Jess and Vicki Jane Norris were named the Arizona Volunteers of the Year for 2005. They spent the season volunteering at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Arizona has recruited park hosts via Workamper News and Workamper.com for most of the past decade and with excellent results. Jess and Vicki Jane are one couple of many who have been recruited through Workamper News.

Here is their story:

Veteran Park Hosts (and longtime subscribers) Jess and Vicki Norris split their time between Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee, Colorado and South Dakota -- jokingly describing themselves as "vagabonds" who have embraced the enrichment of marrying volunteer work with RV life on the road. (Rev.) Jess is a retired Methodist minister, and Vicki Jane a retired teacher.

BTA only asks park hosts to work 20 hours per week each to qualify for an RV spot with FHU, but together the Norris's offered about 4,500 hours of their time over several seasons at BTA. "We spent four wonderful winters at Boyce Thompson Arboretum where the natural and personnel environment were beyond our fondest expectations. We made that first contact from reading Workamper News. In our experience, and from others we've talked with, Workamper is the most important resource for finding seasonal jobs," says Jess.

"Prior to Boyce Thompson Arboretum we spent time at a national forest nursery in Virginia. We worked a summer in Winter Park, Colorado, as Forest Service camp hosts followed by another summer in Show Low, Arizona, doing the same kind of work. Again, we were steered to all those jobs by Workamper. All the experiences were unbelievable in filling our lives with rewarding situations and meeting a lot of great people from all over the world.

But the best of all was our many experiences at the arboretum where we received the Volunteers of the Year Award from the state and the University of Arizona. Thanks are due to the Workamper News for providing valuable job information. We subscribe to the magazine and we get it online as well -- we would not be without it! Needless to say, we spread the word about Workamper News and Boyce Thompson Arboretum wherever we go."

- Jess & Vicki Jane Norris

Information on volunteering for BTA

"Nearly every park host we have recruited has been a referral through Workamper News or Workamper.com," says BTA Volunteer Program Coordinator Paul Wolterbeek. "And I can't imagine a more effective way to match an applicant couple with their ideal park hosting gig. Job duties here at the arboretum are mostly guiding educational tours and taking visitor admissions at the main entry gate. I consistently find the highest quality applicants through Workamper News: retired teachers, pastors, and other professionals who enjoy working with the public and are thrilled at the chance to live and work here at one of Arizona's most beautiful state parks."

RV couples who are reading this should make a point of visiting the arboretum if the road brings you through Arizona this year. BTA is a 320-acre botanical collection of plants from desert ecosystems all around the world. There are more than two miles of paths and trails, and the park is an easy drive just one hour east of Phoenix on US Highway 60. The hours are 8-5 daily in the Fall/Winter; there's no overnight camping at the Arboretum, but the Superior RV Park is just another two miles east. Thousands of school children tour each fall, winter and spring. Park hosts at BTA are not required to be botanists or experts on desert plants -- ideal park host applicants are people eager to learn about desert ecology and even more enthused to share that knowledge with others by leading tours. Park hosts are trained to guide the tours. Experience with cash handling helps, too, since their duties are split between guiding tours and taking daily admissions.

Also, resident volunteers work as greeters, and those with a green thumb and a desire to put in extra time are welcome to help the arboretum horticulturists and groundskeepers maintain the extensive collections of cacti, flowers, herbs and trees.