Volunteer
Volunteers provide vital outreach, administrative, and operational support for our organization.
By volunteering, you can help us build awareness, raise funds, plan and carry out events, educate guests of all ages, participate in community outreach, and – of course – tend to the gardens themselves.
How to Volunteer
It’s easy! Fill out your interest areas below, then create a profile in VolunteerHub to view upcoming opportunities with us.
Fill out volunteer interest form
Create Account in VolunteerHub
sign in to your existing volunteerhub account
In this four-minute video, learn more about the challenges of planting on a former landfill. Just as the soil on-site works to help the plants flourish, so too does the WBG team work to create a fertile environment, eager to foster continued growth.
Upcoming volunteer opportunities with WBG
We use VolunteerHub (see above to create your VolunteerHub account) to manage our volunteer lists for our various projects. Please see below for any upcoming volunteer opportunities with us:
General Volunteer Orientations
New volunteer? Long-time volunteer who needs a refresher on everything that’s going on at the Gardens? Please sign up to attend one of our upcoming general orientation sessions. The content at each is the same, so you’d only need to attend one.
virtual general wbg volunteer orientationS
FIRST THURSDAYS OF THE MONTH
NEXT SESSIONS:
AUGUST 6
MORNING SESSION, 8:30 AM
EVENING SESSION, 5:30 PM
SATURDAY
AUGUST 8, 9 AM
Once you sign up for the session in VolunteerHub, you will be emailed the ZOOM meeting link that you will use to virtually attend the course.
This link will go out via email the evening before a morning session or in the afternoon of an evening session.
This orientation is for anyone who has either never volunteered with WBG before, volunteered but never attended an official orientation, or would like a refresher on what has been going on up at the Gardens since the last time that they did do an orientation with us.
Budget the full hour for this meeting, but there is a high likelihood that it will end sooner than that.
**CURRENT GARDEN GUIDES OR ANYONE WHO HAS RECENTLY COMPLETED GARDEN GUIDE TRAINING SHOULD NOT REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
Volunteer opportunities at the avish estate
The Avish Estate is our satellite garden space in Prospect.
As the estate is a private residence, please do not visit the property outside of the designated times for volunteer work or WBG-hosted classes and workshops.
If you would like to volunteer for opportunities at the Avish Estate, please see above to create or sign in to your VolunteerHub account.
Thank you!
General Volunteer waiver
While all waivers should be signed digitally in your VolunteerHub account when you sign up for a task, if you need a hard copy of our general waiver, please see below:
Wbg garden guide (docent) training classes
The WBG Garden Guides serve as an essential part of the daily operations of the botanical gardens during visiting hours.
WBG Garden Guides are dependable, committed individuals who are willing and able to help us educate and inspire our guests and ensure that they have a positive garden experience.
In order to graduate, prospective Garden Guides are required to complete all the coursework in the training, including the final “graduation,” where they will demonstrate their knowledge for WBG staff.
For more detailed information on the program, please refer to the following documents:
Upcoming Garden Guide Classes:
ONLINE GARDEN GUIDE CLASSES
ALL of the sessions must be completed in order to graduate into the program.
Please sign up for ALL of them when in VolunteerHub.
No new classes scheduled at this time
Any other inquiries pertaining to this training may be directed to Allison Whitehouse, awhitehouse@waterfrontgardens.org
Conceived in January 2016, the Waterfront Botanical Gardens Cultivators is a young professionals group for earth-lovers who are interested in connecting with other like-minded friends on the principles of environmental education, sustainability, and strengthening cultural life in our hometown.
Dot Wade Volunteer of the Year Award
Dot Wade was a volunteer board member for Botanica Inc. for many years. Her spirit lives on through the amazing volunteers who keep this project moving forward.
Congratulations to Ned Price, our 2019 Dot Wade Volunteer of the Year awardee!
Our 2019 Dot Wade Volunteer of the Year awardee is Ned Price.
Ned is a super volunteer. He first heard about Botanica at a Jon Carloftis talk back in 2014 and has been with us ever since. The first event he remembers coming to was the dedication of the Founders Garden at the Heigold Façade on Frankfort Ave. He has served on the Volunteer Committee since the spring of 2017, the reGeneration Fair Committee since 2018, helps out regularly in the gardens at the Avish Estate, and is a member of our first-ever class of WBG Garden Guides. He truly does it all!
Perhaps most impressively, Ned doesn’t even live in Louisville! He has driven and continues to drive here all the way from Frankfort to help make the Gardens a reality for the community. Thank you, Ned!
Past RECIPIENTS
2015 – Valerie J. Smith 2016 – Tim Baker 2017 – Amanda Schmitt and Mary Ayers
2018 – Tavia Cathcart Brown
cultivator volunteer of the year AWARD
Congratulations to John Haley, our 2019 Cultivator Volunteer of the Year awardee!
The Cultivators are our group of young professionals who are also working to promote WBG in the community. This motivated group has its own governing council, its own members, and puts on its own events. They are dedicated volunteers. The Cultivator Volunteer of the Year for 2019 is none other than Council Vice President, John Haley, who in addition to helping spread the word with much enthusiasm, also helps with the Cultivator graphics!