Volunteers at Fort Stanwix National Monument: Award Winners and Long Service

Volunteer George Walters receives the George and Helen Hartzog Outstanding Individual Service Award from Nancy Hartzog, daughter of the award's namesakes. NPS.

Fort Stanwix National Monument, in Rome, New York, relies on its Volunteers-In-Parks (VIPs) — and has the awards to show for it.

2021: the Digital Youth Corps

The park's volunteers received the 2020 national and regional George and Helen Hartzog Youth Group Awards for their behind-the-scenes work. The Digital Youth Corps, volunteers aged 7 to 18, created the virtual content the park needed to keep telling its stories during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• a virtual field trip on YouTube;
• posters and biographies of women of the American Revolution;
• help with social media.

"This is a remarkable achievement for our youth volunteers and the park," said Superintendent Kevin Wyrick, noting that it was done during the pandemic "without any form of compensation" — "it is gratifying to know we are in such good hands with these future stewards."

2017: George Walters

George Walters received the NPS George and Helen Hartzog Outstanding Individual Service Award for the Northeast Region.

• 21 years of service and more than 12,000 hours of work.
• A retired price analyst for the Air Force Research Laboratory, he came with no experience in archeology, museum collections or living history, followed his curiosity about local history, and became a mainstay of the park's interpretive program.
• In the Division of Cultural Resources since 2009, he worked with the museum collection and helped install the exhibit "From Memory to Monument," at the park's visitor center and the Rome Historical Society. Division chief Keith Routley called him "among the most exceptional volunteers I have ever had the pleasure to work with."

About the Hartzog awards

Former NPS Director George Hartzog and his wife Helen created the Volunteers-In-Parks program to make it easier for people to give their time to the parks. Announcing it on November 17, 1970, Hartzog said a volunteer who shares their talents pays the Park Service "one of the highest compliments possible by offering a most valued possession – his time." Today more than 246,000 volunteers serve the National Park Service each year. The awards honor volunteers who go beyond the normal call of duty.

Faces of the Fort

The park's "40 for 40" video series introduces longtime volunteers and families — among them Joe, who has volunteered since 1975; a former ranger; a father and son; and a family spanning three generations. The videos are on the Park Service's page.

Sources

Based on "Volunteer Excellence at Fort Stanwix National Monument," Fort Stanwix National Monument, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The youth volunteers' names are omitted.