Volunteer
There are a variety of tasks that interested volunteers can perform. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know by e-mailing volunteer@tennesseeriver.org.
Opportunities
INTERNET OUTREACH: FACEBOOK & MYSPACE
Volunteers will receive instructions about how to perform various types of public outreach to Tennessee Riverkeeper's friends on MySpace, as well as to potential Friends. Outreach opportunities also exist through our use of Facebook.com "fans" and "causes" pages, as well as the Facebook "events" application. You can view our videos on YouTube and please send them to your friends. You can also follow us or retweet us on Twitter.
NEW MEMBER RECRUITING
Volunteers will provide lists of the names and addresses of friends/relatives/colleagues they think might be interested in becoming a Riverkeeper member (donor or volunteer). Our staff will then contact these potential members. Other ways volunteers can help recruit members is by contacting those friends/relatives/colleagues themselves, or by helping us prepare/mail letters to potential members identified by other volunteers. Other ways to help with New Member Recruiting include: Facebook, MySpace, and by circulating our brochures at strategic locations.
EVENT PUBLICITY TEAM
Volunteers will put up fliers on campus and town sites, in stores, etc. This will help us advertise fundraisers and educational events, and also get our name, logo, and contact information more visible in the community. Event publicity may also be done via internet.
POLLUTION PERMIT RESEARCH
Volunteers with a legal background will help our prosecuting attorney analyze Clean Water Act pollution discharge permits to ensure that polluters are complying with the law. Other volunteers will identify zip codes within the Tennessee River watershed and use them to run searches for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits - permitted discharges of pollution allowed by the Clean Water Act. Searches will be run on several easy-to-use Environmental Protection Agency websites. This research helps us identify current/potential polluters. This project may also include data entry to help us organize information about current/potential polluters.
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS OF NEWSPAPERS
Volunteers will choose one or more newspaper(s), whether scholastic, small town, or big city, and scan them daily for articles relevant to the Tennessee River Valley and its tributaries. After finding a relevant environmental article, volunteers will write a personal letter about that article, in support of a cleaner, healthier Tennessee River watershed. Volunteers will send their letter to the newspaper's editor for possible publication.
RESEARCHING RELEVANT EVENTS & TABLING AT THEM
Volunteers will peruse the events section of Tennessee Riverkeeper's website to see if there are events listed at which they could help represent us. Volunteers will also research similar events not listed on our website. After asking us if a given event would be appropriate for representing us, volunteers will receive materials to display/distribute there at Riverkeeper's table or booth.
DATA ENTRY
Volunteers will receive important lists of people that Riverkeeper hopes to contact about pollution issues. Volunteers will type names, addresses, etc from these lists into Microsoft Access or Excel databases. This project can be done at the Riverkeeper office or elsewhere if possible. Other data entry may also merge with our Pollution Permit Research project.
