Volunteer
Black Warrior Riverkeeper is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. Our full-time staff relies heavily on the dedication of our many volunteers. Volunteers founded Black Warrior Riverkeeper in 2001, and have been increasingly crucial to our advocacy and education campaigns ever since. Please see the list below and let us know which project(s) you would like to lend a hand. They are listed not in order of importance, but rather in the order in which we created projects over the past months/years. We can also look into customizing a project that best fits your interests and skills. To sign up for a project, create one, or to simply donate much-needed funds to the organization, please email or call Charles Scribner at cscribner@blackwarriorriver.org or (205) 458-0095.
RIVERKEEPER "ACTION ALERT" RESPONSE TEAM
Volunteers will pledge to follow up quickly on all "Action Alert" emails that Nelson Brooke, our staff Riverkeeper and Executive Director, sends to our email list. Examples include signing petitions or calling public officials about an upcoming decision that affects water quality.
RIVER CLEAN-UPS
Volunteers will attend pre-scheduled cleanups advertised by Black Warrior Riverkeeper, and/or set up their own cleanup(s). If setting up your own cleanup, size can vary as much as needed, from a 1-person litter-pickup to a large cleanup involving an entire group. Black Warrior Riverkeeper can help provide guidelines for location selection, recycling/disposal of collected litter, and safety precautions.
EVENT PUBLICITY TEAM
Volunteers will put up fliers on campus and town sites, in stores, etc. This will help us advertise fundraisers and educational events, and also get our name, logo, and contact information more visible in the community. Event publicity may also be done via internet.
INTERNET OUTREACH: FACEBOOK & MYSPACE
Volunteers will receive instructions about how to perform various types of public outreach to Black Warrior Riverkeeper's 18,000+ Friends on MySpace.com, as well as to potential Friends. Black Warrior Riverkeeper was one of the first non-profits to use MySpace for education & outreach, and has won several MySpace outreach and fundraising awards. Outreach opportunities also exist through our use of Facebook.com "fans" and "causes" pages, as well as the Facebook "events" application.
RIVER AMENITIES RESEARCH AND OUTREACH
Volunteers will help identify and catalogue river amenities such as marinas, restaurants, camp grounds, boat ramps, etc. along the Black Warrior River and its tributaries so that Black Warrior Riverkeeper will be able to post river information on its website as a service to its stakeholders and use the information for outreach. Research will include computer and phone book research as well as research in the field to identify the amenities and to distribute outreach materials at these locations.
POLLUTION PERMIT RESEARCH
Volunteers will identify zip codes within the Black Warrior River watershed and use them to run searches for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits - permitted discharges of pollution allowed by the Clean Water Act. Searches will be run on several easy-to-use Environmental Protection Agency websites. This research helps us identify current/potential polluters. This project may also include data entry to help us organize information about current/potential polluters.
DATA ENTRY
Volunteers will receive important lists of people that Riverkeeper hopes to contact about pollution issues. Volunteers will type names, addresses, etc from these lists into Microsoft Access or Excel databases. Can be done at Riverkeeper office or elsewhere if possible. Other data entry may also merge with our Pollution Permit Research project.
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS OF NEWSPAPERS
Volunteers will choose one or more newspaper(s), whether scholastic, small town, or big city, and scan them daily for articles relevant to the Black Warrior River & its tributaries. After finding a relevant article, volunteers will write a personal letter about that article, in support of a cleaner, healthier Black Warrior River watershed. Volunteers will send their letter to the newspaper's editor for possible publication.
RESEARCHING RELEVANT EVENTS & TABLING AT THEM
Volunteers will peruse the "Calendar" section of Black Warrrior Riverkeeper's website to see if there are events listed at which they could help represent us. Volunteers will also research similar events not listed on our website. After asking us if a given event would be good for representing us, volunteers will get materials to display/distribute there at Riverkeeper's table/booth.
