The University Retirees Volunteer Center provides opportunities for people to use their knowledge, skills, and interests in service to the University of Minnesota and surrounding communities. In the past year, more than 500 volunteers chose from a range of opportunities, contributing 7,000 service hours individually and as part of UMRA’s Silver Gopher Service Corps.
UMRA members Marjorie Savage and Michelle Trudeau-Spanjers, for example, volunteered with Great River Greening, a Minnesota-based organization that works to restore woodlands and prairies by removing invasive plants and planting native species and pollinator plants.
“It gave me the opportunity to be outdoors—with a purpose,” Savage said.
Working with Great River Greening, the Silver Gopher Service Corps is now recruiting volunteers to use their smart phones and the iNaturalist app to photograph plants, insects, and critters and then crowdsource species identification. Savage and Trudeau-Spanjers will facilitate the first session of this team-oriented project on Saturday, April 13.
In addition, some 60 volunteers are needed to assist the Office of Admissions with “Future Gopher Admitted Day” events on the Twin Cities campus on March 1, 16, or April 6. The program provides newly admitted students an exciting introduction to the campus and their colleges.
Contact the Volunteer Center at [email protected] or 612-625-8016 for details.
—Peggy Mann Rinehart