VOLUNTEER IMPACT REPORT
Learn how our community has contributed to the Town of Windsor own this year!
A note from the Volunteer Coordinator
Welcome to the 2024 Volunteer Impact Report!
In 2024, volunteers of all different backgrounds came together for the common good. Young families visited parks to plant trees, mulch pathways and restore a pond. People retired from work, then went to work for their community by serving meals, preserving local history and monitoring trail conditions. Remote workers spent their lunch breaks helping out in the garden. High school students supported special events and even haunted the lake for the inaugural Zombie Dash!
A highlight from 2024 was Windsor’s first Short Track Race, a free family-friendly bike event at Kyger Open Space. Guided by Open Space and Trails staff, volunteers built the trail where the race took place, then helped to plan and promote the event. On race day, volunteers were stationed around the course for support — leading practice laps, guiding parking, photographing competitors, timing laps and announcing winners at the finish line. This was truly a full-circle moment, showing the power of a passionate group of people coming together to transform their community into a more bike-friendly destination.
Volunteers are a driving force of positive change — they create the community that they want to be a part of. Thank you for your contributions, everyone. But most of all, thank you for bringing a spirit of community service to our town!
Maddi Cheek Volunteer Coordinator
Total 2024 Impact
3,853
Total volunteer hours
404
Total volunteers
The dollar value of this year’s volunteer time is $140,385 — but the true value of volunteerism in our community is priceless. The value of volunteer time is calculated by Independent Sector. Learn more about the methodology on their website. Colorado: 34.36. National: 31.80.
Thank you for making Windsor a great place to live, work and play!
VolunTeams
Volunteer teams serve on a regular basis to support program areas they are passionate about. In this section, learn about special projects made possible by volunteer teams this year!
2024 VolunTeams included:
• Museum Education Gardens
• Bicycle Champions
• HOST (History, Open Space & Trails)
• Trail Ambassadors
• Curator’s Crew
• Senior Lunch
• Treasure Island Gardeners
• Community Events
• Tidy Toddler Team
Interested in volunteering on a regular basis or joining a team? Complete an application and attend a Volunteer Orientation to find an opportunity that’s right for you! bit.ly/WindsorVolunteerApplication
Produce from the garden was used in children’s programming to teach kids about food sources, cooking, pollinators, food preservation and more!
Museum Education Gardens
The Museum Education Gardens provide a space for hands-on learning opportunities at the Windsor History Museum. Volunteers help Museums staff maintain the garden for public education.
Join the team!
bit.ly/MEGVolunteers
This year, 4 volunteer gardeners dedicated 16.5 hours to the town!
Cleaning up the garden at the end of the season.
Bicycle Champions
Bicycle Champions help teach bike & pedestrian curriculum in PE classes, maintain the town’s bike fleet, plan events and more. They are instrumental in making biking a safer and more enjoyable activity for families in Windsor!
This year, 16 Bicycle Champions dedicated 107.5 hours to our town!
Join the team!
bit.ly/BicycleChampionsVolunteer
Volunteers helped host a Short Track Race at Kyger Open Space!
Volunteers assisted with bike and pedestrian education for 2nd and 3rd graders this year, teaching 825 students about bike safety!
Volunteers hosted Bike Everywhere Day in June, welcoming over 160 visits to bike stations throughout the event!
Safe Routes to School programming helps teach kids bike safety.
HOST (History, Open Space and Trails)
HOST volunteers led 4 Trails to History tours on Windsor’s trails!
HOST volunteers help preserve Windsor’s natural history across our open spaces and trails. They help lead outdoor experiences, educate community members, monitor the trail system and share their love of the outdoors.
This year, 4 HOST volunteers dedicated 18 hours to our town!
Volunteers held Trailhead Trunks at events like Kids to Park Day and at trailheads throughout the summer!
Trail Ambassadors
Trail Ambassadors consistently covered the trail on foot and bike, keeping eyes and ears on the trail system. Reporting safety issues, weather impacts, wildlife and trail user trends helps town staff maintain our trails.
Trail Ambassadors covered over 10,000 miles of trails and made 597 trail condition reports this year! Join the team!
This year, volunteers were able to:
• Update 1,560 catalog records
• Process 341 new artifacts
• Inventory over 163 objects
Volunteers helped with finding and recording items to begin the inventory that takes place every 5 years.
Volunteers helped transcribe Town Board Meeting minute books from 1890 for a special project.
Volunteers helped research and record over 936 bank checks from 1904.
Curator’s Crew
Curator’s Crew volunteers help preserve Windsor’s past by cleaning, photographing and maintaining the Museum’s collections. Volunteers work with town staff to ensure Windsor’s history is preserved for the future.
This year, 11 Curator’s Crew volunteers dedicated 129.5 hours to the town!
