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YOU Could Be A Volunteer

Volunteers at the Panhandle Butterfly House have the opportunity to make valuable and enriching contributions to the community, learn about butterflies and butterfly gardening, meet people, and have fun!  Volunteer a few hours, 1 day week or 1 day a month.  Or get more involved, it's all up to you!  Schedules are flexible.

Below is some information on some of the types of activities we do, what volunteers do, and contact email links. We hope to hear from you soon!

Our primary volunteer types are listed below.  We do however have need of volunteers with some special skills for more "independent" tasks:

Volunteer recruitment

Write Press Releases

Produce an annual Calendar "product"

Newsletter editor

Marketing

Fund raising

Butterfly Wrangler - feed caterpillars, clean cages, glue pupae, etc.

Historian, maintain a print scrapbook, take photos at PBH events

Handy people to help improve and maintain our structures and facilities

Contact volunteer@panhandlebutterflyhouse.org

 

Butterfly Gardeners

Our volunteer gardeners will learn about growing and maintaining plants that attract butterflies and their caterpillars and help maintain our vivarium and outdoor gardens. In the early Spring we get the inside and outside gardens in shape for the new season. We generally open in April. During the months we have visitors (April to September) in the gardens we keep the gardens fresh with new plants, rotating plants, pruning and preening our gardens. There is always standard garden maintenance to be done such as weeding, mulching, dead heading, all the things a normal garden requires. Willingness to help is more important than the greenness of your thumb. You will work along side Master Gardeners from our Panhandle area in a gorgeous location by the Santa Rosa Sound. Come and join us. This is such a worthwhile effort!

Docents

Join our team of docents at the Panhandle Butterfly House in Navarre.  Docents are trained volunteers who contribute by educating and helping visitors gain a better understanding of butterflies, butterfly gardening, and the natural habitat in which butterflies thrive.

As a docent, you greet the public, provide casual interpretations, and manage the Butterfly House resources.  You have the opportunity to make a valuable and enriching contribution to the community, interact with the public, and have fun!  Schedules are flexible.  Volunteer 1 day a week or 1 day a month!

To prepare you to be successful, we provide training.  Class size is limited to ensure that we can provide individual attention.  All classes are held at the Navarre Chamber of Commerce and the Panhandle Butterfly House located at 8543 Navarre Parkway, Navarre, Florida.

After your training, we team you to work with experienced docents, and continue to support your involvement by providing new, updated information.

Group Tour Guides/Kiderpillar Classes

Group tours and Kiderpillar Classes are scheduled in advance and usually on the days that the Panhandle Butterfly House is NOT open to the general public. We like to know in advance how many folks, and the general average age of the group that will be attending. We have materials that have been developed to aid in sharing information with our touring groups. Most of our tours involve children, though we also give adult tours to local groups.   We have several presentations, with different scripts, according to the ages of our visitors.

We try to combine education with fun, teaching about butterflies and their importance to our environment as pollinators - second only to bees.  We talk about how our visitors and their families can help provide a habitat for these wonderful creatures by planting a butterfly garden.  We talk about food plants for the caterpillars and nectar plants for the adult butterfly.  They are taught about the life cycle of the butterfly, and with the small children we read books or play games of being butterflies - this all according to the age of the group.

After that part of the program, we go into the butterfly sanctuary to see the wonder: butterflies in action feeding, flying, puddling etc.  The "Nursery" is a big hit with everyone and particularly the children as they see the caterpillars and the chrysalis, the pupa stage of the life cycle.  If we are lucky we will even find an egg or two to show them. It is delightful to see their enthusiasm and respect, gentleness, and patience around these beauties.

The Panhandle Butterfly House “Kiderpillar” School was awarded the Florida Master Gardener State Award of Excellence in the category of Service to 4-H and other Youth by UF/IFAS (Tom Wichman) at the 28th Annual Florida Master Gardener Conference in Coral Springs held October 20-22, 2008.  Mary Peterzen, Tour Guide Chairman, received the plaque from Commissioner Gordon Goodin at the 2009 Season Opening on April 17.  The plaque is now on display at the PBH.  The Guides all received certificates for their participation.

“Kiderpillar” School focuses on Florida butterflies, their habitat, conservation, appropriate integrated pest management and healthy ecosystem education.  Creativity and documented increase in knowledge of butterfly life cycles, beneficial insects, metamorphosis, butterfly life cycles, and host nectar plants were integral parts of earning this award.  12 Master Gardeners and 12 community volunteers educated a total of 1448 children and teachers/chaperones from Santa Rosa, Escambia and Okaloosa counties from July 2007 to July 2009, giving a total of over 880 volunteer hours to Santa Rosa County for this project. 

Liza Jackson Prep School Watching the Butterfly "Nectar Up" and a student becoming a Butterfly!

 

Please contact us 10 days in advance to schedule a Group Tour.

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