Part Of The Same Team

Ron and JoAnn Szabo are members of a senior volunteering community lending their time and talents to Silver Springs State Park. After more than 2,000 hours, they’re loving every minute of it.

BY JOANN GUIDRY • PHOTO BY STEVE FLOETHE

By 10am on a hot and muggy morning, Ron and JoAnn Szabo, both 72, have already logged three hours of volunteering at Silver Springs State Park. Despite being grubby with sweat-soaked T-shirts clinging to them, they are seemingly happy.

Grinning, Ron nods towards JoAnn and says, “She likes getting her hands dirty, digging in the gardens.” To which JoAnn quickly responds, “He likes driving the tractor that pulls the garden debris wagon.”

Such is the playful banter and knowing glances between a couple that has been married 50 years and volunteering together for five years. In the latter category, the Szabos have posted 2,000 hours and counting. In addition to belonging to the Garden Gang, the duo is also part of the River Patrol, using their own kayak to make sure everyone is safe and courteous while enjoying the Silver River.

“I also assist with the Humane Society of Marion County’s Pack Walk in the park, drive the park’s trams, assist in the Silver River Museum, and if needed, help clean the campsites,” says Ron, who is wiry and fit. “We both also volunteer when there are special events in the park.”

JoAnn, whose jeans likely have permanent knee-pad garden-dirt stains, adds, “Our regular volunteer day is Friday. But we live only about a mile and a half from the park, so we’re usually the first ones who get called if extra help is needed. And we’re happy to do it.”

The Szabos are among the 200 volunteers at Silver Springs State Park overseen by Park Services Specialist Craig Littauer.

“The Szabos, like all of our Silver Springs volunteers, are dedicated and invaluable. Anything a ranger can do, a volunteer can do with proper training,” says Littauer. “Without our volunteers, we couldn’t operate the park on the level that we do. We value and appreciate each and every one.”

EVEN BEFORE THEY BEGAN volunteering at Silver Springs, the Szabos enjoyed active outdoor recreation while living in the Miami area. They played tennis, biked, hiked, fished, camped, and spent a lot of time boating.

“We always had a boat of some kind for most of our lives,” says Ron. “But we’re down to a kayak, which is just fine for us now. You live long enough and things change. You adapt.”

Case in point to adapting is how the Szabos moved to Ocala via south Florida and Atlanta. Prior to their retirements, Ron, a native Floridian, was a project manager with Bell South; JoAnn, who originally hails from Monroe, Louisiana, was a registered nurse working in hospitals and private medical offices. For his last five years with Bell South, Ron and JoAnn relocated to Atlanta and then he took early retirement at 56. That was in 2003 and the couple quickly moved to Ocala, a place they were very familiar with, including the then privately-owned Silver Springs Park attraction.

“Both of our parents ended up retiring in Ocala and we visited them many times over the years,” says JoAnn. “We even had season passes to Silver Springs and enjoyed coming to the park when we were in town. So we were familiar with Ocala and Silver Springs before we decided to retire here.”

Factoring into the move to Ocala was the need to care for the Szabos’ elderly parents, which they did until their passings.

“As anyone who has ever done it can tell you, caretaking is just about a fulltime job,” says Ron. “Of course, we were fortunate to be in a position to be able to do it. Then after our parents passed, we found ourselves with a lot more free time and started looking for opportunities to volunteer.”

As fate would have it, in September 2014 JoAnn read an article in the Ocala Star-Banner about National Public Lands Day. Celebrated annually every fourth Saturday in September, the event promotes both popular enjoyment and volunteer conservation of public lands. Silver Springs Park had transitioned to Silver Springs State Park in October 2013 and would be participating in its first National Public Lands Day.

“We went to the event and just loved it. We got a whole new perspective of Silver Springs as a state park instead of an attraction,” recalls JoAnn. “We signed up right away to become volunteers.”

Not long after, Ron volunteered in his first park event, the Silver River Knap-In. Soon JoAnn was pruning, weeding and planting with the Garden Gang. Fast forward five years and the Szabos are volunteer fixtures and ambassadors for the park.

“The great thing about volunteering at Silver Springs is that there’s something for everyone,” says Ron. “Besides the outside activities, there are indoor opportunities at the Education Center and the Silver River Museum. And you can volunteer as much or as little as you want.”

JoAnn adds, “It’s great to volunteer and work with like-minded people. And the park management and rangers make all the volunteers feel like part of the same team. We are all bonded by a love of Silver Springs State Park.”

Digging in the dirt included.

WANT TO VOLUNTEER?

Opportunities abound for volunteering at Silver Springs State Park, drawing people who don’t mind investing a little sweat equity to preserve a natural treasure. “Some volunteers are residential and in exchange for working at least 20 hours a week, get a free campsite and come from all over the country. They serve as campground hosts or Silver River Museum docents and perform park maintenance,” says Park Services Specialist Craig Littauer. “Our individual or regular volunteers live locally, some come once a week, while others come once a month. Some come once a year to help with special events like SpringsFest, Ocali Days, or the Knap-In.”

All of those volunteer hours add up. According to Littauer, Silver Springs State Park’s 200 volunteers recorded 23,310 hours of service in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

“Those 23,310 hours were equivalent to 11.5 extra full time staff positions,” says Littauer. “We have 26 paid positions, so what the volunteers contribute is like having a 44 percent increase in our workforce. As I said before, our volunteers are invaluable.”

A sampling of volunteer opportunities include:

ARCHIVE TEAM: This group is tasked with scanning negatives and slides of historical Silver Springs, dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, for the Silver River Museum.

GARDEN GANG: Maintains native Florida foliage landscape of the park.

RIVER PATROL: Volunteers use their own kayaks and equipment while patrolling the Silver River to ensure safety.

AQUATIC MOTOR PATROL: This volunteer team uses the park’s pontoon and motor boats to monitor boats downriver all the way to Ray Wayside Park.

Contact Parks Service Specialist Craig Littauer at 236-7148, x5 or email craig.littauer@floridadep.gov