COE Volunteers Needed

[trike12]

Black Warrior & Tombigbee Lakes

The Corps of Engineers, Demopolis Alabama Site Office located on the beautiful Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers is seeking friendly, energetic, park host to assist in managing one of four class A campgrounds.

Positions are available twelve months out of the year. Park Hosts are asked to work 24 hours a week in exchange for full hookup campsite with free laundry.

 

Contact Ben Sherrod at (334-289-3540), email Benjamin.H.Sherrod@USACE.Army.mil for more information..

Thanks for looking... :-)

[TXiceman]

Is the 24 hours per week, per couple or individual.?

Ken

[trike12]

Is the 24 hours per week, per couple or individual.?

Ken

Ken, please call Ben or email him, I am just posting for him. He will be glad to answer any and all your questions...

[wygolfnutz]

We've enjoyed working for COE, but last we heard they were asking for 20 hours each, 24 or 26 hours per couple is nice. The 20 per person was for the TX COEs we checked.

[Kirk W]

Our COE experience was 24 hr./campsite. But we typically put is more as Pam liked helping out in the office usually on or two days per week and I typically worked at least two days a week and occasionally three. Could be that is why we still hear from the volunteer coordinator even after three years of not going there?

[StarDreamers.us]

Thanks for posting. A good option for someone.

 

Safe Travels!

[trike12]

Bump

[trike12]

Bump

[Yarome]

Nice deal! I always love putting in time with the COE and it's generally, as Kirk said, hours per site rather than per person. Some really amazing locations though.

[nana25k]

We looked at the site. It seems a lot of bathroom cleaning is expected. Not much mention of staff participation in sharing that job so its out for us

[Yarome]

We looked at the site. It seems a lot of bathroom cleaning is expected. Not much mention of staff participation in sharing that job so its out for us

 

That's pretty typical for any hosting. Latrine duty, site pickup and prep, clearing fire pits from all the crap people toss in, clearing trails, acting as a trail guide. Can't expect something for nothing. It's really great fun though. You meet a great mix of folks and more than pays off above and beyond the pittance of just a free campsite fee. Try it at least once if you get the chance. The biggest perk is the evening rounds. Everyone is generally so willing to share a cold one or a "you really have to taste our..."

 

They might be out there, but I've never heard of any hosts that didn't love the experience... latrine duty included.

[nana25k]

We don't mind some latrine duty we just don't want to be soul keepers of the potty. Lots of opportunity not to do that. Actually that's one of the reasons we have enjoyed almost 5000 hours each at NWRs. At least there if we do it we share with the paid staff

[TXiceman]

I have to agree with Ron and Linda. The majority of the latrine duty should fall on the paid staff. We do not mind helping keep the bathroom in decent shape by putting out paper, picking up trash, emptying trash cans and a light cleaning during the day, if needed. But I did not retire to clean bathrooms because some people have such poor bathroom habits.

 

I would hope that these folks do not have the same bathroom habits at home.

 

We turned down a nice place this summer when they change us from a 50 amp site to a 30 amp site and changed our duties. We had to keep two bathrooms with a total of 10 shower stalls clean in a busy state park....No Thanks.

 

When I have had to close the ladies restroom because of a mess, I was reported for not letting a woman use it. I had just started cleaning it and all it took was about 10 minutes. Someone had thrown wet TP balls all over the place and water all over the floor. The staff responsible for cleaning the restrooms was already off duty and gone.

 

So if the staff can not do some of the restroom cleaning, I sure will not take it on as totally my job.

 

Ken

[edatlanta]

I am scheduled to host at one of the campgrounds mentioned by the op early 2015. I was specifically told that no restroom cleaning would be involved, that it was all done by outside contractors. They did say a walk through on duty days to check for paper refills or a disaster was expected, but if a disaster to call the ranger. Paper refills surely isn't a problem. This might not be true for all of their parks, but this is what I was told for the one I will be in.

[Kirk W]

 

That's pretty typical for any hosting. Latrine duty, site pickup and prep, clearing fire pits from all the crap people toss in, clearing trails, acting as a trail guide. Can't expect something for nothing.

We have been campground hosts for 7 different agencies thus far and in no case has toilet/restroom cleaning been a part of our regular duties. Emergency spot cleaning does at times fall into the duties and stocking of supplies usually is. While there are locations that expect the host to do that sort of thing, we don't accept such positions and we have hosted for the COE in two different locations, doing no cleaning of any sort at either one of them. We have done fire pit cleaning at most host locations, but not all.

 

In 3 months as campground hosts this past summer there was one incident of nasty toilet cleaning that I had to perform because of the timing of it but that is the only time that I did more than to mop a floor of the shower room on muddy day. I will be quite surprised if Ed's experience is not similar to ours.

[Yarome]

I have been hosting at entirely the wrong places LMFAO! I Always get dunny duty and I'm always the only one out there. "staff"?? What are you talkin about? LOL

 

 

[trike12]

I think if you would call the number an check you would find out that they have volunteers that clean the rest rooms.. There are several jobs to be had from working at the gates to cleaning paths. Also there are a couple of jobs where u just open an close the gates and make a couple of rounds a day.

If you really want to know what the job is CALL..

[ppazucha]

The thing about volunteering is that two locations for the same agency often do not have the same requirements / requests and expecting a new posting to be the same as some place where you volunteered is a sure way to disappointment.

 

In July we finished 10 months volunteering as Volunteer Coordinators for the Oregon Dunes National Recreation -- Part of the US Forest Service. As such I was responsible for hiring volunteers. In their case they can't get contract help to clean bathrooms -- so the ask/expect volunteers to do the work. We've volunteered for the USCOE and in one place they did have contract cleaning and in another place they did not. The only way to know is to contact the agency and find out the requirements for any particular position at a given time.

 

Things change -- even for the government -- and in these budget times, perhaps especially for the government.

[LFDR3116]

We hosted at a forestry campground and the first year there was a paid contractor that cleaned the restrooms and we did spot cleaning, paper refill etc. The 2nd winter there, due to budget constraints, there was no longer a paid contractor to clean the restrooms/showers.

I was told I did not have to do it. I could not stand to let them get nasty with no one cleaning, so I cleaned them daily. They now have prisoners that come once a week and clean (kind of) and unless the hosts pitch in, that is the only cleaning that happens.

 

I had problems with my shoulders after 6 months of the cleaning so I will not do that again. Couldn't even raise my arms over my head after using that big old fashion mop for a few months. We left - problem went away after a couple of months. That's how I figured out what caused it to begin with.

[homelesshartshorns]

COE ???

[Kirk W]

COE ???

COE = US Army Corps of Engineers