Volunteer

Interested in volunteering?

If you are already a volunteer, please log in to our volunteer database.

Helping as a volunteer with Golden History Museum & Park is a great way to learn new skills, meet new people, work with the public, and make a difference in our community. Read one of our volunteer profiles. It just might inspire you!

We’re recruiting for select positions

Visitor Services Volunteer

Come join the best group of volunteers in the west! We are actively recruiting admissions desk volunteers at Golden History Museum for a minimum of one shift per week. After checking guests in at the admissions desk, you may shift your efforts to better align with your interests. Potential duties include serving as a gallery guide, conducting collections research, and interacting with guests. At times, you may simply stay at the front desk to answer general questions. While your time volunteering is essential to providing a friendly and courteous experience for all guests, staff will also need your help for various projects throughout your shift.

Volunteer Junior Summer Camp Aides

Golden History Museum & Park accepts a limited number of Volunteer Junior Summer Camp Aides each summer. Camp Aides assist and lead a variety of activities under the direction of camp staff. Volunteers must be at least 13 years old and make a minimum commitment of two weeks of camp, which runs Monday through Friday from June 5 – August 4, 2023 (camp is on break from July 3-7, 2023). Half-day or full-day camp schedules are available. Full-day History Camp Aide hours are typically 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Monday – Friday. Interested volunteers must complete an online application, interview, and attend a camp volunteer training before their first day.

Follow these steps to become a volunteer

1. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator to schedule your interview and/or ask for detailed job descriptions.
2. Pass a background/credit check, conducted and provided by the City of Golden Human Resources Department.
3. Come in for FREE training and begin volunteering!

Notice of background check: All of our volunteers, with the exception of corporate group volunteers and other single-day workers, must complete a City of Golden volunteer application and consent to a background check.

Select Volunteer Profiles

Bill Calmette

Bill was born and raised in Golden. In fact, he was delivered in a small house by a midwife where the Wells Fargo parking lot sits today! He is a 1964 graduate of Golden High School, but left the state to attend Nebraska Wesleyan University, earning a degree in psychology and sociology. After graduation, he taught for a year with the Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped (now the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired).

Bill served in the army for three years as the assistant ward master in a psychiatric ward. After he was discharged, he decided it was time to do some traveling, and traveled up and down the west coast from San Diego to Vancouver for 10 years. He was never without work as he had learned to bartend at the Heritage Square Opera House while still living in Golden.

In the late 1980s, he finally returned to Golden to be with family. He worked at the Heritage Square Opera House before becoming a travel agent, but the long days sitting at a desk weren’t for him. He also worked for a small catering company in Denver, as the event coordinator at the American Mountaineering Center, and as a groundskeeper at the Golden Hotel before retiring. All in all, Bill estimates he’s had over 50 jobs in his life!

Bill joined the museum in November 2017 as it seemed like a great place to welcome people to Golden and share the history of his hometown. You can also find him at the Golden Visitor’s Center where he started as a volunteer a few years ago. In his down time, Bill loves gardening, caring for the multitude of flowers in his yard, and spending time with his dog, Gracie.

Kasey Snow

Born in Oklahoma but raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Kasey Snow loves being creative and expressing herself through art. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s in Art Education and served as an elementary school art teacher for nearly five years before moving to Colorado.

Originally moving to Colorado to combine her artistic passion with her love of the mountains, Kasey only planned to spend one year in this beautiful state building up her portfolio to transition from teacher to freelance illustrator. However, after moving here in 2015, Kasey has not left because she loves living in the Golden area.

While living in Golden, Kasey found herself frequently walking past the chicken coop and wanted to get more involved with the feathery creatures actively grabbing her attention. In January 2018, she saw a volunteer recruitment flyer, literally providing her a sign that it was finally time to meet the Golden History Park flock!

Besides interacting with the resident hens on a regular basis, Kasey’s favorite aspect of volunteer chicken caretaking is educating park visitors. She thoroughly enjoys letting kids into the coop to pet and feed the chickens, while also sharing some basic chicken facts or general caretaking knowledge. Kasey attributes this to the “residual teacher genes in me.” Perhaps you will run into her on your next visit to the Golden History Park.

Kasey is a loving, enthusiastic, and compassionate volunteer. She loves visiting the flock outside of her regular caretaking duties and is usually the first to undertake a project or research new practices that will benefit the chickens. Golden History Museum & Park feels very fortunate and incredibly thankful to have Kasey on our volunteer chicken team.

If you are interested, please check out Kasey’s website. She continues to work as a freelance illustrator and finds inspiration within the chicken flock and Golden area.

Pat Donahue

Born and raised in the rubber capital of the world, also known as Akron, Ohio, Pat Donahue knew from an early age that she wanted to help people. To do so, she pursued a career in nursing and graduated from the University of Akron in 1982. After working at the Akron General Hospital for a few years, Pat wanted a change and took a job as a traveling nurse. Upon adventuring throughout the U.S., Pat fell in love with Colorado and decided to settle in the Golden area around 1991. While working as an Intensive Care Unit nurse at Porter Adventist Hospital, Pat met a quiet and confident Cardiac Care Unit nurse, Kevin. Sharing their love of giving back to their community and exploring the great outdoors, Pat and Kevin have been happily married since August 1997.

In 1994, both Pat and Kevin knew that they could do more to help others. Together, they moved to Minnesota so Kevin could pursue training in anesthesiology while Pat decided to switch things up (again) and began attending law school. After graduating with honors from the William Mitchell College of Law in 1997, Pat and Kevin moved back to Colorado and created their forever home.

For several years, Pat worked at a criminal defense and civil litigation law firm as a family law attorney in downtown Denver. Later, Pat opened and runs her own mediation office, PJD Mediation, LLC, and strives to “improve relationships, one mediation at a time.”

In her free time, Pat continues her passion for helping others through volunteerism. Along with volunteering at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Jefferson and Gilpin Counties mentoring children in foster care, Pat also began giving her time to Golden History Museum & Park as a chicken caretaker and beekeeper since the summer of 2017. When asked about her reasons for volunteering with the Museum, Pat said she “always wanted to learn more about chicken and bee caretaking but really wanted to be more connected with the Golden community.” She loves walking the path along Clear Creek with her husband, Kevin, and their two dogs, Aly and Tiberius.

Pat is a huge help to the Museum. In addition to her regular caretaking duties, Pat takes initiative and fixes numerous maintenance issues such as rat and wasp extermination, roost improvements, coop and yard enhancements, and even replaced part of the chicken yard fence with the help of her husband. Additionally, Pat single-handedly worked to establish the current hives at the Golden History Park and manages the over 150,000 resident bees. Literally, no job is too big or too small for Pat and all of those around her feel her enthusiasm and positivity. Pat continues to be an incredible caretaker to our chickens and bees, as well as an amazing friend to GHM&P staff and her fellow volunteers.