Wanting to Help Out

At all levels of my host site organization volunteers are an integral part. At the very top, our board and committees are completely staffed by volunteers.  We have community members from all walks of life that give their time in an executive role. Many of them go beyond the usual duties of their commitment, and pick up extra work to help with big events we put on.

Right before Christmas of 2022 our small town in Vermont got hit with a powerful windstorm. With most of MALT staff away for the holidays, it seemed that it would take months to clear all the debris that had fallen on the trail. However, it didn’t take nearly that long for the damage to disappear. Emails with trail condition reports and pictures of downed trees started to pour into our inboxes. There was no shortage of volunteers wanting to help out, and 75% of the cleanup was taken care of before I was even back from visiting family for the holidays.

This Spring we are going to start hosting regular volunteer workday events, and the response to these has been overwhelming. I get emails weekly of volunteers looking to give their time to the trail. Everyone I tell says they are interested in joining us.

I am so happy to  see how many people want to support our organization, and how they expect nothing in return.