Friends of the Bay, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring Oyster Bay Harbor, recently hired Amanda Hornung as its new volunteer coordinator. Hornung is the third staff member, a role created to help manage the many community volunteers supporting the harbor’s restoration projects and programs.
Hornung, recently graduated with her master’s degree in biology from Adelphi last December. In the past she has had experience in ecological research and science education. Although she has never worked as a volunteer coordinator before, Hornung says that she is excited to use her previous experiences in this new role.
“As the volunteer coordinator, contact volunteers and attend the events to provide hands on assistance for them,” Hornung said. “This is my first time working as a volunteer coordinator, but in the past, I worked as an educator for a science camp, where I would get children involved in hands on events and education them on the environment, so I think that some of the skills were transferable to this job.”
Friends of the Bay has also added Caroline Fabian as the program coordinator, who will work hand in hand with Hornung for the organization. Christine Suter, Executive Director of Friends of the Bay, said that having these two have made an immediate impact and have helped her tremendously.
“We’ve been kind of limited in the past with our ability to organize and manage our volunteer base, just basically because we haven’t had the manpower to do it,” Suter said. “We have a volunteer list of people of about 500 people. We really needed somebody just to have the time to be able to organize that list, and to basically organize and mobilize our volunteer base.”
Suter applied for a grant in January so that she could add this position to the staff. The April, Friends of the Bay was awarded the grant to add to the staff and hired Hornung in June. Hornung agreed that this position was important to add to help provide more tools and event for volunteers.
“I think this position is important because it helps to get the community involved in taking care of our environment,” Hornung said. “It’s easier for people to get involved when an organization takes the lead in setting up events. It takes the pressure off of individuals, especially since we provide the tools and training necessary to help out.”
The organization now has three full time staff members for the first time in its history. Hornung says that focusing on the volunteers should help to alleviate the stress from her co-workers.
“I think it helps take some of the work off of my coworkers’ shoulders,” Hornung said. “When working with the volunteers you answer questions, plan events, reach out to other groups, and create signups. So, it helps to have one person’s main focus be on those tasks.”
