Below are some ways you can volunteer to help Save Barnegat Bay and other organizations protect our environment. - If you do not see a phone number at the end of any item, phone SBB at 732-830-3600 if you have questions. - The SBB Calendar (scroll down the left side of the homepage) lists upcoming opportunities for you to help our cause by attending hearings, events, and cleanups. Most of the SBB news items on the homepage suggest ways you can help, usually by writing a letter or attending a hearing. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - Help with Save Barnegat's Bay's Silent Art & Gift Auction. On Thursday, September 21, 2006 SBB will host our annual Silent Art & Gift Auction fundraising event at Crystal Point Yacht Club, near the Route 70 Bridge over the Manasquan River in Brick. Both donated gift items and art will be involved. We need helpers primarily for two tasks: First, gather ads from friends or merchants for our Event Journal. Second, donate or solicit gifts for the auction. Third, help set things up and run the event. Even if you are only able to solicit a few gift items for the auction, your help will be most appreciated. Phone SBB at 732-830-3600 or email info@savebarnegatbay.org - SBB 8K - We need many volunteers to help with the many tasks of the Save Barnegat Bay 8K Running Race and (shorter)Fitness Walk. Call our office to see if there is a task that fits you and your friends. 732-830-3600 or email info@savebarnegatbay.org - Volunteer at Island Beach State Park Interpretive Center, which includes the Emily deCamp herbarium. The park needs volunteers to staff the center to keep an eye on things and to answer questions from visitors. You will be trained to do this. Most volunteers take one half day, every two weeks. With your help, the Interpretive Center attempts to be open every day in the summer and on weekends in the spring and fall. Questions? Email ibspnature@netcarrier.com or phone the Nature Center at 732-793-1698, or SBB at 732-830-3600. - Volunteer at Island Beach State Park as a tender of “Janet's Garden” which is an educational garden of indigenous plantings maintained just outside of the Park’s Interpretive Center and the Emily deCamp herbarium. Email Diane Bennett at ibspnature@netcarrier.com or phone 732-793-1698, or SBB at 732-830-3600.. - Come to SBB Cleanups. Save Barnegat Bay does three cleanups a year: On the last Saturday in March, we do a light cleanup at the Herring Point section of the Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Brick, near Traders Cove by the Mantoloking Bridge. On the first or second Saturday in May we do a Lavallette Bay Beach Cleanup. We combine this with other events, such as planting a butterfly garden. On the first Saturday in November we clean up the woods near Reedy Creek in Brick. Cleanups are highly informal. 9 AM to noon. Come and go as you please. Watch the Calendar on our homepage. 732-830-3600 or email info@savebarnegatbay.org - Participate in Clean Ocean Action's Spring and Fall beach sweeps. COA hosts these events in towns all over the shore. COA keeps a record of the types and amounts of trash found, which is useful determining who is littering our ocean. Check Clean Ocean Action's website or phone COA at 732-872-0111. - Help out with the Forked River Mountain Cleanup, which is held on a Sunday in late April each year. This is a great way to do some good and see the wildest natural area in Ocean County. For info, check the website of the Forked River Mountain Coalition or email bamber2@comcast.net. - Donate a day to man a table in Clean Ocean Action's educational summer outreach, COAST program. Check Clean Ocean Action's website or phone 732-872-0111. - Help keep scientific track of Barnegat Bay's water quality by doing regular volunteer testing for the Alliance for a Living Ocean's Barnegat Bay Water Monitoring Program. Phone ALO at 609-492-0222. - Make a hobby out of "Following the Money Trail" of politicians on the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission's Internet website. To do this you need to be handy with a computer, and you need to have a PC at home. As long as your computer skills are good, SBB can train you and provide you with the necessary software. Your findings will help us keep elected officials accountable and help us to understand how power is flowing behind the scenes. - Help SBB with mailings. SBB often needs volunteers to help stuff, label and seal envelopes. We find that people enjoy doing this because it gives them a chance to see our office and get to know our organization better. It is understood that after two or three stuffing and labeling session your appetite for this activity may be filled – that's why we like to keep building our list of interested stuffing and labeling volunteers. Phone SBB at 732-830-3600 or email info@savebarnegatbay.org - Help SBB by running an occassional errand. SBB occasionally needs errands run - to our printer, to Toms River to pick up mailing labels, etc. Would you be available to be on our list of persons we can phone on a day or two's notice to inquire as to your availability to do one of these chores for us. It saves us staff time! Phone SBB at 732-830-3600 or email info@savebarnegatbay.org - Show some initiative: PHONE THE MARINE POLICE to complain whenever you hear an overly noisy or dangerous powerboat. If you have not complained to the police, you have not earned the right to complain to your neighbors! West Creek Station: 609-296-5807. Atlantic City Station:609-441-3586. Point Pleasant Station: 732-899-5050.