Ganondagan is a place of community and could not exist without its volunteers. Throughout the year, hundreds of people generously give of their time and talent in many enriching ways.

By volunteering at Ganondagan, you will have a unique opportunity to learn about Haudenosaunee history, culture, and crafts - whether it is about what life was like living in a longhouse or traditional gardening techniques or so many other things. Volunteering also gives you a chance to meet very interesting and special people like yourself!

Note to job seekers and career changers: volunteering can be a way to get experience and to help "build your resume." It can offer you chances to use or even develop skills and get the experience so desperately needed that may not be easily available elsewhere. It is a wonderful way to help yourself and others at the same time!

Whatever your interest or experience level, we welcome your time and talents! Below are just some of the areas in which we could use your assistance, but please feel free to contact us if you have another, different talent you would like to volunteer.

To volunteer, please contact us at erinjulian@aol.com or call us at 585-742-1690 and let us know where you would like to volunteer your interests and skills.

Festivals and Events

Volunteer to assist at one of our Festivals or Events. This is one of the most popular ways to volunteer at Ganondagan. We need volunteers for our large events like the Native American Dance and Music Festival as well as smaller events and programs. We need people to help at admissions, driving shuttle carts, manning information, membership, and merchandise booths, setup, take down, cooking, and more.

Specific event needs at this time include:

• Visitors Center - To assist the Ganondagan NYS Staff, volunteers have been requested to work in the Visitors Center on the following dates and times: Saturday 5/29 9:30am - 1pm, Saturday 5/29 1pm - 4:30pm, Sunday 5/30 9:30am - 1pm, Sunday 5/30 1apm - 4:30pm

• Memorial Day Parade: We are in need of volunteers to walk with us in the Victor Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 31. We will leave Ganondagan's parking lot at 9:15 a.m. if you would like to follow us over or you can meet us in the Victor Education Center Parking lot at 9:30 a.m. Please let us know if you can make it and.... be sure to wear your "Ganondagan t-shirt" if you have one.

• Native American Dance & Music Festival - July 24 & 25, 2010

• Living History Event - September 25, 2010

• Canandaigua Treaty Day - November 11, 2010

Click here if you want to volunteer at an event!

Trail Guides

Being a trail guide is a wonderful way to share the history of the site and of the Seneca people with visitors. Trail guides will lead visitors on guided trail walks. Training and instruction provided.

Click here if you want to volunteer as a trail guide!

Trail Guides & those who want to be Trail Guides:

We will be having our first Trail Guide meeting of 2010 on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at the Ganondagan Visitor Center from 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

Proposed Agenda:
7:00 - 7:30 Introductions, Meet new Trail Guides, Schedule yourself on the Master TG Calendar.
7:30 - 8:30 Ronnie Reitter - update TGs on site programs and an Educational Presentation.
8:30 - 9:00 Discuss future needs of Trail Guides, update your contact information.
9:01 Visitor Center Lights Out.

Remember all Trail Guide meetings are 'Bring Your Own Beverage' but the cookies will be provided.

Gardening

The site features two themed gardens - The Three Sisters Garden and the Creator's Garden. The Three Sisters Garden is a demonstration vegetable garden featuring heirloom Native varieties of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers and traditional gardening and farming techniques for the modern-age.

The Creator's Garden is a medicine wheel garden located next to the Bark Longhouse and it features medicinal herb plants. Both gardens require planting and maintenance such as weeding throughout the growing season. Whether you are an experienced gardener or someone wanting to learn from experienced gardeners, we are happy to have you help!

Click here if you want to volunteer in our gardens!

Gift Shop

Our giftshop is open from May through October and we are looking for people to help staff it. Whether you can commit to a regular shift every week or just a few days throughout the season, we are happy to have you help us. And by helping us you are helping the Friends of Ganondagan to support itself - the proceeds help support our programming! All training provided.

Volunteers are needed for any of these shifts from May 1 - October 31, 2010:
Friday 12pm-4pm
Saturday 12pm-4pm
Sunday 12pm-4pm

Please see our giftshop page for a new incentive we are offering to our giftshop volunteers in the 2010 season!!

Click here if you want to volunteer in our giftshop!

Marketing

Assist out Marketing Director with social media posts, distributing flyers, updating on-line calendars, and more. As with all our volunteer opportunities, experience is greatly appreciated but not required.

Click here if you want to volunteer in marketing!

Office and Administration

Just as in the running of any business or organization there are many office and administration tasks to be done. Some of these tasks are completed in the Friends of Ganondagan offices and some of the work can be picked up to work on in the comfort of your own home. These tasks have few physical requirements and are a great way to help and volunteer if some of our other volunteer opportunities are not possible for you because of the physical needs of the opportunity.

Click here if you want to volunteer in the Friends' Offices!

Serve on a Committee

We have a variety of committees and it is through our committees that the planning for the events and the future really take place. This is a way to get more deeply involved!

Some of our committees include:

• Special Events
• Programming
• Education
• Collaborations with Higher Education
• Green Committee
• Volunteer
• Membership
• Resource Development

Click here if you want to volunteer on one of the Committees!

Service Projects and Internships

If your educational program requires a service project or an internship, please contact us. Your skills and our needs may be a perfect match! Some of our past experience with service projects have even lead to highly visible projects and artshows such as our "Nya:weh" book launch and boyscout trail projects.

Please contact us to see if we can help each other!

Volunteer Resources

Look here for resources for our volunteers including documents for download, volunteer training sessions, volunteer events and incentives.

On line Volunteer Application: Please go to the following link to submit your volunteer application on-line. This will give us your contact information, skills inventory, and what you would you would like to volunteer for. On-line application

Paper Volunteer Application: If you would rather submit your application via paper, please print our application form, complete, and mail to Friends of Ganondagan, PO Box 113, Victor, NY 14564.

Volunteer Time Sheets: Each volunteer needs to track their volunteered hours and submit them on a quarterly basis. This is important and this information has multiple purposes. First, it allows us to recognize our volunteers and their generous gift of their most precious possession, their time. It also allows us to extend any incentives we may have to qualifying volunteers. Last but not least, this also shows the level of commitment of the community to our organization and it can help us to qualify for grants and more. So we thank you in advance for taking the time to record your volunteer activties!

Please see the timesheet for submitting instructions: Timesheet (Microsoft Word) Timesheet (PDF)

Incentives: There is a 2010 volunteer incentive for working in the Friends of Ganondagan Giftshop. Please see our giftshop page for details.