Parks & Recreation

Volunteer Service Awards

Volunteer of the Quarter

April - June 2010
Carol Taylor
Carol has won this award before, but I can never say enough about her. She regularly gives her entire weekend to special events, working first to last shift both days. Carol can be placed anywhere, with anyone and put in charge of anything. She is not only dependable and responsible, but the sweetest person I have ever met and genuinely loves people and helping her community. Carol is such a jewel and I thank heaven for her every time she comes to work with us.

January - March 2010
Bill Thomas
Many of you may have seen Bill Thomas riding his bike around Pinellas County. He is seldom without it and rides hundreds of miles on a regular basis. Bill regularly umpires and volunteers for the Parks and Recreation Department and is known by many. During the USF Series in March, Bill was one of the first volunteers at the E. C. Moore Complex in the morning and one of the last to leave at night. That is impressive in itself, but Bill went further by doing this every day of the tournament, which came out to 12 days total, and rode to and from the park and all around the complex on his bicycle. Bill is not only hard working and dependable, but a lot of fun to be around. Bicycle Bill is one in a million.

Service Group of the Quarter

April - June 2010
Transitions Optical, Inc.
As a long-time Adopt A Park member, Transitions Optical, Inc. has done many projects for the City. Recently, they came through when we were in a crunch and had an important project come up with very little notice. Transitions rallied the troops and brought out enough volunteers to finish tackling erosion issues at the East Library. The group always works hard and shows us that they are truly dedicated to helping out the community. We are lucky to have partners like them.

January - March 2010
Heritage United Methodist
Heritage United Methodist sent their most hard working youth the Forest Run Park back in late February. The palmetto pruning alone is enough to make grown men run and hide, but these kids dove in and did a fabulous job. They not only cleaned Forest Run, but sent another group to Belmont Park. Heritage always does a great job and sends us fabulous youth volunteers. We truly appreciate their commitment to the community.

Most Dependable Volunteer of 2009

Billy Kerstein, MLNP
Billy began volunteering at Moccasin Lake Nature Park to achieve 75 Bright Futures hours for college scholarships. Billy quickly proved himself a valuable part of the park team and decided to stay on after his hours were completed. In the past few years, Billy has mentored many younger volunteers and lead groups of all sizes in important invasive plant removal projects. He is committed to completing 400 hours in addition to his previous 75 and will definitely make that mark and exceed it. Billy is truly invaluable to the nature park and its staff and we are proud to have him as part of the Parks and Rec family.

2009 Volunteer of the Year

Louis Schuster
Lou Schuster began working with the Clearwater Parks and Recreation Department as an Umpire. Once retired, he decided to transition into volunteering. Lou can now be found at the front desk of the Long Center where he greets patrons and provides valuable assistance to staff.
Lou consistently goes above and beyond in what is asked of him. He not only greets and assists patrons, answers the phones and assists staff in countless ways, he does it all with a smile. We all know that a smile is contagious so Lou is well known for putting a smile on everyone’s face.

Lou won the Most Dependable Volunteer award for 2007 and has earned over 700 hours of service to date; 260 in the last year alone. Great job Lou and we are proud to have you as a part of our family!

2009 Service Group of the Year

University of Tampa, P.E.A.C.E. Volunteer Center
Since the beginning of 2009, students from the P.E.A.C.E. Volunteer Center have been crossing Tampa Bay to help their neighbors in Clearwater. Starting with a multi-phase planting project on the Courtney Campbell Causeway, moving over to Glen Oaks Park and even giving time at Moccasin Lake Nature Park, UT volunteers have canvassed our community and given countless hours of service time. Led by Coordinator Michael Seitzler, this organization has won a place in our hearts and we truly appreciate their efforts in our community. They exemplify the idea of helping out your neighbor and we feel they are the obvious choice for our first ever Service Group of the Year award.

2009 Volunteer Appreciation Party at Moccasin Lake Nature Park
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Volunteers in Action