ELFUNS Hold Volunteer Leader Training Program
by Mike Salerno
The Greater Boston Chapter of the GE ELFUN Volunteers held a volunteer training program on Thursday, June 10, 2004, at the Lynn Woods Reservation for volunteers who want to be project leaders.
The folks that attended were trained by the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) (see http://www.imba.com/about/trail_consulting.html for more information). This program discusses trail construction techniques for maintaining and creating trails in parklands that can be used by many different visitors. Also taught were tool safety, workspace safety, trail design, and erosion control methods.
Each GE business under the Greater Boston chapter was solicited to send folks that have a passion to be project leaders, which included members from Electric Insurance, Hookset AE, Panametrics, and Lynn AE. The session went from 11:00 am to 6:30 PM, half on employee time and half sponsored by the Greater Boston GE businesses.
Organizers hope that new leaders will create new and better woodland projects on the North Shore, which has opportunities for thousands more volunteer man-hours. As a volunteer trail crew leader for the last nine years, having worked on 40 projects in Lynn Woods, I feel that leaders who have taken this specialized training will be an invaluable asset. Hopefully, with our new team of educated individuals, new projects will be safer, of higher quality, and more enjoyable for all volunteers.
I would like to personally thank the more than 20 volunteers that took the training, and the Greater Boston ELFUN Chapter Board for accepting this project.
Mike Salerno is a member of the ELFUNS and an FLW Board Member.