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  • Marcia West
    • Apr 28

Celebrating Hidden Valley volunteers




National Volunteer Week | April 21 – 27


To all our volunteers who selflessly gift their time to keep Hidden Valley a wonderful green space for all of us to enjoy — thank you!

 

As National Volunteer Week 2024 draws to a close, we want to express our sincere gratitude to each of you:

 

Lawrence Hidden Valley Committee

  • Jeff Bandle (chair)

  • Sarah Meinershagen (vice chair)

  • Chris Bandle (treasurer)

  • Emily Boedeker (secretary)

  • Kyra Flummerfelt

  • Ann Marie Boncella

  • Cassie Donahey

  • Charlie Evans

  • Tina Imbrogno

  • Tracey LaPierre

  • Laura Phillips

  • Cami Torres

  • Lysette DeBoard (2023)

 

Friends of Hidden Valley

  • Cindy Riling (chair)

  • Gwen Macpherson (vice chair)

  • Laurie Martin-Frydman (secretary)

  • Patsy Moody (treasurer)

  • Amanda Atkins

  • Jenny Gleason

  • Karen Lassman

  • Mindie Paget

  • Gayle Sigurdson

  • Marcia West

  • Lily Yu

  • Ken Lassman (2023)

  • Lisa Barnes (2023)

  • Paula Wunder (2023)

 

These two groups demonstrate tireless dedication to preserving the camp. They also encourage and promote the camp’s growth through individual and group learning experiences that are diverse, fun and challenging. 

 

Hiking Patrol

  • Jill Giele

  • Nancy Jorn

 

Jill and Nancy serve as contacts and coordinators for the Hidden Valley Hiking Patrol. They keep watch over the camp by walking the trails and making sure all buildings are secure and in good condition. They follow up with email reports that are fun to read and often include pictures of plants and animals.

 

Honeysuckle Warriors

  • Durand Reiber (coordinator)

  • Bob Dinsdale

  • Joe Douglas

  • Jeff Erikson

  • Tom Guba

  • Mike Huslig

  • Dan Lonnquist

  • Jan McElwain

  • Patsy Moody

  • Bruce Nightengale

  • Bob Oakes

  • Cindy Riling

  • Susan Stahl

  • Bob Topping

  • John Topping

 

This is the 13th season since 2011 that the Honeysuckle Warriors have battled this invasive shrub at Hidden Valley. Thirteen volunteers spent 185 hours cutting, hauling and burning the wood into biochar and using it on trails and for plantings. Blooming honeysuckle is beautiful, but it chokes out important flora and fauna at our beautiful camp. It may seem bare without it, but we will benefit from it being gone.

 

Miscellaneous

  • Thank you to Durand Reiber for starting the Valley Gardeners volunteer group, now in their second season maintaining the pollinator gardens throughout the camp. Durand and Susan Iverson worked April 15 in the Friends Memorial Butterfly Garden transplanting a native ground cover called Packera obovata onto the eroding hillside. They also dug up a flat of this ground cover to be transplanted to gardens bordering the walkway to Redbud Shelter.  

 

  • Thank you to Bob Topping for his volunteer work with the Morning Song Forest School students.

 

  • Thank you to Jill Baringer for tending our Hidden Valley bluebird boxes. We are excited to now have six bluebird boxes; Cindy Riling will be taking over the care and tending of the boxes.

 

  • Thanks to all the Service Unit 716 Girl Scouts and troop leaders who help with Hidden Valley volunteer days, special projects, badges, patches — and even Bronze Awards that focus on efforts such as eradicating invasive species like garlic mustard. 

 

  • Thank you to KU’s Big Event program, to Delta Gamma sorority for their support this April, and to Tri Delta sorority for their support at the November volunteer day. 

 

  • Thank you to all the student volunteers from Lawrence High School, Free State High School and Bishop Seabury Academy who work hard at Hidden Valley Volunteer Days each year with smiles on their faces.

 

  • Thank you to everyone who helped organize, lead projects and otherwise chip in at the April 20 Volunteer Day. We had 162 people — the fifth highest number of volunteers since 1997.

 

  • A huge thanks to Cris Bandle for all her patience and understanding in accommodating last-minute requests to post content on the FHV website. Starting this month, web administrator duties are transitioning to other volunteers.

 

If I have missed anyone, I apologize.

 

Without volunteers, Hidden Valley would not be a unique wildlife area where kids and adults alike can have fun, learn new skills and make new friends while enjoying nature. Your stewardship helps ensure the camp will be here for generations to come.                                                                           

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