NEW MEMBER RECRUITING
Volunteers will provide lists of the names and addresses of friends/relatives/colleagues they think might be interested in becoming a Riverkeeper member (donor or volunteer). Our staff will then contact these potential members. Other ways volunteers can help recruit members is by contacting those friends/relatives/colleagues themselves, or by helping us prepare/mail letters to potential members identified by other volunteers. Other ways to help with New Member Recruiting include: Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and by circulating our brochures at strategic locations.
RIVERKEEPER "ACTION ALERT" RESPONSE TEAM
Volunteers will pledge to follow up quickly on all "Action Alert" emails that Nelson Brooke, our staff Riverkeeper and Executive Director, sends to our email list. Examples include signing petitions or calling public officials about an upcoming decision that affects water quality.
RIVER CLEAN-UPS
Volunteers will attend pre-scheduled cleanups advertised by Black Warrior Riverkeeper, and/or set up their own cleanup(s). If setting up your own cleanup, size can vary as much as needed, from a 1-person litter-pickup to a large cleanup involving an entire group. Black Warrior Riverkeeper can help provide guidelines for location selection, recycling/disposal of collected litter, and safety precautions.
EVENT PUBLICITY TEAM
Volunteers will put up fliers on campus and town sites, in stores, etc. This will help us advertise fundraisers and educational events, and also get our name, logo, and contact information more visible in the community. Event publicity may also be done via internet.
INTERNET OUTREACH: FACEBOOK & MYSPACE
Volunteers will receive instructions about how to perform various types of public outreach to Black Warrior Riverkeeper's 18,000+ Friends on MySpace.com, as well as to potential Friends. Black Warrior Riverkeeper was one of the first non-profits to use MySpace for education & outreach, and has won several MySpace outreach and fundraising awards. Outreach opportunities also exist through our use of Facebook.com "fans" and "causes" pages, as well as the Facebook "events" application.
RIVER AMENITIES RESEARCH AND OUTREACH
Volunteers will help identify and catalogue river amenities such as marinas, restaurants, camp grounds, boat ramps, etc. along the Black Warrior River and its tributaries so that Black Warrior Riverkeeper will be able to post river information on its website as a service to its stakeholders and use the information for outreach. Research will include computer and phone book research as well as research in the field to identify the amenities and to distribute outreach materials at these locations.
POLLUTION PERMIT RESEARCH
Volunteers will identify zip codes within the Black Warrior River watershed and use them to run searches for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits - permitted discharges of pollution allowed by the Clean Water Act. Searches will be run on several easy-to-use Environmental Protection Agency websites. This research helps us identify current/potential polluters. This project may also include data entry to help us organize information about current/potential polluters.
DATA ENTRY
Volunteers will receive important lists of people that Riverkeeper hopes to contact about pollution issues. Volunteers will type names, addresses, etc from these lists into Microsoft Access or Excel databases. Can be done at Riverkeeper office or elsewhere if possible. Other data entry may also merge with our Pollution Permit Research project.
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS OF NEWSPAPERS
Volunteers will choose one or more newspaper(s), whether scholastic, small town, or big city, and scan them daily for articles relevant to the Black Warrior River & its tributaries. After finding a relevant article, volunteers will write a personal letter about that article, in support of a cleaner, healthier Black Warrior River watershed. Volunteers will send their letter to the newspaper's editor for possible publication.
RESEARCHING RELEVANT EVENTS & TABLING AT THEM
Volunteers will peruse the "Calendar" section of Black Warrrior Riverkeeper's website to see if there are events listed at which they could help represent us. Volunteers will also research similar events not listed on our website. After asking us if a given event would be good for representing us, volunteers will get materials to display/distribute there at Riverkeeper's table/booth.
NEW MEMBER RECRUITING
Volunteers will provide lists of the names and addresses of friends/relatives/colleagues they think might be interested in becoming a Riverkeeper member (donor or volunteer). Our staff will then contact these potential members. Other ways volunteers can help recruit members is by contacting those friends/relatives/colleagues themselves, or by helping us prepare/mail letters to potential members identified by other volunteers. Other ways to help with New Member Recruiting include: Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and by circulating our brochures at strategic locations.
