The Friends of Quiet Waters Park is a nonprofit organization that supports
Quiet Waters Park through volunteering, fundraising, and advocacy.
Donations to the Friends are tax deductible.
Quiet Waters Park
is a facility of the
Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks.
All articles and images on this web site are the property of The Friends of Quiet Waters Park.
Welcome Volunteers!
Volunteers are the life's blood of an organization such as the Friends. The Friends have numerous volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Our volunteers have fun and are support many of the public events that you see in the Park. If you are interested in volunteering for the park, please click here and fill out our volunteer form.
Even if you choose not to become a member of the group, your volunteer time is always welcome.
Currently, The Friends of Quiet Waters Park is gearing up for the upcoming events. Many of our volunteer opportunities are event based.
Some of these events include:
- Earth Day (One of largest events, Saturday near the end of April)
- Summer concert series (Up to 10 Saturday evenings in July and August)
- Arts and Music Festival (A 2-day event in mid-October)
- Howl-O-Ween Barkin’ Bash (On the last Saturday in October)
We also have several committees that help organize these events and other programming throughout the year. Check out the:
Your information...
Times available for
volunteering and any
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The Friends of Quiet Waters Park
Fund Raising & Budgeting Committee
- Keep and update database of corporate donors.
- Communicate with Friends committees that require corporate donors.
- Communicate with representatives of corporate donors.
- Develop new donor relationships.
- Develop fundraising events that provide financial support to the Friends.
- Write and revise budget each fiscal year and submit to board .
- Update and renew current grants.
- Research new grant opportunities.
- Write grant applications.
Environment Committee
- Work with ranger liaison on Earth Day activities.
- Develop naturalist programming.
- Develop docent network for naturalist programming.
- Support species habitat enhancements (e.g., bluebird boxes, native meadow).
- Develop interpretive materials.
- Disperse information for Friends member communication and website.
Summer Concert Committee
- Work with ranger liaison on activities for the event.
- Coordinate with fund raising committee to obtain sponsors and contributors.
- Plan programs and other forms of publicity for the concerts and work with the printer.
- Set-up and run the Friends table at the concerts.
- Purchase items (bubbles, etc.) for sale at the Friends table.
- Arrange for announcements at the concerts concerning the sponsors and contributors.
- Run the raffle at the concerts.
- Count, categorize, and enter into the register any funds taken in at the concerts.
- Obtain volunteers with the help of the volunteer committee.
- Disperse information for Friends member communication and website.
Membership & Volunteers Committee
- Keep and update member database.
- Compose and mail membership renewal letters.
- Enter into the register any membership donations.
- Coordinate and mail membership perks (if continued).
- Disperse information for Friends member communication, online newsletter and website.
- Coordinate with events committees and park staff.
- Disperse information for website.
Member and Donor Communication (Formally Newsletter)
- Format and compose media (postcard, online calendar and newsletter, etc.).
- Enlist writers for articles, surveys and emails.
- Work with the printer (i.e., Frank Gumpert Printers).
- Coordinate with Membership and Fund Raising committees in order to obtain addresses.
- Support membership committee and database.
- Implement media distribution to membership via bulk mail or email.
Please check the activities for which you would like to volunteer...
Event Preparation Volunteer Positions:
1 Lecture Series Coordinator (Phone Training Required):
Each event will require a Lecture Series Coordinator (LSC) to work closely with the Volunteer Coordinator (VC) to help recruit help from the Friends and oversee all volunteer activity associated with the event. The LSC will be responsible for informing the park superintendent and Friends members of all event related details.
The Lecture Coordinator is also responsible for recruiting speakers for the chosen event night, gathering speaker bios, presentation summaries, headshots, and keeping track of all speakers’ contact information. Additionally, it is the LSC’s job to ask speakers what equipment will be needed for presentation, e.g. projector, laptop, internet, DVD player, etc.
The LSC is also expected to work closely with the Advertising/Marketing team to find a business or organization to sponsor the event. If a sponsor is secured, the coordinator will be the point of contact for the sponsor and will address any issues that arise from sponsorship.
The LSC will also have the responsibility of filling in where extra help is needed during the day of the event.
3-5 Advertising/Marketing Team Members:
Three volunteers are needed to help get the event info out to local newspapers, ONLINE CALENDARS, journals, environmental organizations, college campuses and university environmental departments, etc. There will be a reference list of media resources available to each volunteer.
One of the marketing volunteers will also need to make sure that the FQWP newsletter and website contain updated information.
1 Flyer Designer:
This volunteer must submit flyer to printers at least two weeks prior to the event and ensure that all flyers are printed on recyclable paper. This same person will be in charge of recruiting people to help distribute the flyers. (List of suggested locations for advertising will be provided, i.e. coffee shops, libraries, etc.)
1 Program Designer:
This volunteer will be in charge of designing the event program and deciding what information will be included. The following list is information that will need to be edited or written and included in the program:
*an introductory paragraph explaining why event topic was chosen
*speaker bios with headshots
*short presentation summaries
*thank you section for sponsors (if needed)
The LSC and Advertising/Marketing team will provide the program designer with a list of all people/organizations who helped to promote event. A section in the program must be dedicated to thanking event supporters.
Event Night Volunteer Positions:
1 Lecture Series Volunteer Moderator
RESPONSIBILITIES BEFORE EVENT:
After choosing the topic and date of event, the first job for the moderator will be to generate 2-3 questions that will tie together the different presentations being shared on the even night. These questions should be politically neutral, un-bias, and presented in a fashion that in no way attempts to represent the position of the park or county. At least one of the questions should involve a “what can we do?” action piece (MORE DETAILS INCLUDED IN TRAINING).
The questions are to be emailed to the speakers nine days prior to the event so that the speakers can prepare accordingly. Speaker contact info will be provided by the lecture series coordinator.
RESPONSIBILITIES DURING EVENT NIGHT:
On the day of the event, the moderator will be expected to arrive at 5:45 PM. There will be a checklist of items that the moderator will need to review before the evening begins.
At 6:30, the moderator will introduce the series, event topic, and panelists. After each panelist presents, moderator will ask 2-3 questions that were emailed to speakers ahead of time (time keeper will assist with moving things along). If time allows, moderator will then take a couple audience questions. At the end, moderator will wrap up event with a few closing words and thank speakers, park, FQWP, and supporters.
1 Time Keeper (Phone Training Required):
The volunteer time keeper will be introduced to the format of the event during the phone training (which should be scheduled at least a couple days prior to event) and advised of the time limits for each section.
On the night of the event, the time keeper will be required to be at the Blue Heron no later than 6:00 PM.
Jobs include setting stop watch for each speaker, providing 5 min and 1 min warnings, and making sure Q & A section doesn't go over allotted time.
1 Volunteer Photographer and/or Videographer:
This volunteer will be responsible for taking pictures and or video for website/fb pages. Volunteer will have to provide their own equipment. After the event, hi-res photos and videos should be sent to lecture series coordinator and fb administrator.
3-6 General Volunteers
There will be at least five other volunteers required for general management of the lecture events. Some of these responsibilities include:
Making sure the room is set up before an event
Making sure the room is set up before an event Welcoming speakers, giving them water, answering questions, etc
Welcoming speakers, giving them water, answering questions, etc Post event clean-up
Post event clean-up Writing thank you notes to speakers/organizations
Writing thank you notes to speakers/organizations 