Portland Audubon Awarded 'Outstanding Volunteer Group'

The Association of Fundraising Professionals has selected Portland Audubon as 2009 Outstanding Volunteer Group. Commissioner Nick Fish presented the award to Executive Director Meryl Redisch on December 9th.

Made up of almost 450 volunteers, many of whom dedicate over 100 hours a year to help Audubon successfully meet its mission of “Inspiring people to love and protect nature”, Audubon’s volunteers are the center of many of our accomplishments.

The 34,879 hours given by our volunteers last year effectively increased our manpower by 17.5 full-time people!  Put in fiscal terms, that amounted to $680,490 worth of manpower.  What’s more amazing is that we’ve seen an increase of 22 percent in volunteer hours since the 2007-08 fiscal year. 

“In the past few years, we have just seen a stronger commitment of people who have continually taken on more challenges and more time,” says Meryl Redisch, executive director.  “Our volunteers are spanning the spectrum of all the things we do--from the Wildlife Care Center, conservation and advocacy, to education, the sanctuary, and the Nature Store.”