As temperatures drop and snow begins to fall in Westminster, Jack Nichols and Brandy Friesen head outdoors to shovel snow off sidewalks and driveways for their neighbors. When summer returns, they’ll be out picking up litter with friends and family as a fun outdoor activity.
With 15 years of combined experience in Westminster’s volunteer program, both residents appreciate the City’s support and multitude of opportunities to help our community.
“The people that we're helping, they're so appreciative,” Friesen said. “They come out during the wintertime just to say thank you and how much it means to them that we're there to give them a hand. For our [summer] cleanup, we get our neighbors involved. We get a group out there and pick up the open space behind our house, and then we have a barbecue or grab a drink. It's fun to just be able to hang out with a few of our neighbors and do something good for our neighborhood together.”
Friesen and Nichols are just two of the nearly 2,300 City volunteers that contribute thousands of hours to our community each year. Westminster proudly maintains one of the more robust volunteer programs along the Front Range, with more than 40 different programs and opportunities for volunteers of all ages and abilities.
Martha Heinz, Westminster’s volunteer coordinator, said people are getting much more than just service hours out of the program.
“People stay with us for 20-plus years because of the connections they make with staff, other residents, or even the people that they help,” Heinz said.
Regardless of age or ability level, the City offers a wide range of opportunities from working with our staff in the greenhouse, and helping out with Westminster’s fun seasonal events, to contributing to archiving projects at our libraries, and serving as a victim’s advocate in the police department.
“There's really something for everybody, including our youth,” Heinz said. “So if they're looking to obtain hours for their honor society, they can do that here. Many of our opportunities have reduced minimum age requirements to 16 years old.”
High school student Emmanuel Bakom has made the most of his time on Westminster’s Youth Advisory Panel, where he volunteers throughout the city and participates in local government.
“Last year at City Hall we did the holiday lighting event, and I was working with the kids visiting Santa,” Bakom reflected. “I got to see their faces light up every time, and it made me want to volunteer more because I saw the joy on their faces and how I can actually have a positive impact on my community.”
Each year, City staff honors volunteers with an annual dinner to thank them for all their time and effort. At this year’s event, Jeannie Jones was named the City’s 2024 Volunteer of the Year for her frequent participation and incredible work in moulage, crafting realistic — and sometimes gruesome — special effects makeup to help improve training for our fire and police departments.
Jones said she found her creative volunteering niche after participating in Westminster’s Citizens Academy and recognizing a way to help out while also receiving some valuable training alongside public safety professionals.
“For me, it's a win-win-win,” she said. “I'm providing a service."
To find your niche and start volunteering with the City of Westminster, fill out the application online using the QR code, or swing by City Hall to fill out a paper application and meet our staff. Volunteers can select their own shifts and try out a variety of opportunities.
“The fact that we're a smaller city makes it feel a little more personalized. We get to know volunteers a little bit more, like on a first name basis,” Heinz said. “We also reinvest in our volunteers. We provide training opportunities for them throughout the year. The reason we are where we are and the success of the program is because of all of those individuals that are part of the program and genuinely care about our community.”
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