Ruby

by Lora Petrak

“It feels good, good to be of service.” is a genuine expression of feeling and not a casual statement by Ruby.

The spark to volunteer happened for Ruby as an adult. She learned this is how you meet cool people, compassionate people, and how you give back. The first time she was involved with volunteering was in graduate school, doing field studies abroad in Palau and working on service projects within the community. She continued her island studies in Jamaica and found herself bored in her downtime, so she looked for things to do in the community. She wound up teaching reading because it was an immediate need, but she also hoped it would spin off into other environmental opportunities. Looking back, she realized helping within a community is all connected. Post college, her volunteer journey continued with Action for Bikes in San Francisco, later taking on the role of Treasurer with The League of Conservation Voters. 

She has always been driven - staying focused on formal steps to advance her environmental career and, in reflection, remembers others who advanced through the path of volunteering and internship. Now she values volunteering as a way that might lead to something more. 

When she moved to Kauai in 2012, she didn’t know anyone and needed to make connections for her job as the Coastal Land Use Extension Specialist with Hawaiʻi Sea Grant. So she started to network with a lot of cold calling and going to volunteer days of groups like Mālama Hulē'ia and Surfrider Foundation, talking to people and introducing herself, asking, "What do you do, how can I help you?" Service work is a part of her job description, and she believes there is no way to do outreach in a community without doing service in it.  

She holds volunteer positions on the boards of several local nonprofit organizations. She acknowledges it as an honor to be asked and feels it is a reflection of her work in the community. Her longest position has been with Mālama Hulē'ia. Each position she has had has offered new opportunities for growth and building skills, and she says, “benefits of volunteering help those who need a hand but also rewards you with community, skills, and positive feelings of accomplishment.” 

When asked about her thoughts on the future, given what Ruby works on daily and her sense of identifying where help is needed most, it is no surprise that climate change is on her mind. “You have to have a strong and resilient community to deal with climate change. You need altruistic and civic-minded people. But you can't get that without teaching people that mindset. You have to foster it. Our capitalistic society teaches otherwise.”

Even though she works with community nonprofits, she still values committing personal time to volunteer for things she finds interesting or feels that there is a pressing need for help as well as a way of making social connections. Coming out of COVID, she joined the Citizen Forester Program on Kauai as a way to reinvigorate social ties in the community and about trees. Now she sees trees on her street with new eyes and can immediately tell the difference between True Kou and Haole Kou (aka Geiger Tree). 

Volunteering can help with other forms of recovery. A recent injury had sidelined her for six months, leaving her feeling isolated for a long time. She was following Understory Alliance on Instagram and saw the post for a plant swap, so she brought an ‘Ilima (Sida fallax) to reconnect with her friend Sari, Executive Director of Understory Alliance, whom she met through Citizen Foresters. Ruby joined the UA again at a recent workday and enjoyed pulling up weeds, laying down cardboard and mulch to help the Mala La’au (forest garden) grow, and socializing with fellow volunteers. 

To her, success comes in seeing the garden transformed by the impact of so many hands and the deepening of relationships with nature and community.  

Many organizations depend on volunteers to fulfill their missions. Volunteering helps those who need a hand but also rewards you with community, skills, and positive feelings of accomplishment. Follow Ruby’s advice “Volunteering can be fun. It should be something you like to do. Don't do things that feel like work, be with people you like. It’s your time, which is precious.”