Last summer,
Maddy attempted to participate in our city's local Zoo Crew volunteer program.
However, toe surgeries on both great (big) toes
prevented her from being able to wear closed-toes shoes -
a must for Zoo Crew volunteers!
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| Getting ready for the first day on the job! Please excuse my messy kitchen counters -- keeping it real! |
This year those toes have mostly healed up,
And when sign-up started,
she was among the first to complete the form, send it in and become
one of the 400 volunteer students in grades 7 through 12 in the program.
This volunteer gig provides jr. high and high school students the
opportunity to learn about animals, animal
care, service to community and gain important life and job skills
at the same time.
The student volunteers help out all around the zoo, assisting
with pony rides, picking up trash, cleaning areas and giving zoo guests close up
animal experiences by showing animals in the Critter Encounter area and
other areas of our zoo.
Maddy works once or twice a week through September.
This volunteer program is a good preview of the
work world as the assigned work hours are 8 AM - 5 PM
with 30 minutes for lunch! And no snack breaks!
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| A great first day! |
She's a Monday worker and finished her first Monday this week!
It rained . . . on and off all day - sometimes heavy rain.
I worried all day wondering how it was going.
And yet, she was all smiles when I picked her up after 5 PM!
It was a fabulous day, she enjoyed it all - well, except
that her feet hurt a little bit!
She's already making plans to volunteer again next summer.
Fun Zoo Crew days ahead to be sure!
9 comments:
This is AWESOME!! What a great opportunity for her- on so many levels! I can't wait to hear how the next couple of months go for her- she will have some great memories, that's for sure!
What a great opportunity! I'm sure they were glad to have Maddy's smiling face, and it sounds like she had a fun time too! :)
Carrie
Sounds wonderful. We have a little zoo in our town that takes in wounded animals or animals that can not like back in the wild for some reason and I have always thought my kids would love doing a summer camp there.
What a great job and life skill opportunity for her. Hope she enjoys it!
How wonderful for Maddy! I know Josie would love to volunteer at our zoo too when she's old enough. Congratulations, Maddy!
What an awesome experience for her.
That sounds like such a wonderful program! My girls would love that! I think that big smile on her face says it all! :-) My husband had both feet operated on a year ago at the same time, it's a long recovery... glad she is healing well and doing better! Have a wonderful weekend!
Blessings,
Jill
What a fabulous program! Kamree will have to join her when she is older! I am so glad she enjoyed her first day!
fun! Meghan can't wait until she is old enough to do that in our town
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