Friends of Red Rock Canyon member reaches volunteering milestone

Pat Williams isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. As a volunteer for Friends of Red Rock Canyon, she has removed graffiti, picked up trash and mucked trails after pony rides. She also has related the history of the area to eager listeners and steered visitors to the wonders of the canyon.

Now, Williams, 58, has been honored with the Bureau of Land Management’s National Volunteer Milestone Award, which recognized her for 20,000 hours of volunteerism at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

“I refer to it as the ‘Oh, you have no life award,’ ” she joked.

Other Making a Difference honorees recognized by the BLM were Linda and Ray Panter of Alaska, the Upper Ridge Wilderness Association in California, Warren J. Trogden Sr. of Idaho, Illa Willmore of Montana, Annette Froehlich of New Mexico and Josh Barlow of Utah. In 2012, more than 30,000 volunteers donated their time and talents to the BLM to help maintain the health of America’s public lands.

Williams waved away the praise, saying her work was part of a team effort and that “we’re just doing what we do up here.”

Joe and Mary Labie joined Friends in 1999 and have worked with Williams on many projects. They said her enthusiasm and can-do spirit are always present.

“You don’t mind working when you’re working alongside someone like that,” Mary Labie said.

A recent project had them stuffing 2014 calendars into plastic sleeves. The calendars were an irregular size and wasted the shrink wrap. Williams experimented and found a way to get the job done with less plastic.

“She’s a problem solver,” Mary Labie said. “Whenever there’s a problem, she has a solution.”

Chelise Simmons, office manager at Red Rock Canyon, said Williams is fun and energetic.

“She’s up here so much, and she’s so helpful ... she’s wonderful,” she said, adding that she was not surprised Williams received an award. “So many of the volunteers are so dedicated.”

Before Friends, Williams’ volunteer work revolved around her small children — acting as the classroom mom, helping with field trips and school bake sales. That was when they lived in Indiana and Ohio.

Her husband, Chuck, was transferred to Las Vegas when he became director of Sprint’s regional operations in 1996. In 1999, he took early retirement, and they moved to Centennial Hills. Soon, he and Pat began giving back to the community. Friends seemed the perfect fit because “if we weren’t at Red Rock, we were at Mount Charleston,” she said.

Theirs was a family membership, with dues around $10 a year, she said. There were only about 125 Friends members then. Today, it has more than 350.

Williams recalled one of the first projects she and her husband worked on, assembling a metal shed. It was June, and the temperature was 100 degrees.

“And I came back for more,” she said.

Her first year saw her volunteering for about 900 hours and the second about the same. But in year three, she stepped things up with a plethora of projects — recruitment efforts, information desk specialist at the Visitor Center, trail cleanup duty after horse rides, attempting to eliminate dumped goldfish, removing graffiti, manning booths at community events, event management, maintaining the database for recruitment drives and participating in Make a Difference Day — until she’d racked up 2,300 hours. In comparison, a person with a full-time job, if working 52 weeks a year at 40 hours a week, puts in 2,080 hours.

Why did she put in so many hours?

“It’s kind of like (climbing Mount) Everest, because it was there,” she said.

She has worn many hats for Friends since then, including membership chair, secretary, communications lead, book store manager, board vice president in 2002 and contributor to the organization’s quarterly news magazine, The Rock.

She had her biggest role in 2004 when she became president of Friends. She headed the group through 2010.

Under her leadership, Friends set up an annual photography contest and worked with the Department of Motor Vehicles to create revenue-generating Red Rock Canyon license plates. After Williams stepped down, she took a two-month break and then returned to get involved with Friends social media, electronic updates and The Rock. She is on the board of directors again, this time filling in for a retired board member.

Williams is no stranger to awards. Her many accolades are:

n 2002 BLM Volunteer of the Year

n 2004 Presidential Lifetime Call to Service national award

n 2011 Advocate of the Year award from the Conservation Lands Foundation

n BLM Making a Difference on Public Lands award, won in conjunction with her husband in 2002 and 2010

Williams said she had never stopped being inspired by Red Rock Canyon, which she calls “The Rock.”

“This place is kind of magical,” she said. “I want to make sure it’s still around for the next 300 million years. It’s fragile. Even though it’s a desert, it’s fragile, and it can be ruined in one generation. ... I just want to make sure it’s here for another 300 million years, then after that, it’s someone else’s responsibility.”

She said she’d like to start slowing down and see a group of new, younger leaders take the reins of the nonprofit. Until then, she estimated she’s on track to turn in another 2,000 hours of service this year.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.