09/01/2026
Celebrating 40 Years in Business!
From the beginning part 15: Building the Volunteer Program
In late 2019 assistant manager Alicia and I looked to further meet the enrichment needs of the store birds. We couldn’t expand the staff due to budget concerns, but we already had many people who regularly visited the store to see their favorite birds, donated items for specific birds, and offered to help when the store was busy. With that realization, the bird farm’s volunteer program was "hatched." We assumed few people would be interested, but were surprised to fill two orientation sessions. Initiall,y 60 people signed up and committed 198 hours to shifts. Volunteer coordinator Tracy taught the new volunteers about toy-making and safety, playing with baby birds, and socializing the store birds.
With Tracy’s leadership, the program continued to grow until the summer of 2022, when she left the program to spend more time with her family. Lisa stepped into the coordinator position in August 2022. Lisa had a lot to learn, but Tracy was always there with advice. Since 2022, the program has kept expanding, with the volunteer group now averaging over 2,000 hours per year. More than 300 volunteers have been trained, and we’ve maintained a core of about 80 volunteers. A few of those original volunteers like Bridget, Jayce, Mary, Gary, and Lisa are still in the program today.
While the program is still focused on enriching the lives of the store birds, it has also taken on a stronger educational role, as volunteers now spend more time teaching visitors bird information, body language, and interaction skills, including target training. We’ve also ramped up our educational outreach, both in and out of the store, hosting school groups, Scout troops, and social groups, as well as visiting libraries, elementary schools, summer camps, retirement communities, and assisted living facilities, helping a wider audience to appreciate parrots.
We have implemented a Books & Birds program, led by our volunteer Jodi, to encourage reading as a way for children to interact with birds, a summer Kids Camp, as well as a small Junior Volunteers program to nurture a love for birds and conservation. None of these projects would be possible without the ongoing support of our community of volunteers. Now the staff can focus more on the nutritional and medical needs of the birds and the business needs of the store, knowing our volunteers are providing healthy doses of socialization and enrichment for our birds and positive experiences for our visitors.
If you are over age 14, enjoy working with animals and people, can handle the noise levels of Mandy and Loki, consider whether you have at least four hours a month to volunteer. If so, then please look into our program using the following link. We would be happy to have you in our program. sugarcreekbirdfarm.com/volunteer
🩷Bernie
