Vicksburg National Military Park hosting volunteer event for National Public Lands Day

Vicksburg National Military Park has announced that it will be hosting an in-person volunteer event for National Public Lands Day.

The event will be taking place Saturday, Sept. 26, from 8 a.m. to noon, and will involve volunteers cleaning red and blue War Department tablets throughout the park. The park recently held a small version of this event with an AmeriCorps team and is confident it can complete this project while properly social distancing.

Established in 1994 and held annually on the fourth Saturday in September, National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort, according to the National Park Service website. It celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship, and encourages use of open space for education, recreation and health benefits.

To comply with NPS guidelines, the park has a hard cap of 50 people for this event. They will be splitting the 50 people into five groups of 10 and sending each group to a different work location.

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the form linked here.

If you intend to bring your family, you can indicate your group size on the form rather than filling it out multiple times. Because of the cap, the park is requiring volunteers to register for the event by Sunday, Sept. 20, and confirm your attendance by Wednesday, Sept. 23.

For more information, email volunteer coordinator Taylor Hegler at hegler@nps.gov or community volunteer ambassador Walt Young at walter_young@nps.gov.