring kindergarteners from local schools visit Greenacres to learn about plants. They have the opportunity to plant seeds in the garden and then return several weeks later to harvest a salad. Adopt-A-Bed gives the kindergarteners and their parents a chance to come to the garden to take care of the plants and watch their salads grow until harvest time.
Earth Explorers Junior Naturalist: High school students who enjoy nature and working with children should find this opportunity to assist Greenacres staff operate summer camps for youth grades 1-7 very rewarding. Junior Naturalists are expected to be active participants and are required to commit to a whole weeklong session.
Farm to Table Program Assistant: If you are curious about where the food we eat is raised and grown and enjoy working with children entering grades 1-5, Farm to Table Camp is the place to be.
Nestbox Caretaker: Nestbox Caretakers help assess the health of local bird populations. They collect important information such as the species of bird nesting, number of eggs laid and survival rate of chicks to fledging. This information is supplied the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Ohio Bluebird Society who study populations of native birds.
Project Feeder Watch: Project Feeder Watch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit backyard feeders in North America. This is an opportunity for participants to see how many and what types of birds feast at Greenacres feeders. The information is submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This volunteer opportunity can also be done at a home feeder. For information about the Cornell Project Feeder Watch study, visit: www.birds.cornell.edu.
Trail Monitor: Greenacres Volunteer Trail Monitors are asked to hike an assigned trail a couple of times a month and keep it clear of fallen branches and overgrown brush. Volunteers can do this alone or involve the whole family.
Volunteer Naturalist: Each year Greenacres conducts onsite programs for over 6,000 students from kindergarten through ninth grade. Volunteers Naturalists help make these programs a success. Volunteer Naturalists are trained by Greenacres staff to conduct pre-planned educational activities and hikes with the students. Programs generally run form 1-4 hours on Tuesday-Friday throughout the school year from August to June. Topics range from natural history to environmental issues.

Water Quality Project

Saturday Stream Snapshot Citizen Monitoring Program: Volunteers are needed to collect and transport water samples to coolers, to help transport coolers to the Greenacres River Lab, to help process samples at the lab under the supervision of trained lab analysts, and to enter data into the Little Miami Volunteer Database. This program is based at the Greenacres River Lab in Loveland, Ohio. Training is provided. Community service hours are offered for participation.
Macroinvertebrate Teaching Kit Assembly: Volunteers are needed to help collect and preserve macroinvertebrates and to separate the collections into like invertebrates. Volunteers are also needed to assemble the boxes, label jars, laminate keys, fill jars with alcohol, and to insert preserved specimens into the jars.
Kick Net Assembly: Volunteers are needed to help assemble homemade kick nets. Volunteers need to know how to sew and have access to their own sewing machine. Greenacres provides the pattern and supplies. The Kick Nets are used in macroinvertebrate studies of local streams.
Staffing Greenacres Water Quality Project Booths at Festivals and Fairs: Volunteers are needed to staff Greenacres booths at various events such as Earth Day at Sawyer Point, Bug Fest at Cincinnati Museum Center, Greater Cincinnati Flower Show, Paddle Fest, Ultimate Teacher Expo at the Cincinnati Zoo, Great Outdoor Weekend, and other events.
Field Assistants for Special Projects: Volunteers are needed to help with special projects. Examples include river cleanups, constructed wetlands planting and monitoring, pond restoration planting and monitoring, tree plantings, habitat assessments, and field water chemistry monitoring at Greenacres streams and ponds.

Garden Education

Greenacres Volunteer for Veggies Program: The Volunteers for Veggies Program helps Master Gardeners fulfill community service requirements for the Master Gardener Program. Garden volunteers grow vegetables for the Cincinnati Freestore/Foodbank and Cincinnati COOKS, a very successful program of the Freestore/Foodbank that teaches at-risk adults skills to become employed in the food industry. Volunteers are not required to commit to any set number of hours and participants do not have to be a Master Gardener to help. The group meets every Wednesday evening during the growing season from May - October at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenacres Old Church Site at the corner of Spooky Hollow & Loveland-Madeira Roads.
Greenacres Herb Garden Program: Volunteers are needed to help maintain and harvest the herb garden. Herb products are sold to offset the cost of maintaining the garden. In addition, the group offers herb gardening workshops to the public. The Greenacres Herb Garden Program meets at the herb garden behind the building at 8255 Spooky Hollow Road every Wednesday morning during the growing season from March-October starting around 9:30 a.m.
Greenacres Arts Center Garden Program: There are volunteer opportunities to maintain gardens surrounding the Arts Center. This is a new program and staff are still working out the details.
Greenacres Rain Garden: Volunteers are needed to maintain the Greenacres Rain Garden Demonstration at the Greenacres Art Center. The Rain Garden was planted in Fall 2007. In addition, volunteers may be asked to assist with tours of the Rain Garden.

Equine Education

Nothing available at this time.

Click here to sign-up for volunteering with one of our programs.