Volunteer
Job Description
FROM: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volunteer-opportunity/a09t0000009XLZz
ADDRESS: 170 Mile Creek Road Grand Portage, Minnesota, 55605
DATES: 5/13/2024 – 9/28/2024
DEPT: National Park Service
JOB DESCRIPTION:
Are you looking for a break from the summer heat and want to spend a few months near Lake Superior? Grand Portage National Monument is offering a Volunteer RV slot for enthusiastic volunteers who enjoy history and engaging with the public. If you have your own RV and are willing to donate 30 hours of your week to an incredibly fun job, we have a spot for you to park it for the summer while you work alongside our fantastic team of seasonal and volunteer staff at the reconstructed historic site and Heritage Center.
Grand Portage National Monument is located entirely within the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation on the Canadian border and Lake Superior. You will have the opportunity to learn about our fascinating park story and co-management agreement with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa as you interpret the story of Grand Portage.
Our seasonal training begins on Monday, May 13, and we would love to have you through Labor Day weekend, or even longer into September if you want to enjoy the beautiful fall colors along Minnesota’s north shore. Training on the park’s story and interpretive themes, fundamental resources, and values including the relationship between the park and the Grand Portage Band, the Grand Portage Trail Corridor, North West Company Headquarters and Depot, Fort Charlotte, Grand Portage Reservation Village, Museum Collection, and the Portage Experience will be provided.
A typical workday will be approximately 8 hours of service time, from 8:20 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break and unscheduled breaks covered by roving interpreters throughout the day. Volunteers occupying a park-provided RV pad will be expected to work up to 30-hours/week. Park RV pads contain full electric, water/sewer hook-ups, and free laundry facilities.
Primary responsibilities will include staffing interpretive stations (may include Heritage Center Front Desk/Eastern National Sales, Ojibwe Village, Historic Gardens, Great Hall, Kitchen, Canoe Warehouse, Roving Interpretation) and sharing the park story with visitors during operating hours, anticipated to be 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Typical duties include greeting and providing informal interpretation to visitors, discussing the significance of Grand Portage National Monument as it aligns with the park’s interpretive themes; sharing about the Ojibwe people and the North West Company; the 18th century Great Lakes Fur Trade; co-management between the National Park Service and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; additional topics include but are not limited to archeology, trade, exploration, food, lifeways, geology/geography, Lake Superior, transportation, etc.
Based on need, volunteer may be required occasionally to drive the park’s accessibility cart.
Volunteers may choose to develop and deliver formal interpretive programs, but this is not a requirement of the position.
While on duty, volunteer may choose to wear period-appropriate clothing provided from the park’s collection of historic reproduction articles or a volunteer polo shirt provided by the park.