Volunteer Spotlight - Dottie Cross
At 20 years old she went to Las Vegas on a whim to get away for awhile and ended up staying for the next 34 years. "In those days, big bouffant hair styles were all the rage and when I discovered that the air was dry and my hair would stay up, I knew Las Vegas was the place for me." She was too young to work in the casinos but the minute she turned 21 she became one of the first women dealers on the Las Vegas strip. She experienced a lifetime of ups and downs in Las Vegas but in 2004 Dottie was ready to hit the road and try hosting. She retired, sold her house and a prized piece of Vegas real estate and headed for Oregon and Idaho to volunteer.
She has a passion for rock climbing so she set her sights on City of Rocks National Reserve in Almo where she can combine a hobby she loves with her considerable customer service skills for half of the year. She spends her winters south of the Texas border in Mexico and is hard at work establishing the Fiona Animal Refuge.
Her advice to other volunteers…"In Vegas they always taught us, "You own it, till it's solved." And those are the words Dottie lives by when assisting each Idaho State Park customer she comes into contact with at Smoky Mountain campground. Even after donating 1,300 hours to City of Rocks she still says, "There's nothing else I want to be doing; I see no end in sight."
