Thursday, September 2, 2021
Hello everyone, we have been busy! Here is the latest…
Board of Directors
We are happy to announce the addition of three new people to the Board of Directors, bringing us to seven members. We welcome Katy Giorgio, Rebecca Glucklich, and Bill Wood. They bring skills honed from prior experience in nonprofit and business leadership roles. They have demonstrated knowledge and success in crafting effective communication and marketing methods, and have shown successful implementation of organizational vitality over time in different realms.
They are familiar with Wilderness Volunteers’ accomplishments over the years, having led or volunteered on projects themselves, and are committed to working to secure a thriving future for WV. We are happy that they will be celebrating with us next year as WV marks 25 years of public lands stewardship.
We also welcome two Board Advisers: Jacob Abel and Bill Arbour. Jacob brings his professional IT skillset to the table and will inform and assist us with such matters. Bill Arbour, a longtime WV leader, observer, and volunteer brings extensive knowledge and ability acquired in numerous leadership and supervisory roles throughout his career. He has renewed enthusiasm to advise and assist WV in outreach to new land agencies, organizations, and leader recruitment efforts.
With the addition of these dedicated individuals, we gain a wide variety of personal interests and experiences that will enhance WV’s community!
Executive Director Search
August 31 marked the final day to submit for the Executive Director position. Since we began in June, we have had over a thousand replies to our job posting and, with the help of former Board members, have been continually reviewing those replies for appropriate candidates. We have narrowed that number down to 20 – 25 candidates whose submitted applications will be reviewed in detail this weekend and 4-6 “finalists” will be chosen for interviews in the next few weeks. We expect to be offering the position to the most qualified candidate before the end of September.
Interim Website
This beautiful tool has been up and running, serving its purpose well throughout the 2021 season. This is the result of efforts from many people including our Web-building company, volunteers with IT skills, and the professional design skills of Program Manager, Aidalicia Swertfeger. Thank you all for your patience and we look forward to the new complete website in the coming weeks.
Program Update
We continue to safely and successfully field projects, despite continuing challenges with the ever-changing pandemic. To date, we’ve completed 18 projects with one currently in the field, and have eight more left on the schedule. Our many thanks to the leaders, participants, volunteers, and Program Manager, Aidalicia Swertfeger, for their continued support and dedication to Wilderness Volunteers’ mission. While we are grateful for the work accomplished thus far, wildfires and the delta variant have presented some major obstacles as we head into the last leg of our project season. We will continue to monitor risk factors for each project and make the appropriate decisions to keep our volunteers, leaders, agency partners, and communities we travel through safe.
We hope everyone will use their best judgment and tools available to stay safe and remain healthy, and we implore our volunteers to stay updated with our COVID-19 Project Guidelines.
