The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, working with the City of Pawtucket and the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, is seeking volunteers to staff the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center at 175 Roosevelt Avenue in Pawtucket. Volunteers will welcome visitors to the Blackstone Valley and help them learn about the nationally significant story of the Blackstone Valley.
For many valley visitors, the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center is their first point of contact, according to Valerie Paul, Volunteer Program Coordinator for the Heritage Corridor. “We are looking for volunteers who are interested in the area and want to share that interest with visitors who may not know a lot about the Blackstone Valley,” Paul said recently. According to Paul, the Corridor is looking for volunteers for a variety of hours. “We are especially interested in people who may be available for a regularly scheduled shift or half-shift during the day on Thursdays or Fridays from June through September. We are also hoping to find additional volunteers who might like to staff the Visitor Center on select Saturdays or Sundays.” She added that volunteers at the Visitor Center would be members of the Volunteers-In-Parks Program of the National Park Service, a nation-wide volunteer corps working at national parks throughout the United States.
Paul describes the Heritage Corridor as “partnership-based.” Helping to recruit volunteers for the Visitor Center, Paul says, “gives the Heritage Corridor the opportunity to work with two of our premier partners, the City of Pawtucket and Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.”
Volunteers who are interested in learning more about this opportunity or other volunteer positions in the Pawtucket area can contact Valerie Paul at the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor offices at 401-762-0250 or they may reach her by e-mail at valerie_paul@nps.gov.
