Volunteerism: Community groups band together

Jul. 30—SUNBURY — Melissa Rowse and many other volunteers in the Valley believe in the philosophy that if they want to live in a better place, they have to be a part of making it better.

Rowse is Sunbury's Degenstein Library director. Besides her full-time work at the library, Rowse volunteers for Sunbury Revitalization Inc. (SRI), where she is president of the board, 4 Paws Sake, Pennsylvania Library Association, and PA Integrated Library System.

Rowse grew up in a family where her father was in the military and when he retired he said he wanted to be a farmer, so the family moved to Pennsylvania.

"My parents instilled in all of us — my brothers and sister — the idea of volunteering," Rowse said. "My dad did volunteering in the community, say with a T-ball league, or in other ways sports related. My mom did the officers' wives club as a volunteer. She was also a hospital volunteer.

"I think the idea of volunteering rubbed off on me," she said. "I really do think so. I remember my parents always used to say 'You can give a little bit of your time. We're not asking you to give every single day, but you can give an hour or two a day to something.'"

Rowse ruminated on how and why and where she volunteers.

"I used to volunteer for Haven to Home. I now volunteer for 4 Paws," she said. "I love dogs, and volunteering for 4 Paws gives me an opportunity to get some exercise: walking the dogs at the kennel. I just love animals. So it was easy to decide to volunteer for them."

Rowse volunteers for Sunbury Revitalization because she wanted to be involved in the community.

"The library needs to be part of the community," she said. "You gotta do something in the community to know what's going on. I also wholeheartedly agree with their mission. and that is to promote Sunbury. To really promote the core things that Sunbury has to offer."

She also volunteers for her church.

Rotary and moreWhile Rotary Club membership may be down, the mission is stronger than ever, said Rotary Vice President Victoria Rosancrans, a former president.

For Rosancrans, whose presence as a volunteer with many Valley organizations is ubiquitous, her drive and motivation are simply to make Sunbury and the Valley a better place for all to live.

"My volunteerism comes from 13 years of being a Girl Scout in the city of Sunbury," she said.

She also credits her first job at the YMCA. From ages 14-22, she worked at the Y, she said.

"Through that job I met a lot of people," Rosancrans said. "Movers and shakers in this area came to the Y. I learned that these leaders do so much. I wanted to do the same."

Besides Rotary Club, other local service organizations include Kiwanis, Moose, and Lions.

Student engagementLynn C. Pierson, Bucknell interim director, Office of Civic Engagement and Community Engaged Learning, said, "we really see ourselves as helping to connect community priorities and non-profits with our students on campus so they can understand what it is like to learn local, in that they are learning from our community partners and our local community leaders. They know most about our local community priorities."

Bucknellians volunteer with many Valley organizations, Pierson said. They include the Miller Center, Children's Museum, the Lewisburg Community Garden, and the Bucknell Farm.

"During COVID, we had students doing virtual tutoring," she said. "It kind of runs the gamut, depending on what the student is interested in."

In some cases the student earns credit, but not always, she said.

"Some students work with faculty to engage with our local non-profits," Pierson said. "Many students do volunteer work that reflects their personal interests. For example, we have some students that work with food security efforts, and they are really Other students just like being outside, so for them working in the community garden is ideal.

Environmental stewardshipFor those who live in the Susquehanna Valley, sustaining a clean environment and having respect for the river is an ongoing concern.

This is key to the mission of John Zaktansky, Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper. To get his job done properly he needs the community's help.

"We use volunteers in a wide variety of ways," Zaktansky said. "They help us instruct kids and families in environmental education programs, assist with kayaking and fishing day sessions to better connect young people with the outdoors."

Volunteers help collect water samples and do other waterway monitoring, he said.

"They act as watchdogs for their communities when a threat is present, even using a special app (Water Reporter) to report concerning issues they find," Zaktansky said. "They clean up trash in and along waterways and they assist smaller watershed groups in projects that improve streambanks and other conservation projects."

The number of volunteers Zaktansky deals with is "definitely growing," he said.

"I started my role a month before the pandemic stopped everything," Zaktansky said. "As we have been able to start having events again, and as people see what we are about and what these events are like, we have seen more and more buy into the mission and get involved."

Time is a valuable commodity, Zaktansky said, and "we know that for someone to sacrifice their own time, they have to believe in what they are supporting and know their contribution matters. We try to lift up our volunteers and let them know the best we can that they matter ... That we couldn't do what we do across such a large watershed without their help."

Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes, skillsets and backgrounds, Zaktansky said.

"We have state agency biologists donate their time to instruct on our Floating Classrooms, college professors jump in for various programs and efforts on their own time, retirees and high school students. We even had a group of Cub Scouts help us collect live stakes that were later planted along a streambank to reduce erosion.

"Everyone can do their part to make a difference," he said.

Walt Bingaman, a volunteer, of Shamokin Dam, is a past employee of the Wild Turkey Federation. "There I was responsible for volunteer groups. Now I volunteer for them," he said.

He also volunteers at his local sportsman's club in Kratzerville and Kreamer. For the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Bingaman just got his 25-year certificate for being a hunter education instructor.

He volunteers, he said, to keep the natural environment safe for the people who want to hunt and fish. "My father never hunted or fished, but it is something that always intrigued me and my brother," Bingaman said. "If other folks wouldn't have mentored us ... I guess you always want what you don't have, and we didn't initially have that love of hunting and fishing in our household."

Eventually, Bingaman's uncles and family friends did the mentoring. Now it is Bingaman doing the mentoring, and he finds it "immensely satisfying."

With the growing number of non-traditional families these days there are a lot of young men out there that only have a mom, he said.

"Dad is in and out of the picture and moms might not know where to start teaching about guns or fishing," Bingaman said.

Now retired, Bingaman often does work with Zaktansky.

"If I see something that needs to be done, I ask John if he wants me to do it," he said. "I have the availability of time to help where and when I can."