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VOLUNTEER UPDATES
November 10, 2009
from Casey Melton

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Holiday Décor – We are currently looking for holiday décor that will be used in EAS this year for our holiday promotion. As you dust off those storage boxes and get out your holiday decorations, keep us in mind. If you have any items that you do not use anymore and would like to donate to the Aquarium for the holiday promotion, we would greatly appreciate it. If you have any questions, contact Katie Edmiston, marketing manager at kedmiston@flaquarium.org. You may drop your décor to Katie or Margaret at the reception area.

First Aid Training
Our next First Aid class will be held Thursday, November 19, 9 am – 12 noon.  Class trains you in basic first aid procedures and is recommended for anyone who works in the Aquarium.  Please e-mail Jack at jchristensen@flaquarium.org if you would like to attend.

Volunteer Memberships

Just a reminder that your volunteer membership is a BENEFIT, please do not abuse it.

Here is how the memberships work:

  •  When bringing your guests, you must utilize the main entrance at the admission gate. 
  • Your membership is for the number of people specified on your card.   That means you can bring up to the number that it specifies – (Including yourself) with you during operating hours to enjoy the facility!
  • You MUST accompany your guests/family into the facility. 
  • If you are already volunteering that day, then have the guests meet you at the front entrance (they can park in the lot and pay $6.00 for all day parking) and you’ll need to meet your party up front so the admissions staff know to count the friends/guests on your membership card.  This is for tracking purposes.
  • You MUST have your membership card and your identification card with you in order to get someone in on your membership.  (If you lose your membership card, replacements are $5.00)
  • Guest Services has been instructed to take copies of all membership cards and id’s that don’t match.   Please do not harass the guest services team if you forget your membership card and/or picture id. 
  • If you abuse the system, we will revoke your membership.

If you have any questions, please see Casey in volunteer services.   We believe this is a great benefit and we truly want you to enjoy your aquarium perks!  We’d like to continue offering this benefit so please follow the rules! 

** Did you know that the International Dateline once separated the Fiji Islands, thus calling it the land of today and tomorrow? Now days it is better known to divers as the Soft Coral Capital of the World. Tina Lewis is offering an experience of a lifetime to dive the paradise waters of Fiji. If you are seriously interested in joining her on this adventure, please contact Tina – email: tinadiver@juno.com or 727-522-0308 for details. Don’t wait to long, the deadline to signup is just around the corner.

WETLANDS PROJECT NIGHT
We are looking for 10 – 15 volunteers to help in the WETLANDS GALLERY for an exhibit cleanup, Wednesday, December 9, 5-7pm. We will be going through all the exhibits, planting and putting the Texas Grit down and various other tasks.

If you are interested in helping out and don’t mind getting a little dirty - contact Casey Melton at cmelton@flaquarium.org or put your name on the sign-up sheet in the volunteer lounge. Snacks and beverages will be served. Put your grubby clothes on and come help out.  

EERT Bake Sale
As many of you many have heard by now, next Saturday, November 14 th, there will be an aquarium wide Enrichment Day. One of the many cool things going on that day will be a bake sale with proceeds going to animal enrichment. I am leading this Bake Sale and putting out the official call to all you bakers out there, we’re looking for the usual cookies and cupcakes, and even brownies and rice krispy treats for this sale. And since it is on a Saturday and open to the general public, we’re going to need a few more goodies than we’ve had for the Member’s Nights bake sales. So if your interested, and have some amazing baking skills you’d like to show case we’d love your contribution. And for those of you who don’t care to bake, we are still looking for a few more people to help out with manning tables that day, that sign up sheet with open time slots is at Adam Duff’s desk in Area D.

Husbandry positions

Bird diet volunteers needed on Tuesday from 2-5pm to make diets and clean out the pans. Individuals must be dedicated and dependable. You will be feeding out the afternoon diets, making diets and cleaning pans. This is a great opportunity to observe the birds in the Wetlands gallery.

Ocean Commotion positions open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday. You will be helping in various areas of the OC gallery from 7am – 4pm.

If you’re interested in these openings, please complete a Husbandry Application in the lounge, and submit it to Volunteer Services. Don’t forget to write the position you are applying for.

Eco-boat Volunteers Needed
Now that the boat is running every day, we are seeking volunteers for the Bay Spirit II to assist the Captain and Crew as another pair of eyes for safety, watching and answering guest questions.  If you are interested please contact Brian Shannon – email bshannon@flaquarium.org or (813) 273-4000 ext. 4034 and he can get you started.

