Join us on Saturday, December 2 from 10 to 11:30am at the Discovery Park Visitor Center to learn more about the many exciting volunteer opportunities available at the park.
Volunteers are needed for the following programs:
- Visitor Center Ambassador
- Salmon Tank Volunteer
- Agents of Discovery
- Discovery Park Advisory Council
Read more about these opportunities below, and join us on December 2 at the Discovery Park Visitor Center to learn more, ask questions, and meet our staff.
Visitor Center Ambassador
Every year, over 40,000 people visit the Discovery Park Visitor Center. We’re a busy site! Some are locals and many are people visiting Seattle for the first time.
Volunteers needed to:
- Give trail recommendations to visitors;
- Sign out parking passes;
- Help create and maintain Visitor Center displays;
- Discovery Room – print/copy coloring sheets, help upkeep and tidying when center is busy
- Help front desk staff occasionally with light admin work, (paper shredding, folding brochures, data entry)
- Support gift shop by restocking, inventory, setting up displays
Salmon Tank Volunteer
From December 2023 – May 2024 we will be raising 220 chum salmon from eggs that will be released at Carkeek Park. The tank will be on display in the Discovery Park Visitor Center lobby for the public to watch the salmon through life cycles.
Volunteers needed to:
- Help maintain salmon tank – water quality testing, water changes, etc
- Education – help with presentations about salmon to the general public and with preschool students
Agents of Discovery
Agents of Discovery is like Pokemon-Go, but for education! We create interactive activities throughout Discovery and Carkeek Parks for people to explore and learn about those parks during their visit. Our goal is to have enough content created so we can rotate through missions seasonally.
- Content creation – building missions from existing lesson plans, and/or creating new seasonal missions
- Focus group – testing missions as they’re built.
Discovery Park Advisory Council
The Discovery Park Advisory Council volunteers with Seattle Parks and Recreation to offer community perspective, advice and consultation on recreational programs, visitor services and interpretation projects within Discovery Park.
- Fundraising for recreational and family programs offered through Discovery Park Visitor Center
- Advising on new program creation
- Supporting SPR staff in the implementation of new and existing programs
- Annual fundraiser for programs and shuttle
Volunteer Support with Free Programs
- Discovery Park Summer Shuttle – On weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the Beach Shuttle runs between the upper parking lots and beach. We typically have 5,000 riders per summer. Volunteer help needed to give people directions, time tables, helping the drivers setup and take down the bus stop signage, etc.
- Family Story Time – Themed family story times with children’s books, songs, games, and activity. Launching monthly+ Family Story Time programs in 2024. Volunteers needed to read stories, sing songs, etc.
- Magnolia Storywalks – partnership with Daybreak Star and Magnolia Branch of SPL. Storyboards are assembled in spring, and then stories rotate weekly through sites during summer. Volunteers needed with signboard assembly before the program, and rotating stories each week.
- Discovery Room – our free, drop-in playroom with an underwater theme. Volunteers needed to help upkeep and tidying when center is busy