Volunteer Open House - Sept 26, 2009

Date: September 16, 2009
Contact: Sparkle Bryant, 401-521-7266 ext.3006

America’s Best Idea
Volunteer Open House
Saturday, September 26, 2009  
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Please help us make America`s Best Idea even better.   Join us for a national day of service and celebration as part of National Public Lands Day Saturday, September 26, 2009.  National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands Americans enjoy. In 2008, 120,000 volunteers built trails and bridges, removed trash and invasive plants, and planted over 1.6 million trees.

As part of this year’s national call to service, Roger Williams National Memorial will sponsor an open house for prospective volunteers from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  and host a sneak peek of Ken Burns’ new documentary, The National Parks: America`s Best Idea.   The documentary, starting Sunday, September 27, is a 12-hour television series that will be broadcasted on PBS and run for six consecutive nights.

The sneak peek will consist of a preview of the film and a videotaped welcome and thank you from the Secretary of the Interior and others thanking the thousands of volunteers who contribute their time and efforts to keep America`s Best Idea going strong.  The 45-minute sneak peek will be shown in the visitor center at Roger Williams National Memorial located at 282 North Main Street in Providence at 2:30 pm. 

Plan to spend the whole day in downtown Providence learning about the city’s extraordinary history and how you can become involved telling the stories.  Pack a lunch and join us at 11:00 a.m. for Ray Rickman’s lecture, HOW PROVIDENCE BECAME A CITY: The Impact of the Hardscrabble & Snowtown Race Riots of 1824 and 1831.  Through the lens of newspapers from the period, Mr. Rickman will paint a vivid picture of a growing Providence, an African-American community seeking justice, and the role of local newspapers in creating divisions along the lines of race and class.  After the presentation, plan to stay on and join us for the volunteer open house!

Volunteers-In-Parks are Very Important People (VIPs)!    More than 390 National Parks currently offer volunteer opportunities.  Volunteers at Roger Williams National Memorial bring different backgrounds, skills, and talents and play a key role in many areas of park operations.

Some of the volunteer duties at Roger Williams National Memorial include:

• Greeting visitors and provide information about the park, partner sites, and the National Park Service.

• Staffing special events.

• Conducting research and assist with administrative tasks.

• Assisting with the maintenance of the memorial grounds and in other areas of resource management. 
  

For more information on this and other park programs, please contact Park Ranger Sparkle Bryant by phone at 401.521.7266 or by email at [e-mail].

Roger Williams National Memorial, a unit of the National Park Service, commemorates the life of the founder of Rhode Island who was a champion of the ideal of religious freedom.  Admission is free.  For more information about Roger Williams National Memorial, please visit https://www.nps.gov/rowi/