Thurston County proclaims April 2025 Volunteer Appreciation Month; search-and-rescue, Stream Team and Habitat speakers highlight needs

The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners on April 15 proclaimed April 2025 as Volunteer Appreciation Month and heard three presentations from local volunteer organizations about their work and volunteer needs.

Commissioners heard that Thurston County’s volunteer search-and-rescue groups, local Stream Team volunteers and South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity together provide services that support public safety, environmental stewardship and housing support across the county.

Marcel Allen, president and training coordinator of Thurston County Washington Explorer Search and Rescue (TCWESAR), told the board volunteers provide “life-saving search, rescue and recovery services” across wilderness and urban environments and train intensively for missions, often in severe weather. Allen said new ground-team trainees put in nearly 200 hours from fall to spring and that TCWESAR contributed what Allen described as more than $235,000 in volunteer value during the most recent year.

Cynthia Taylor, a Stream Team representative, described coordinated volunteer projects across Thurston County that restore habitat, monitor water quality and provide education. Since 1990, Stream Team volunteers have logged more than 27,000 hours overall and some 3,000 hours in 2024 alone, Taylor said, citing plantings, citizen science monitoring and outreach programs that include salmon stewards at viewing sites in South Puget Sound.

Elizabeth Walker, CEO of South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity, told commissioners volunteer labor remains central to Habitat’s local homebuilding, repairs and resale-store operations. Walker said Habitat plans 62 new units over the next five years (28 in Tumwater, 22 in Yelm and 12 in Olympia) and that volunteers contributed more than 19,000 hours last year to construction, repairs and store operations.

Chair Ty Mentzer read the proclamation recognizing the month as National Volunteer Month and formally adopted the county proclamation thanking volunteers across boards, commissions and nonprofit organizations.

The board recessed briefly for photographs and to join a volunteer fair outside the meeting room.

Clarifying details recorded at the meeting noted that TCWESAR’s ground-team volunteers may be 14 years or older for some roles, new trainees routinely complete background checks, fingerprinting and FEMA online coursework and that Habitat’s 62-unit plan is a five-year goal with sites in Tumwater, Yelm and Olympia.

Commissioners and staff thanked the volunteers and encouraged residents to learn more or sign up for volunteer activities with the organizations represented at the fair.