“There are so many different kinds of jobs to be done at the Leila Arboretum. Join us and get some dirty fingers!”
With a small staff, we are very dependent on the skill and goodwill of our volunteers in making community beautification and environmental education a reality in Battle Creek! We have all kinds of jobs at LAS! Together there are so many things we can accomplish!
Get involved in OAR (Operation Arboretum Renewal) and make a difference in our community.
If you can remember what the Leila Arboretum was like before it was rescued in the early
1980's by volunteers, then we need you!
We need your help!
Call our office to find a special place in the Leila Arboretum
and make your mark!
Call Katy Avery at (269) 969-0270 x 120
An Overview of Volunteer Opportunities at Leila Arboretum
Outdoor Gardeners - Leila
Arboretum Society has a great many opportunities for people to volunteer their time
gardening outdoors. Come and help the Society and your community by coming out and
joining friends and neighbors in helping to make this area a place of lush and
lustrous beauty! Here are our main opportunities.
You do not have to be a Master Gardener to volunteer for LAS!
Leila Arboretum Display Gardens - annual plantings around the fountain areas
are planted twice each year,once in late Spring and then in late Fall.
Kaleidoscope Garden - Gardeners will always be needed
to help take care of an acre of plantings in the LAS Kaleidoscope Garden. This is a wonderful garden containing many small gardens of different themes.
Specialty Gardens - Throughout the community, there are wonderful examples of different kinds of gardens
for those who wish to specialize. There are rose gardens, rock gardens, butterfly gardens, gardens of just annuals,
native wild flowers, perennial gardens, Japanese gardens etc.
Business District Plantings - Communities seem more vibrant when their business districts come alive with plantings
of annuals, bulbs and trees.
Note: the container plantings that you see in
the downtown area are planted and maintained by Leila Arboretum.
Greenhouse Gardeners - The LAS Greenhouse offers many
opportunities for learning also. Greenhouse gardening is different than gardening outdoors.
Greenhouse gardeners learn the fine points of growing plants from seed in a controlled
environment, grafting, transplanting, pruning at important intervals, and insect control.
The LAS Greenhouse Gardeners go into a high production phase starting in mid-January
to begin producing plants for the Arboretum, the Kaleidoscope Garden, various community
locations and the Annual Plant Sale held in early May.
Garden and Greenhouse Guides - one of the newest volunteer assignments at LAS.
Since the Kaleidoscope Garden opening in June of 2003,we have depended on trained volunteers
to take people on tours around the Kaleidoscope Garden and do hands-on-activities
with children. In this children's learning garden, we show kids how plants effect
their everyday lives. There are so many fun and creative ways of educating children.
We always concentrate on learning through fun!
Children - For most assignments all children are welcome.
We encourage their involvement as positive outdoor experiences early on in a child's life
tend to produce children who are more environmentally aware and more committed volunteers
when they grow older. Their participation is our joy! We do ask that parents/guardians
participate along with them in any volunteer activity until children are able to come
on their own. This is a decision that can be made between parents, their children and
the LAS staff member with whom they will be working.
Special Skills Volunteers - Like many non-profits, Leila doesn't have the funding to hire out some of the special
tasks that we need done around here. It's always great to have volunteers who have skills
that they are willing to contribute such as carpentry, electrical, mechanical and artistic
skills.
Administrative Duties - filing, calling,
assembling bulk mail - Most of the mailings that go out through LAS for the Volunteer
and Education Departments are made possible by volunteer efforts. The tasks required
are inserting, folding, labeling, sealing and organizing these mailings so we can get
them out on a timely basis. This task is usually done in a team effort.