Special shoutout to the unofficial mascot for Curator’s Crew, Milton Heusser!
olunteers helped serve 20,911 lunches in 2024!
Windsor’s Senior Lunch is part of the Weld County Area Agency on Aging’s Friendly Fork program.
Volunteers help pack and serve hundreds of lunches each week.
A special thank you to Otero Corporation and Windsor State Bank, who have helped serve Senior Lunch each week for over two years.
Senior Lunch
The Friendly Fork Café provides nutritious lunches to older adults in our community. Senior Lunch volunteers help to prepare, package and deliver these meals.
This year, 31 Senior Lunch volunteers dedicated 261.5 hours to the town!
Volunteers helped with events at the garden throughout the summer, including classes and a special Iris Rehoming event.
“I love seeing all of the plants Hundreds of people visited the garden this year! and learning more about what to do in my own garden at home. Makes our morning walk more beautiful.”
-Visitor Comment
“What a beautiful gem! My family, including my small kids, love to explore the garden. We don’t get tired of the stunning plants and flowers. It’s the perfect place to take a break from our walks and bike rides. This is truly a treasure for the community and visitors. A special mention for the volunteers that couldn’t be more welcoming and friendly.”
-Visitor Comment
Join the team! bit.ly/TreasureIslandVolunteer
Visitors at the Iris Rehoming event were able to take home iris and tomato plants.
Treasure Island Gardeners
Volunteer gardeners plant, maintain and harvest the Treasure Island Demonstration Garden each year. They also lead tours and classes in the garden. This community gem would not exist without the dedication of the volunteer team!
This year, 45 volunteer gardeners dedicated 1,656 hours to the town!
Volunteers harvest produce throughout the summer and have a big harvest in the fall.
Volunteers grew, harvested and donated 3,765 pounds of fresh produce to the Windsor-Severance Food Pantry this year!
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Community Events
Community Events volunteers kept events safe, fun and running smoothly this year by helping with setups, cleanups and event support. Volunteers support thousands of visitors at special events throughout the year.
This year, 49 Events volunteers dedicated 135.5 hours to the town!
Join the team!
bit.ly/CommEventsVolunteer
Volunteers
zombies
the Halloween Carnival, honored veterans on Veterans Day and Wreaths Across America, and spread holiday cheer at Windsor Wonderland!
Tidy Toddler Team
This small but mighty team helped make Preschool Open Gym possible by assisting with set up and clean up of the many toys, bikes and fun things that the toddlers enjoy playing with!
Volunteers also helped assemble new toys for the kids.
This year, 2 Tidy Toddler volunteers dedicated 68 hours to our town!
Join the team! bit.ly/TidyToddlerTeam
Volunteers helped with daily cleanup of the gym and helped sanitize equipment during cold and flu season!
Volunteer Events olunteer
Windsor volunteer events are happens when a group of people opportunities for families, individuals, decides to spend their Saturday friends and neighbors to come pitching in to make a difference. The together for a good cause. In 2024, camaraderie, teamwork and shared volunteers planted trees, pulled desire to give back are what make weeds, built trail, hauled debris, volunteer events so special. donated warm clothes and more. Thank you to everyone who came out In this section, you’ll see what to volunteer at an event this year!
Eastman Park Pond Restoration
Eastman Park
Date: March 31
Number of volunteers: 29
Volunteers culled cattails, picked up litter, and hauled over 15 yards of debris from around Eastman Park Pond, improving the drainage and ecology of the space and creating improved fishing access points.
Special thanks to our Crew Leader Matthew who helped out at this event!
Group photo of the volunteers.
A father-son team prepares the tree roots for planting.
Volunteers worked with town staff to learn about tree planting techniques. They planted 10 new trees at the Windsor Public Services Facility.
Public Services Campus
Date: May 25
Number of volunteers: 22
Tree Planting
Special thanks to our Crew Leader José (bottom right) who helped out at this event!
At the beginning of each month, volunteers gathered at Treasure Island Demonstration Garden for coffee, pastries and weed pulling. Early weed removal allowed gardeners to focus on special projects throughout the rest of the month.
Treasure Island Demonstration Garden
Dates: May 3, June 7, July 12, August 2, September 6
Number of volunteers: 18
Weed Warriors
Lead Gardeners helped guide new volunteers.
Trail Building
Kyger Open Space
Date: June 1
Number of volunteers: 25
Volunteers celebrated National Trails Day by completing a new single-track nature trail at Kyger Open Space. Volunteers removed invasive Russian olives, cut in the new trail and were the first to break in the new trail on their bikes!
Volunteers prepare to assist Town Arborist with Russian olive removal.
Cutting the new trail and removing weeds.
Volunteers helped with the annual fall garden clean up at Treasure Island Demonstration Garden. They planted 350 daffodil bulbs, spread 8 tons of rock to improve pathways and laid several yards of mulch to protect the soil for winter.
