Post by Karstscience on Jun 25, 2006 12:59:57 GMT -5
Nature lovers refurbish parks on volunteer vacations
6/24/2006
Summer is here and people are starting to think about vacation, a chance to get away from work and take it easy. But for one group of people who are already retired, they'd rather spend vacation time helping out at Texas state parks.
Sixteen people spent their week’s vacation doing manual labor at Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet. Volunteer vacations are organized by the American Hiking Society and the Sierra Club. Texas Parks and Wildlife feeds them, and volunteers sleep in tents on park grounds at night and refurbish trails during the day.
Many of the volunteers are retirees. Fred Winkler, 83, of Austin, said he retired in 1965 and now volunteers two or three weeks a year.
"No one should be able to retire until they're 85. Cause look at us fellows working at 76. Now 76 and 83, why we can still move! When I retired in 1991, there was a void in my life. And the void was meeting new people, doing tasks, working as a team," volunteer Ray Mullen said.
Sixteen people spent their week's vacation helping out at Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet.
Volunteers put in six to eight hours a day of backbreaking labor. In their spare time, they enjoy the park, going on a river cruise and exploring the caverns, which were made 500 million years ago.
"We couldn't operate the state parks without our volunteers. Last year we had a little over half a million hours of volunteer labor contributed to the parks. You're looking at a contribution of over $6 million in labor," Kevin Good of Texas Parks & Wildlife said.
It’s a win-win situation. Nature enthusiasts spend a week in a park doing something they love.
"I'm 76 years old. I love to work. I know one thing for sure. For myself, I hope I die in the woods. Seriously. If I had my preferences, it's certainly not going to be in an old folks’ home," Mullen said.
www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=165216
6/24/2006
Summer is here and people are starting to think about vacation, a chance to get away from work and take it easy. But for one group of people who are already retired, they'd rather spend vacation time helping out at Texas state parks.
Sixteen people spent their week’s vacation doing manual labor at Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet. Volunteer vacations are organized by the American Hiking Society and the Sierra Club. Texas Parks and Wildlife feeds them, and volunteers sleep in tents on park grounds at night and refurbish trails during the day.
Many of the volunteers are retirees. Fred Winkler, 83, of Austin, said he retired in 1965 and now volunteers two or three weeks a year.
"No one should be able to retire until they're 85. Cause look at us fellows working at 76. Now 76 and 83, why we can still move! When I retired in 1991, there was a void in my life. And the void was meeting new people, doing tasks, working as a team," volunteer Ray Mullen said.
Sixteen people spent their week's vacation helping out at Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet.
Volunteers put in six to eight hours a day of backbreaking labor. In their spare time, they enjoy the park, going on a river cruise and exploring the caverns, which were made 500 million years ago.
"We couldn't operate the state parks without our volunteers. Last year we had a little over half a million hours of volunteer labor contributed to the parks. You're looking at a contribution of over $6 million in labor," Kevin Good of Texas Parks & Wildlife said.
It’s a win-win situation. Nature enthusiasts spend a week in a park doing something they love.
"I'm 76 years old. I love to work. I know one thing for sure. For myself, I hope I die in the woods. Seriously. If I had my preferences, it's certainly not going to be in an old folks’ home," Mullen said.
www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=165216