Location: Lincoln Park Zoo
Date: Sunday, March 23, 2014; 10:00-11:00 am
The summer that I moved to
Chicago, I spent many an afternoon exploring the city and on one such walk came
to the gates of ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’. The thing which amazed me the most was the
fact that it was completely free…I mean nothings free right? Then I attended the incredible ‘Zoo Lights’ event two years in a row,
once as a visitor and then as a volunteer with One Brick. I saw the staff members at the same Volunteer Expo where I
had met the 'Adler' staff, and I signed up for opportunities. I received an email saying there was an
orientation session this Sunday morning and I responded in affirmative.
 |
| It was still frozen outside |
I arrived at the zoo early enough,
but since the main entrance was closed, I had to find my way through to the
other entrance in slick snow and ice and then make it to the Grand
Carousel. Apparently the meeting place
was in a room below that! I was greeted
by two very friendly ladies who offered me coffee and munchkin donuts before
entering into the auditorium. Well, we
were off to a good start. I went inside
to see that about 30 people had shown up, and it definitely was a big gathering
for an orientation. I took a seat and
next to me was a table with some items and a few people dressed in zoo uniforms
standing next to it. I noticed a round
dirty looking thing and asked one of the staff memebrs what it was. She asked me to guess and I said, “Prehistoric Dirt”. Well, it was “Rhino Poo”, so I wasn’t too far off. There was also something that looked like a
small skeleton of ‘Batman’, and
indeed it was a bat.
At 10 am sharp the chief of
volunteer coordination started her speech by welcoming us and then said that
she would soon invite the various team leaders to talk about opportunities in
their groups. She gave a general overview by telling us that the zoo had over
300 volunteers and that resulted in an overall savings of over $1M. She then asked if the people in the audience
had any volunteer experience and almost everyone did. First up was the girl who had shown me the “Rhino Poo”, and she talked about her
group, which was Education. They were
recruiting for “Guest Engagement
Ambassadors”, who would educate guests by having various learning stations
throughout the zoo. There would be carts
with props and that would help the education volunteers explain concepts such
as key differences between species etc.
It sounded similar to the tasks at ‘Adler’,
though it would require extensive training for 3 days.
Next up was a lady who talked
about ‘Guest Relations Volunteers’,
otherwise known as the folks in green shirts who are spread all over the zoo. They usually help in answering visitor questions, most of which are directions to the bathroom.
The main requirement was a friendly demeanor
and a willingness to meet people. She
told us how this would be exciting since the volunteers would get to move all
over the zoo and be stationed at different locations. It required a one year commitment of 4 hours
per week. Next was a lady who spoke
about volunteer positions in retail and used a plush polar bear toy as her
prop. She said that working in retail
meant that the volunteers would always be in A/C or heat, irrespective of the
outside environment. It was clear that
all the speakers were engaged in a friendly game of one-upmanship, trying to
woo volunteers to their respective departments.
Next were folks who talked about gardening and nature pond conservation
projects as well as the opportunities in food farm. Obviously these were areas I was not
interested in and so it was down to one of the others. We also learnt that zoo had several “Special Events” throughout the year and
need volunteers for that as well.
We now had an opportunity to meet
with the various groups individually and also sign-up for interviews. I told the main volunteer coordinator about
my schedule and they said that they could work around that. There was only one interview slot that would
have worked for me, but that was taken.
I managed to convince the ladies to schedule me for a slot earlier than
normal start, but it wasn’t 100% certain that they could make it work. For the interview I had to come prepared with
a short 5 minute presentation to showcase my comfort in public speaking. Well, hopefully that wouldn’t be a
problem. As I left the zoo, I knew that
if I was to do this, I would be working with the friendliest group of people that I
have encountered with any organization. I
think I am going to enjoy this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment