A volunteer at the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center front desk. NPS.
At Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, the restored Fordyce Bathhouse is the park's visitor center and museum. Its volunteers are the first faces visitors see. With hundreds or even thousands of visitors a day, they keep the building running, answer questions about the park, and share the history of the city's bathing industry.
The volunteers
| Volunteer | Since | Why they volunteer | Don't miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Byrd, Hot Springs | summer 2016; again April 2022 | began while researching the bathhouses; came back to give back to his community | the gymnasium, "because of all its history" |
| Lily Cox, Gurdon | January 2023 | academic service while studying museum studies at Henderson State University | the stained glass throughout the building |
| Greg Fisher, Hot Springs | March 2023 | grew up exploring the trails on Hot Springs Mountain, and came to love local history | the Music Room on the third floor |
| Khristin Guardado, Hot Springs | September 2022 | answered an Instagram post recruiting volunteers; service hours for school, and learning about her community | the sunbathing courtyard on the second floor |
| Jodi Reed, Oceanside, California | March 2022 | to give back to the parks she has loved all her life | "Definitely the gym!" |
| Kevin Roth, Los Angeles | November 2021 | has the time and likes meeting strangers | "The beautiful stained glass ceilings" |
| Jack Thorp, Camden | 2011 | wanted something part-time in retirement | the old workout equipment, the gym and the music room: "It's a different way of living." |
What they enjoy most is the same across the list: meeting visitors from all over the world. As Jack Thorp puts it, "People are amazed something like this exists."
Sources
Based on "Volunteer Story: Visitor Services at the Fordyce," Hot Springs National Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The volunteers' individual portraits are left out.
In these publicationsHot Springs National Park
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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