Spreading the soil for planting daffodils.
Treasure Island Clean Up
Treasure Island Demonstration Garden
Date: October 5
Number of volunteers: 22
Oxbow Disc Golf Clean Up
Oxbow Disc Golf Course
Date: September 14
Number of volunteers: 63
Volunteers spreading mulch.
Volunteers made improvements to the disc golf park by repairing 7 tee boxes, spreading mulch in areas prone to mud and flooding, and moving nearly 10 tons of crusher fines.
Another thanks to our Crew Leader José for helping at this event!
After a town-wide donation drive, volunteers sorted and packed 196 pairs of socks, 18 blankets, 75 hats, 73 pairs of gloves, 34 scarves, 55 hand warmers, 70 jackets and 20 beautiful handmade cards. The donations benefited United Way of Weld County’s cold weather shelter.
Public Services Campus
Date: November 2
Number of volunteers: 32
Warm Essentials Packing Day
Volunteers sorting donations.
Corporate Responsibility
The Town of Windsor enjoyed working with local companies on several community improvement projects. These local businesses gave their time to our community this year.
Buckingham Foundation volunteered at Treasure Island Demonstration Garden for their annual day of service and helped to battle weeds at the peak of the season!
Otter Products employees worked together over the course of two events to build a new community garden at the Historic Halfway Homestead.
The May team of Otters
In August, another team of Otters came back to build 5 more raised beds and help finish the project.
In May, a team worked together to build 10 raised beds as part of their annual closed2open Day of Service.
Attaching wire netting to the base of the garden beds to prevent pests.
The August team of Otters
Church Volunteer Groups
Volunteering is one of the many ways that local churches serve the community. In 2024, church groups helped with town-wide cleanups, donation drives, garden projects and more!
Thank you to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mill City Church, Traverse Christian Church, and CrossView Church for your contributions this year!
School Volunteer Groups
The 5th grade student council from Windsor Charter Academy learned about native grasses, erosion and broadcast seeding as they restored some eroded slopes near the Kodak Archery Range.
Group Service Opportunities
Does your church, team, company or neighborhood want to volunteer together? Planning ahead is the best way to ensure that your group volunteer activity is not only fun and rewarding, but also impactful for the community you’re serving.
1. Check out our guidelines for group activities on the webpage!
2. Look at the calendar of upcoming volunteer events on the volunteer webpage and see if any of these pre-planned events are a good fit for your group. Then, contact the Volunteer Coordinator to confirm that the size of your group and ages of participants is a good fit for the planned activities.
3. If you would like to hold a private volunteer experience for just windsorgov.com/Volunteer your group, be sure to reach out to the Volunteer Coordinator at least 3 months ahead of time. If we are not able to accommodate your request, we will suggest a self-guided activity for your group such as a park cleanup or a donation drive.
4. Looking for something family-friendly and flexible? Consider adopting a park, trail or open space. Your group can plan an activity to care for your adopted space once a month according to your own schedule.
Eagle Scout Projects
Local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops are valued partners of the Windsor Volunteer Experience. They bring enthusiasm for stewardship, an eagerness to learn and strong leadership skills. By completing these projects, volunteers achieved the distinguished rank of Eagle Scout and made a lasting addition to our community.
Right: Visitors to the new bike trail at Kyger Open Space will be able to cross the ditch using this new bridge. This project included researching and building the bridge and clearing invasive trees from the pathway.
Left & above: Produce washing tables were built and installed at community gardens. These additions make it easier for kids to wash veggies during museum programs and helps volunteers wash and prepare fresh produce for donation to the food pantry.
Right & below: The Volunteer Trailer is used to transport and store tools and equipment used on volunteer projects. This project involved building out the interior of the trailer, including creative shelving, tool organization, dividers and compartments. The result is more efficient and well-resourced events with a safe tool system.
Left: Eight new fishing line recycling stations were built and installed around Windsor Lake and Eastman Pond, in addition to four more stations that will be installed at Kyger Open Space. This project is an important step towards protecting vulnerable wildlife and keeping habitats clean.
Interested in partnering with the Windsor Volunteer Experience for your Eagle Project? Fill out the interest form at least 3 months in advance of your project to see if we can host you! bit.ly/WindsorEagles
Special thanks to our volunteer photographers Charlie Dana and Richard Ivey, who provided many of the photos that appear in this report.
Thanks for all your hard work!
Volunteers gathered at a Summer Concert in July to enjoy a meal and great music together. It was great to see volunteers from different teams, events and organizations come together to celebrate!
Volunteer olunteer
Appreciation ion
Night
Boardwalk Park dwalk
Date: July 18
Thank you for joining us and making this year so successful. We hope to see you for another great year in 2025!
