Green Teen Alliance Blog

Volunteering is More Than a Chore
By the Forest Park Forever team

Volunteering isn’t just a way to reach your service goals. It can help you learn more about yourself and your interests and make a meaningful difference in your community. 
 

You might find you have a passion for nonprofit or ecological work, or you could discover an interest or hobby you’d never considered before. The gift of your time and service could even help you figure out which career path you want to take.  
 

Forest Park Forever, part of the coalition that created the Green Teen Alliance, relies heavily on dedicated community members who provide the most precious resource of all: their time. 
 

We are a private nonprofit conservancy that partners with the City of St. Louis to restore, maintain and sustain Forest Park for a diverse community of visitors to enjoy, now and forever. Since our founding in 1986, we’ve been fulfilling our mission thanks to members, individual donors and dedicated volunteers. 
 

We couldn’t accomplish our goals and improve Forest Park year after year without volunteer support. Last year, 1,911 individuals gave a total of 11,840 hours, which is valued at a remarkable $411,931.*

Forest Park Forever offers many types of volunteer opportunities. Working with our Land Management team, you can get your hands dirty planting, mulching and weeding. As a Trash and Trails volunteer, you can explore Forest Park while keeping it clean and free of litter. With our Special Events team, you can help with one of more than a dozen annual events that support our fundraising efforts.

There are so many ways you can help in Forest Park! If you are interested in learning more, please fill our volunteer application. 

After the May 16, 2025, tornado devastated St. Louis, more than 400 volunteers helped with the massive cleanup effort in Forest Park. As we approach the ideal time for tree planting in late fall, Forest Park Forever is preparing for the next stage of tornado recovery. This includes planting more than 2,400 trees over the next 12 months. 

 

Once again, we’ll depend on volunteer support to meet our goal. On Sunday, November 2, we’ll host our biggest one-day public volunteer opportunity, our 26th annual Forest Restoration Day! Join us from 9 a.m. until noon to plant trees in the Successional Forest and Anne O’C Albrecht Nature Playscape. Learn more and register.  

Come to learn a new skill, tally some volunteer hours or simply enjoy a beautiful fall morning outdoors. We’ll see you in Forest Park!

*Financial data from IndependentSector.org.