**For those assigned to the Bay Spirit II, please contact Security at 813/273-4000 ext. 4077 prior to coming in for your shift, to verity the boat is going out.

Out of the office – The volunteer office will be closed 11/12-17. Open on 11/18.

GOT TO TOP

Want to become a volunteer diver? Are you a Certified Scuba Diver but not RESCUED certified? Well, there is some good news for our active volunteers that want to become a dive volunteer. The requirements to become a volunteer diver have changed. To be a volunteer diver…

 

You must be at least 18 years of age

Be OPEN WATER certified or above

Have 25 logged dives

Complete & return a volunteer dive packet to the volunteer office

Complete and return an AAUS medical exam

Successfully complete in-water skills assessment

Complete the Florida Aquarium scientific aquarium diver training program of 52 hours. (on going training monthly)

 

To schedule a dive email Diveschedule@flaquarium.org or call (813) 367-4019. See you in the water!

    		•
    WHAT's NEW
    from Education's Public Programs

    Important Information  

    • We are rolling out a new look for the Adopt an Animal program starting with the new brochures. Thank you to the Graphics department and Steve for the new design and look. Please take a moment and recycle any and all Adopt an Animal brochures that you currently have in your areas.  We are also changing the program to have four levels that donors can pick from. We look forward to more adoptions and $ for animal care, check out the new brochures when you get a chance!
    • The Aquarium is a smoke free facility.  This means it is NOT OK to smoke in the staff locker rooms!  Over the last few weeks our ES staff has smelled cigarette smoke in both men’s & women’s lockers.  Please stop this practice NOW.
    • We are pleased to announce that Eckerd College students Gervaise Henry, Erin Mahoney, and Joshua Sweet have made Fantasy Island their semester-long community service project as a component of their Senior year “Quest for Meaning” class at Eckerd.  For their project, they seek to accomplish two goals:
    •  A botanical survey of Fantasy Island:  This information will be useful to The Center for Conservation in order to evaluate the success of our restoration efforts over the years by comparing the current botanical collection at Fantasy Island with the survey that Julia Stack and her team have accomplished prior to restoration.  We’ll be looking for an increase in biodiversity, an increase in Florida native plants, and a decrease in invasive exotics.  This survey will also be of use to our Education Department in sharing information with students about Florida coastal native vegetation and the role it plays in coastal ecosystems.  Finally, this information will provide good baseline data for future researchers that may wish to study the ecology of the Island.
    • Saltmarsh grass planting:  Tampa Baywatch graciously donated 3,000 saltmarsh grass plugs to the Eckerd College team for this project.  On September 30, our Fantasy Island restoration specialist Alex Slater took these students out to Fantasy Island to plant the grasses.  The pictures attached are from the event.  These grasses help stabilize the shoreline, preventing erosion.  They also provide a habitat for benthic saltmarsh inhabitants. 


    Many thanks to the Eckerd Team Gervaise, Erin, and Josh for the hard work they’ve already done, and also to Alex Slater and Julia Stack for supporting their project and assisting with logistics.  We also owe a big Thank you to Tampa Baywatch for their donation!

    • Thanks to an input from one of our team members we are now providing covers that go over the foam cover on all headset microphones to prevent the spread of germs when a headset is used by various individuals during programs throughout the day.  Use of the covers is at the discretion of each individual.  The covers are intended for use by one individual and should be put on when an individual first uses a headset and taken off when the individual finishes with the headset.  The covers are latex free and are simply rolled over the foam cover that currently covers the microphone.  Andre is in the process of putting bags with the covers at all the locations where headset microphones are stored.  We ask that if you find a bag containing 10 or less covers, contact Andre and he will restock the bag.
    • The Fall/Winter cruise season is back which means that we will be seeing ships at Terminal 3 again.  All the activity will be on Sundays until December 3 and then there will be ships at Terminal 3 on weekdays as well.  All this means a lot more early morning activity and congestion in and around the Aquarium and Terminal 3 as well as some changes to our procedures on days when ships are in at T-3.  The Port has not given us any schedules for 2010 yet, but based on previous years I would expect the T-3 activity to continue until mid April.   It is extremely important to ensure that everyone has an Aquarium sticker on their vehicle, is parking behind the blue line and is notifying the Security Office if you will be leaving a vehicle in the lot overnight.  We see a tremendous increase in cruise passengers leaving vehicles in our lot when cruise season first starts; these vehicles all get towed.  If you are parked in the wrong area and have nothing to identify your vehicle we will assume it belongs to a cruise ship passenger.
    • There are a lot of new people around who are using the freight elevator during the day.  Everyone needs to be aware that this elevator has a few “quirks” and if it is not operated properly will make it appear that the elevator is malfunctioning. 

