The Museum of Natural History will be opening its doors after-hours today to serve refreshments and get the word out about its volunteer program.
The museum is hosting an open house to give out information about its volunteering opportunities. The event, which will be held from 5:15 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. in the museum lobby, will be an informal way for people to talk to current museum staff members and volunteers.
“This is going to be a very low-key event,” said Linda Yoder, museum store manager. “It’s a way for us to talk to people that come in and give them some preliminary information and paperwork to consider.”
People who go to the open house will not be committing to volunteering at the museum just by attending. Museum employees want interested people to consider the time commitment before volunteering. However, the museum relies heavily on its volunteers and is in need of more, Yoder said.
“When I first started, we had a lot of volunteers,” said Nancy Draper, a volunteer. “But now poor Linda [Yoder] has a hard time filling the schedule.”
There are many opportunities for people to get involved at the museum. The museum needs volunteers to work in the museum gift shop, work at the front desk greeting guests and answering questions, and work in the courtyard with native planting, Yoder said.
For a more outgoing person, being a docent is another way to aid the museum. A docent (Latin for “guide”) is in charge of leading tour groups that visit the museum.
“A lot of people who do that are teachers, but anyone interested in learning and teaching can do it,” Yoder said.
Denis McCarthy has volunteered at the museum for 15 years, both as a docent and as a front desk worker. He said he loves being a volunteer and would recommend it to others.
“[Being a volunteer] didn’t threaten me, but it challenged me,” McCarthy said. “I benefit more than anyone ever taken through here because we have all these interested people coming and interested people working here.”
The museum does not have a huge training program, Yoder said, but it does have some procedures to help new volunteers get acquainted with the museum. Most of the jobs are not difficult to learn and can be taught by shadowing, and museum employees ask that volunteers attend meetings periodically, Yoder said.
“We don’t expect people to be experts when they first come in,” Yoder said. “Part of the fun of volunteering is learning.”
To be a docent requires more training. There is no set script for the docents to follow, so they start out by doing a tag-along with the other docents.
“Docent training is more one-on-one,” Yoder said. “They usually start out by being comfortable with one exhibit and I shadow them and give them feedback on their tour.”
The museum volunteers said they love the job and the people they work with.
“This is the most wholesome, rewarding, relaxing thing I do,” McCarthy said. “It helps you understand a lot about the world, and it’s a great way to learn about Oregon.”