Join our team of corporate volunteers.
The goal for our volunteers is not only to get help in maintaining the beauty of the Park. By volunteering in the Park, you can become an environmental ambassador, taking what you learn about biodiversity and conservation and applying that knowledge at home. It also improves your mood to spend time outside, working alongside your coworkers to reach a common goal!
How to Become a Corporate Volunteer
Please download and review the guidelines PDF below and reach out via email with the Subject Line: Corporate Volunteer Opportunity to our volunteer coordinator, Isabella Montenegro at isabella@millriverpark.org
Volunteer Jobs
Invasive Plant Management
When plants begin growing in an area that is not their native environment, they do not have the insects or other animals that would normally keep their growth in check. It then spreads aggressively and fills space where native plants should be. Volunteers become the predator that cuts back and controls the invasive plant population, allowing native species to thrive!
Trash Management
The river inevitably collects trash of all kinds – food packaging, tires, gutters, and even shopping carts! These items can muck up the flow of the river and be hazardous to local aquatic life. Removing trash helps keep the water clean and running freely.
Landscape Improvements
All year, our landcare team fastidiously researches and plans what plants need to go out in the Park to have the best impact – both visually, and in the ecosystem. Installing plants in the Park helps increase the biodiversity in the Park, providing a wide range of food and shelter for an assortment of animals that live in the Park.
The Public Private Partnership Model
Not only is volunteering important because it helps keep the Park beautiful and biologically diverse, but it also preserves the legacy of the Park’s public-private partnership model.
The original idea for the Park’s public-private partnership model was inspired by the story of Japanese-American Junzo Nojima. In the 1950’s, some prejudiced residents burned Nojima’s store down, and his neighbors rallied to help him rebuild. As an expression of gratitude to his community, Nojima donated and planted cherry trees on city land that would later become the West side of Mill River Park. Nojima convinced the city to allow him to personally maintain the trees after he saw that the city did not have the resources to effectively maintain them – and the public-private partnership model was born.
When the public-private partnership proposal for Mill River Park came across the Mayor’s desk as a solution to the rampant flooding in Stamford, Nojima’s legacy helped to make Mill River Park a reality. The Park opened in 2013, and we launched a volunteer program shortly after to help accomplish all the work that needed to be done.
With Thanks to These Corporate Volunteer Groups
We rely greatly on the ongoing generosity of corporate and nonprofit volunteer groups to keep Mill River Park beautiful. Our sincerest thanks goes out to these organizations for their time, energy and commitment to our community.