Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Mesa Museum Honoring Its Volunteers On Saturday

Their donation of time is the equivalent of having nine full-time City of Mesa employees. The Arizona Museum of Natural History, 53 N. Macdonald, will be recognizing its talented, hard working volunteers at its annual volunteer recognition breakfast Saturday, Jan. 31st, at the Mesa Country Club. It is sponsored by the Arizona Museum of Natural History Guild.

During 2008, volunteers worked 19,016 hours at the museum. According to the Independent Specter, a leadership forum for charities, foundations and corporate giving programs, this saved the City $371,002. Of the approx. 100 active museum volunteers, more than half gave more than 100 hours in 2008. Two of the volunteers gave 785 hours.

“Especially in this economic climate, the museum would not be able to open its doors to the public if it were not for our wonderful, dedicated volunteers,” Arizona Museum of Natural History Volunteer Coordinator Yvonne Petersen said. “One of the most amazing things is that many of them volunteer at others places or in more than one area of the museum.”

The volunteers work in all areas of the museum, such as exhibits, education, gallery interpretation, Paleontology Lab, Archaeology Lab, Hands-On Adventure Center and Museum Store. If you would like to volunteer, please call the Arizona Museum of Natural History Volunteer Services at (480) 644-2760.