2009 Cast for Kids Fishing Event, Lake Bastrop, Texas

The fifth annual Catch a Special Thrill (CAST) for Kids fishing event on April 25th, 2009 at Lake Bastrop in Bastrop, Texas was a great success. Once again, the Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado River Authority, and Blue Bonnet Electric Cooperative partnered to provide a fun-filled day of boating and fishing. The event was also billed as a “Take Pride in America” function.


A total of 33 children (age ranges 5 to 15 years old) attended the event, accompanied by dozens of family members and friends. Once again, we hosted those with a variety of disabilities including cerebral palsy, Hunter’s disease, autism, Down’s syndrome, and cancer to name a few. Overall, participants represented the Bastrop Independent School District (ISD), Del Valley ISD, Austin ISD, San Marcos ISD, and Austin’s Dell Children’s Hospital. Upon arrival, each child was provided with breakfast, a fishing pole, tackle box, shirt, cap, as well as a special prize lunch box that contained bottled water, sunscreen, disposable camera, and a special toy. During the award’s ceremony, Smoky the Bear made a special appearance to hand out plaques to each of the event’s participants.


A total of 28 captains donated their time and their boats to the special event. As always, we ended up with a perfect match of the number of boats and kids. Furthermore, almost 100 volunteers were on-hand to ensure a wonderful day of safe fishing. In all, about 190 people attended this year’s event.


Finally, the event could not be made possible without the generous support of our event sponsors. In all, this year’s event had almost 20 sponsors. Most notable sponsors include Wal-Mart, which provided cash and volunteers, and Chili’s, which provided lunch and cooked up fresh chicken and beef fajitas with all the trimmings.

The Linendoll's - Outstanding Volunteers!

Since 2003, Zion National Park has had the honor of receiving volunteer services from Ken and Nancy Linendoll. They have been campground hosts at Watchman Campground each year, most recently departing Zion in October 2008 after another successful season. During their time here, Ken and Nancy have become trusted and loved members of the Zion family; everyone who has had the privilege of interacting with them has discovered that they are two of the friendliest, kindest, most genuine, caring people ever to have visited the park and our lives.

Ken and Nancy have always been willing to go the extra mile. In 2005, after completing the full length of their volunteer season, they stepped in and continued volunteering in the campground when the hosts who were set to follow them were unable to fulfill their commitment. The following season, their fellow campground host had some health issues that resulted in him requiring surgery and a lengthy recovery time. This kept him from being able to work as a campground host on Ken and Nancy’s days off. Not only did they work nearly every one of their days off to ensure the campground staff had the assistance they needed, Ken and Nancy also helped take care of and nurse their co-host back to health, driving him to the hospital and doctor appointments, caring for his dog, and cooking him meals. These are the kinds of things Ken and Nancy selflessly do on a regular basis to improve the lives of and help out the people around them.

Over the years, the love and pride Ken and Nancy feel for Zion National Park has been shown through their actions. They have represented the park in the local town’s parades; they have been great ambassadors for the park in their interactions with campers and other visitors, passionately educating them about all the great opportunities that abound here; they have shown amazing dedication to Watchman Campground and the NPS staff by giving serious thought about ways to improve the operation to provide for a better work environment for the staff and a better visitor experience. They have forged lasting friendships with many members of the Zion National Park staff and get along amazingly well with staff members from all divisions of the park, from the maintenance staff to the law enforcement rangers to the dispatchers to the fee rangers.

The entire staff at Zion National Park is proud to have the opportunity to congratulate Ken and Nancy on their amazing accomplishment of receiving the Presidential Volunteer Award. Words cannot express the appreciation we feel not only for the incredible work they do for the park, but especially for the time we’ve been lucky enough to spend with them and the privilege it is to call them friends. We look forward to seeing their smiling faces back in the glow of the red rock of Zion!

Jill Modrak-Killian
Watchman Campground Supervisor
Zion National Park


Once Ken and Nancy finish their work at Zion National Park, they move on to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and volunteer for another 3 or 4 months as fee assistants at the Monument's Twin Peaks Campground. Pictured above with the Linendoll's is Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Chief of Interpretation, Andy Fisher.

San Diego River Park Foundation

At a recent San Diego River Park Foundation event co-sponsored by Take Pride in America, the Bureau of Reclamation Southern California Area Office, the California Department of Transportation: Don't Trash California Campaign, Union Bank of California and REI, volunteers removed over 6,000 pounds of trash!! The ninety-five volunteers, included Navy personnel & family members and employees from a local Wells Fargo Bank.

