SCRANTON, Pa. - Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) recently hosted a recognition event to honor its volunteers, or as the site and the National Park Service call them, “VIPs" (Volunteers-In Parks)! During Fiscal Year 2018, nearly 140 VIPs generously donated more than 27,700 hours helping the park meet its mission to further public understanding and appreciation of the importance of steam railroading to the industrial, commercial, and social development of the United States. Their volunteerism had an estimated monetary value in excess of $700,000.
Steamtown NHS volunteers are involved in every facet of park operations, from greeting and orienting visitors at our contact station to keeping our rolling stock in working order to at-home archives document transcription to serving as conductors and engineers on our steam and diesel locomotive powered trains, and much, much more. The site simply could not offer its vast array of interpretive and educational programs, short train rides, and longer rail excursions without such dedicated VIPs!
The park nominated Walter Elvidge and the Education Team for the National Park Service’s highest volunteer recognition, the George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
Walter Elvidge was nominated in the Enduring Service Category in recognition of his 12,923 volunteer hours (1,432 hours in FY 2018 alone) at Steamtown NHS. During his decade and one half of behind the scenes volunteering, among many accomplishments Walter has notably performed heavy industrial repair work critical to maintaining our steam and diesel locomotives.
The Education Team was nominated for its yeoman work throughout the fiscal year, but in particular for successfully engaging 1,060 fourth graders in 11 schools from seven school districts from four NE PA counties in Steamtown NHS’s STEM-focused, PA curriculum-based Railroads, Rivers & You! (RRY!) education program. The RRY! program includes a hands-on water sampling and macroorganism identification segment held along the Lackawanna River, conducted in partnership with the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority and the Lackawanna River Conservation Association, in which students take on the role of citizen-scientists and make assessments based on what they observe.
Steamtown NHS volunteers were also recognized for the first time with the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA). While many met the requirements and were honored with Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals and certificates for their volunteerism, the park was particularly pleased to recognize those VIPs who earned PVSA Lifetime Achievement Award recognition for giving 4,000 or more volunteer hours. Those special recipients were:
Leo Czereck, 10,092 hours
Walter Elvidge, 12,923 hours
Ronald Erickson, 5,611 hours
Douglas Lotten, 20,275 hours
Janice MacDonald, 7,123 hours
Andrew Ottinger, 4,877 hours
Robert Patterson, 9,138 hours
Richard Roden, 17,078 hours
Paul Ratcliffe, 4,495 hours
Gene Stanton, 5,730 hours
Robert Tomaine, 4,506 hours
James Yarwood, 7,970 hours
Donald Young, 5,945 hours
Congratulations to all Steamtown NHS VIPs for their dedicated service!
If you would like to join the Steam Team as a new volunteer, please visit our website at: https://www.nps.gov/stea/getinvolved/volunteer.htm
or call 570-340-5206 and ask for the Volunteer Coordinator.
Located in downtown Scranton, Pa., Steamtown NHS is open daily from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily. From I-81 follow exit 185 (Central Scranton Expressway); then follow the brown and white signs to the park entrance at Lackawanna Avenue and Cliff Street (GPS: N 41.41, W 75.67). General park information is available by phoning (570) 340-5206 during regular business hours, or by visiting the park website anytime.
www.nps.gov/stea
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
