Longtime volunteers for Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks answer a few of our burning questions.
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Photo by Diane Terry
Charlie and Patty Kieffer have been volunteering with Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks since before many readers were born. We checked in with them about a quarter-century of service to state parks, and here's what they told us:
1. How and why did you get involved with Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks?
We became docents at Wilder Ranch State Park in 1989 (25 years ago). As docents we saw firsthand what Friends has done to keep our parks in Santa Cruz County open and maintained.
2. What do you do for Friends?
Charlie serves on the Board of Friends and is Chair of the Castro Adobe Committee. Both of us give private tours of the Castro Adobe and act as volunteers for activities and fund raisers.
3. What's your favorite park? Why?
Since the Castro Adobe is currently not open to the public, Wilder Ranch (a jewel) is our choice. It has hiking, biking, horse trails and a cultural center with many docents that give tours/demos.
4. What's the best thing about volunteering at the parks?
Giving enjoyment to park visitors, especially seeing that enjoyment in their eyes when they are visiting the parks.
5. Name something about one of our parks that most people don't know.
Santa Cruz County is the second-smallest county in the state, but has more state parks than any other county in California (and possibly in the whole U.S.).
6. Describe a favorite memory at one of our local state parks.
We once brought a group of Japanese tourists to Wilder. We had them make do-it-yourself tortillas, did roping tricks, gave them a horse-drawn wagon ride. They LOVED the experience.
7. Anything else you want to add?
We love the parks….and we love Friends. Of course….why wouldn't we want to be volunteers?
About Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks
Begun in 1976 as a history association working in cooperation with local parks, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks developed a unique approach to supporting the state parks found in Santa Cruz County. Rather than simply fundraising and presenting parks with donations, Friends funded interpreters and entrance kiosk workers, as well as capital improvement projects such as renovation of the historic Castro Adobe, using a portion of entrance fees coupled with proceeds from five ParkStores—and, of course, donations and grants. This innovative public-private partnership reached a new level in 2011 when Friends stepped in to halt the closure of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park (a.k.a. the Mission Adobe) by covering operating costs. In 2013 FoSCSP was the highest contributor to California state parks of any organization of its kind, and the "Friends model" has been studied by the Parks Forward Commission tasked with overhauling the state's struggling parks department.
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