One lucky volunteer happened upon this 98 year old trophy! The trophy was awarded to the American Show Print Company. The company started in 1849 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and created the lighted scoreboards for baseball games. It makes you wonder how it got all the way to the banks of the San Diego River!

Big Bend National Park honors 29 volunteers at April 6th Awards Ceremony

As the spring season draws to a close at Big Bend, staff and volunteers gathered for a special lasagna dinner at the park headquarters Community Room which was transformed by the addition of flower arrangements and tablecloths. As everyone gathered for a social hour, the emphasis was on getting together and catching up on the news since some of the volunteers had not seen each other since orientation in January. The highlight of the evening was a slide show followed by the awards presentation.

The slide show highlighted the accomplishments and activities of the volunteers during the past three months. The 29 volunteers provided 8,825 service hours during February and March with work continuing through April. In addition to staffing visitor centers and campgrounds, volunteers assisted River Rangers, performed backcountry and fire patrol and contributed to various projects for Science and Resource Management.

An unknown author said, “No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” We are grateful for the time and energy that all the volunteers contribute here at Big Bend and hope that the Awards Ceremony was successful in conveying our appreciation.


Featured is NPS Interpreter Mary Kay Manning and volunteers Pat and Marshall McCall.

Checking in with Clifton

In 2007, the City of Clifton, New Jersey's Clean Communities program was recognized with a Take Pride in America National Award for their outstanding efforts in promoting volunteerism and public lands stewardship...and we are proud to say that they are still going strong! Clifton is home to 23 Take Pride Schools that continue to engage students in activities that benefit their schools and community as a whole.

Recently one of Clifton's outstanding citizen volunteers was recognized with the Presidential Volunteer Gold Service Award. Theresa Evans, a teacher at Christopher Columbus Middle School took on a beautification project that included over 900 personal volunteer hours! She also coordinated over 5,000 volunteer hours form students, parents, teachers and inmates from the Passaic County Jail. Together they transformed an overgrown courtyard into a beautiful outdoor haven for students. She also tackled the school grounds and they are now beautifully landscaped with trees, bushes, a cinder path, benches and picnic tables.

Theresa was honored at the annual Clean Communities awards ceremony that was held on March 12, 2009 at Clifton High School.

Photos of the school grounds before the beautification project...


Photos of all the hard work...


Photos of the school grounds after the beautification project...


It's amazing what the vision, dedication and hard work of one person can accomplish...especially when they have an army of volunteers behind them! Congratulations Theresa and thank you to the City of Clifton, NJ for continuing the mission and goals of the Take Pride in America program!

Battery Creek High School Volunteer at Hunting Island State Park

Twenty-eight Battery Creek High School students earned community service hours this month by collecting litter at Hunting Island State Park. A Take Pride In America sponsor and under the direction of Friends of Hunting Island State Park, Karen Whitehead, Litter Director.

They filled 30 garbage bags with plastic bottles, cans, paper and old clothing, and one student found the cover of an outboard motor. Freshmen and sophomores are required to complete between 40 and 50 hours of community service this year to help the high school earn designation as an accredited International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, which serves 11- to 16-year-old students, said Julie Petroff, the school's coordinator for the program. Battery Creek already offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which gives upperclassman an opportunity to earn college credit in high school.

"They had a blast," Petroff said. "I think teenagers can be very self-
centered, not in a bad way so much, but they are really into themselves. This kind of gets them out of that and starts them on thinking about other people and thinking about the environment."

C & O Canal Pride Days

With spring fast approaching, it's time to get one of our favorite national parks ready for the visitor season. Join us again for C&O Canal Pride Days, a joint effort between the Trust and the C&O Canal National Historical Park to tackle dozens of much-needed projects in the park. Volunteer activities this year will include painting buildings, repairing and painting picnic tables and grills, cutting back overgrown vegetation, rehabilitating trails, and much more.

This year's kickoff event will be at the Great Falls Tavern in Potomac, Maryland on Saturday, April 18th. Come early to enjoy brief opening remarks from C&O Canal NHP Superintendent Kevin Brandt, light refreshments to jump start the day's activities, and a unique opportunity to “Meet a Mule.”

We encourage you to join us in completing projects at any or all of these locations throughout the spring:


Saturday, April 18th – Great Falls
Saturday, April 25th – Lander and Brunswick
Saturday, May 2nd – Williamsport and Hancock
Saturday, May 16th – Cabin John (Team River Runner project)

Last year Take Pride in America had the pleasure of teaming up with the C&O Canal Trust for our final event of the 2008 Southeast Voluntour Across America. You can read about our event here, and enjoy some great photos from the event below.

For more information, visit the C&O Canal Trust website.