Volunteer Voices - Linda Cody

I became a volunteer at Canaveral National Seashore nearly 20 years ago, but how did it all get started? It began many years ago when my fifth-grade teacher announced we were going to study National Parks. That assignment took all of us kiddos there in the Bronx in 1950 to a world we knew nothing of. 

To say that it was an intriguing time for me is to put it lightly. I found a friendly, helpful friend in Washington, D.C., who wrote to me often, and in the kindest manner helped me nurture what was to become a passionate love for our country's national parks and their treasures.

My family often took “rides” and went to “places” on Sunday afternoons. Many of those little family trips were to sites all around the New York City area. Plus, my mom and dad were avid readers and my dad especially loved historical books. So, early on, I became immersed in a historical world.

Volunteerism came easy as I saw it all around me, and knowing that Americans are the No. 1 volunteers in all of the world, I was on board volunteering at a young age in school and during my years as a young adult -- mostly with fund raising, political groups, teaching in church -- the usual activities for the 1960s. I was not a hippie during that time -- just a mom with three boys by age 22.

Widowed after 39 years of marriage in 2000, and volunteering for the New Smyrna Museum of History, I wanted to learn more about New Smyrna and devoted extra time to do that. I had worked and volunteered at a very large church in Orlando for 13 years before moving to New Smyrna Beach, so my sleeves were already rolled up and I was ready to go when I got here!

I stepped into the original Apollo Welcome Center -- a well-worn, double-wide structure whose flooring gave out within a short time, putting all of us into a trailer. Taking it in stride, I began to realize that as much as I liked working with the public, I wanted my volunteer experience to have more depth. So, I asked to volunteer at Eldora House. 

Fortunately, though I had little or no former knowledge, I had already been able to read copiously from the library located in one section of the double wide and I was able to glean a tremendous amount of information within a short period of time. With the Museum of History as a springboard of local historical education, I could readily dovetail facts and information. It was like sitting at a historical banquet and indulging myself in all that was available.

Now, when families enter Eldora House, I automatically hone in on the younger guests, knowing how influenced I was by the wonder of what was the National Park System. I bend down and make it all about them learning and become a full-blown encourager of our youth being dazzled by this great governmental gift of the parks. Of course, parents are included in this merry-go-round of information, which grows all the time. I find I am never done discovering some new factoid that can be woven into the ever-changing, but fun-filled and informative narrative that has become my NPS "schtick."

I'm about to be 86 and my role as a volunteer just gets to be more of a love affair every year. Canaveral National Seashore is a big part of my heart.