Volunteer Opportunities at Ocean Breeze Park
Ocean Breeze Park is a beautiful 140 acre park consisting of wetlands, grasslands and shrub forests. This area is home to an innumerable species of wildlife needing your caring hands as we work together in stewardship and restoration of our beloved park.
- Community Events: events hosted inside or near our athletic facility that may call for volunteer efforts. These may include recreation expos, outreach events, and other community gatherings. A volunteer's role could vary from setting up/breaking down, crowd control, and manning tables and crafts. Seasons: Year-Round
- Group/Corporation Volunteer Projects: school or group supervisor works with Ocean Breeze staff to arrange a time/date for one's group to come serve in our trails or in our athletic complex. Seasons: Spring-Fall
- Track meets & clinics: Ocean Breeze hosts and facilitates track sessions throughout the year. During the winter season, there are several track meets, ranging from youth to masters, that can bring up to 6,000 visitors into our athletic complex. Sometimes volunteers may assist on the floor, helping manage different stations throughout the event. We also request help for ticketing/admissions, passing out fliers, crowd control, and setting up/breaking down. Season: Winter
- Growing Champions: An important part of the WaveRunners program it to educate the children in environmental stewardship, sustainability and the importance of volunteerism in our society. All members of the WaveRunners Youth Track Club is required to complete two volunteer events per year, taking place at Ocean Breeze Park or within the Staten Island community. Learn more about the Growing Champions Program
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Development of Ocean Breeze Volunteer Program:
Vision:
NYC Parks and Recreation's vision is to create and sustain thriving parks and public spaces for New Yorkers. Its mission is to plan resilient and sustainable parks, public spaces, and recreational amenities, build a park system for present and future generations, and care for our parks and public spaces.
Volunteer needs:
- Stewardship: trail management, wetland clean up, pruning, tree work/removal, weeding, invasive plant removal, construction.
- Sports: set-up, break down, advertising, crowd control, check in/registration, customer service, moving materials, time records.
- Recreation/Community Events: Volunteers needed to assist with activities such as face paint, arts and crafts, costumes, sign-in, etc.
Trail Project Goals:
- Work with NRG to establish specific trail maintenance/park needs throughout the year.
- Create a more accommodating space for community and use trails for cross-country meets
- Maintain ecological balance of the area by planting native trees, shrubs, flowers, eliminating invasive species, etc.
- Maintain cleanliness of the area and enhance scenic landscape through litter/debris disposal and planting projects.
- Educate volunteers on the park area and the importance of stewardship through service-learning projects and working with partners for outdoor activities.
- Limit the disturbance to wildlife and protect the habitat by monitoring presence of various species in park.
- Protect and preserve wetland and upland areas through invasive removal and citizen science projects like checking water/soil quality
- Develop and construct methods of drainage control to prevent further erosion.
Volunteer Management Goals:
- Increase Ocean Breeze volunteer base and strengthen partnerships.
- Work towards completing trail developments with volunteers.
- Educate volunteers on specific volunteer tasks, proper techniques, relevant plants/invasives.
- Ensure safety first with all volunteer projects, indoor and outdoor.
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Ocean Breeze Green Team
Volunteers will be participating in hands-on projects in our park and green spaces. This may include trail maintenance, clean-up projects, invasive weed removal, planting, and other environmental projects. The Ocean Breeze Green Team includes environmental and stewardship projects for volunteers in the trails and at the facility. Tasks will include hands-on work like planting, mulching, debris removal, shoveling, crafting, and more. Equipment for the volunteer project will be provided, but we ask if you have lawn and garden gloves to please bring them with you. Projects will be hosted outdoors.
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