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Some of our volunteers spend a weekend working on projects in Yosemite; others dedicate a week to restoring trails and habitat. For our visitor information assistants, the official required commitment is four 32-hour weeks – but for some dedicated volunteers, Yosemite beckons for much longer, recurring periods of time.

While riding a Valley shuttle bus during our 2010 Fall Gathering event, Yosemite Conservancy donor Ann Chmielewski heard someone talking about volunteer opportunities. The speaker, who donated his time and talents to the Conservancy’s art programs, explained that people could volunteer to teach creative classes (as he did), to pitch in on restoration projects, or to spend a month helping visitors make the most of their time in the park.

“This is for me!” Ann thought. She was newly retired, and remembers that the prospect of dedicating days to sharing her love of Yosemite with visitors from around the world (and getting to relax at a campsite each night), was “a dream come true.”

The following summer, Ann donned a Conservancy shirt and launched into her first month as a visitor information assistant. As she recalls, the waterfalls were magnificent that season, fed by the snowy 2010-2011 winter. Immersed in the stunning beauty of a Sierra Nevada summer, she found great satisfaction in helping visitors gather memories of their adventures in Yosemite.

In the ensuing years, Ann returned to Yosemite again and again, donating weeks at a time to help other people connect with the park. During the busy season, Ann and her fellow volunteers meet hundreds of people every day. Many of those faces remain largely anonymous – visitors drop by with a quick question, or need help finding a trailhead on a map. On some occasions, though, volunteers have the opportunity for more personal conversations.

For Ann, having an uncommon last name has come in handy for sparking connections. “My name tag was noted by a Chmielewski family from New Jersey, and by a classmate who went to school with my husband’s nephew,” she says, adding that it’s always fun to see people she knows from home, too. “Those encounters make being a volunteer more personal.”

By her seventh season, Ann had stretched her volunteer stint from one month to 11 weeks. In 2017, she divided her time between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows, where she served as a leader for her fellow visitor information assistants.

The Tuolumne post holds a special place in her heart. Like many high country-based volunteers, Ann enjoys attending (and assisting with) the seasonal talks, poetry readings and musical performances at Parsons Memorial Lodge, a historic stone building near the Tuolumne River. “To be in that beautiful setting and hear readings by authors is so inspiring,” she says. As a Conservancy Ann, all smiles on a snowy day in Yosemite Valley in February, while volunteering to help visitors who headed to the park to see the seasonal Horsetail Fall. Photo courtesy of Ann Chmielewskidonor, she’s also been able to give back to an experience that gives her so much joy, by supporting grants for the summer series.

Several years (and many happy, informed visitors) since her first volunteer season in Yosemite, Ann has carved out a place as a welcoming, knowledgeable and helpful presence in the park. She has been nominated for Yosemite’s Individual Volunteer of the Year award, has hiked up Half Dome and around the High Sierra (all after age 50, and with boots still eager to hit the trails), and remains a tireless representative of the Conservancy and our volunteer program.

When asked if she has any advice to share with people thinking about volunteering in Yosemite, Ann offers this simple guidance anchored in her own approach: “Just bring your joy for nature and for being with other lovers of the park, and you will enjoy each day.”

Above: Ann brings her joy to Yosemite on every trip, letting her warm smile shine whether she’s welcoming visitors in Yosemite Valley, playing in high-elevation snow, or using her bicycle to ride to her next volunteer post. Photos courtesy of Ann Chmielewski.