It’s that time of year again! Every December we sit down to tally our volunteer hours for the year, and every December we are astounded at the generosity of our volunteers. Each year, they donate their time and talents to a variety of our projects, and this year was no exception. In 2013, over 150 individual volunteers donated almost 6,400 hours towards excavations across the Middle Peninsula, lab nights at Rosewell, making improvements to the CAPE, and representing the Fairfield Foundation at a number of area schools. Our dedicated base of volunteers also helped out this year with a (second) move due to lab flooding, assisted in staffing our successful fundraising event in May, spearheaded a brand new public archaeology collaborative endeavor at New Quarter Park (York County), and provided crucial help with reconnaissance for our Mathews County architectural and archaeological survey projects.
Richard and Forrest excavate STPs at Fort Nonsense, Mathews County
Anna, Pattie, and Sally wash cars at a fundraising car wash event next to the CAPE!
Tom and Forrest supervise a group of new volunteers in STP excavation at New Quarter Park, York County
Phew! These guys do a lot of great work! Not to mention the hundreds of hours devoted by our summer interns at sites in Gloucester, Middlesex, and even Lancaster County. It’s been a great year full of exciting projects, and we simply wouldn’t accomplish many of our goals without the help of our esteemed volunteers. It eases our minds to know we can depend so heavily on such a great group, so from the bottom of our hearts, a million thanks for all that they do!
Colleen, Bridget, Kim, Thane and Liz make the trek out to excavate at Mitchell’s Neck, Lancaster County
At lab night, Sierra and Bryce scrape away old layers of paint on the main door of the CAPE!
Tom speaks with Mathews County middle school students about archaeology
Interns Sally and Asia help instruct kids from YMCA summer camp in excavations at Fairfield plantation
We try to show our appreciation with volunteer acknowledgements throughout the year, such as our Volunteer Spotlight blogs (Pattie and Rebecca have been our test participants, with more to come!), through pictures and shout-outs on our Facebook page and on Twitter, and through highlights in our print newsletter and our recently launched e-newsletter. You can also check out a photo album of the volunteers of 2013 on Flickr. These meager attempts can in no way do our volunteers justice, which is why we dedicate one lab night each December to recognizing the amazing contributions of these extraordinary people. Stay tuned for updates and pictures from this year’s volunteer appreciation night, December 10, at the Rosewell Visitor Center – and feel free to drop by and enjoy some refreshments, even if we haven’t seen you in awhile! Come join us for another great year of volunteering in 2014!