    First, you must ensure that the outside doors are completely closed; if a door is even slightly open on any floor the elevator will not work.  Always take the time to ensure the doors are fully closed.  Second, when you think the elevator has stopped on the floor you want, wait several seconds before opening the inside door.  The elevator likes to stop, then slowly settle into the right position on the floor.  If you open the inside door too soon you will find that the floor of the elevator is about six inches above the level of the floor, so always wait for that “second” stop before opening the inside door.

    If anyone has questions, see someone in Life Support or the Security Office who will be glad to help. 

    • The Enrichment Fundraising Team (EFrT) is hosting an Enrichment Day in only a few short weeks.  Courtney has a really good start on collecting paper towel and toilet paper rolls for one of the crafts guests can make at the craft table, but she’s going to need a whole lot more.  She will be collecting them all the way through November 14 th. 

    They can be left on Courtney’s desk in the Education section of Area D.

    • Just a heads up on the new footbaths that will be setup in select areas around the aquarium.  Most of them will be on Q Deck, but also fish holding hallway.  There will be a grass mat next to each bath bucket to scrape your shoes first, and then you will place both feet in the bucket for a least a few seconds to allow the entire bottom to get wet.  Please use when both entering and exiting an area that has these setup.  Only use with shoes on, not diving booties! . Thanks for helping keep the fish healthy!! Any questions please ask someone on the Quarantine Team. 

    Animal Info

    • To those who may find themselves walking through wetlands gallery at some point in time...

    Blue Jays are back! If one of these birds lands on your shoulder please gently brush it away without making a big deal out of it. Please encourage guests to also do the same if you happen to see one land on anyone.

    Please do not do the following:

    Talk to the birds, hand feed the birds, or interact with them in any way that might positively reinforce interactions with people. These birds should be wary of people and we want to encourage that kind of behavior in them so that they can continue to enjoy a happy healthy life in the wetlands gallery. Please help these birds remain in the gallery by giving us your cooperation in this matter.

    • There’s a black sea bass next to the crocodile in the wetlands gallery (3.18c) and a gag grouper in the bonnethead tank (4.01) in Bays & Beaches.
    • A mockingbird has been added to the Wetlands gallery, keep your eyes (and ears) open for it.
    • One of the yellow stingrays from the deli tank (4.02a) in Bays and Beaches has been moved nextdoor into the bubble tank (4.04a). The animals from the bubble tank (Batfish, scorpionfish, stingray) were transferred into the deli tank. Several new small Atlantic stingrays were also just added to this exhibit. You can now get a really good look at the batfish, no longer magnified by the round shape of the bubble tank!
    • In the hammock exhibit (3.10) there is a new bobwhite quail. It is a male and has no bands. This means there are now 4 total birds in the exhibit.
    • Make sure you check out the ghost pipefish in Dragons Down Under! It’s tough to spot, with excellent camouflage. It will hover head-down in the water, usually close to the foliage in the exhibit (7.05) where the weedy sea dragons used to be.
    • Take a stroll through the wetlands and admire all the new plants that Julia and her team of staff and volunteers planted recently. It is very lush in there! You’ll notice eelgrass in the springs exhibit (3.02), new Fakahatchee Grass in the gator marsh (3.07), Lots of Boston fern and dwarf palmetto in the hammock (3.10), gorgeous new orchids at the wall (3.13), and bunches of cordgrass at the end of the mangrove exhibit (3.15).

    Just a reminder about uniform policies and parking:

    **The polo shirt must be tucked in when we are open.  Even if you are behind the scenes, the shirt must be tucked in. **The polo shirts must be worn with khaki bottoms – not black or blue – khaki, even if you are working behind the scenes.

    **If you are wearing the gray t-shirts those also must be worn with khaki bottoms and must be tucked in. 

    And a reminder (even in slow season) that parking is behind the blue line.  The only exception to this is those who have special parking permits due to health reasons.  

     

    GO TO TOP

    Weekly updating by Michael Knudsen, a volunteer at the Florida Aquarium since 2002 and are provided and maintained as a free service to the outstanding volunteer community & staff of The Florida Aquarium..