"In the end we will conserve only what we love....We will love only what we understand....and we will understand only what we are taught", Baba Dioum, African Ecologist

“ We shouldn’t think about youth’s experiences in nature as an extracurricular activity, but as a vital element for healthy development”, author Richard Louv The Last Child in the Woods

"JrAHA is about getting our youth outdoors not for just an event, but to begin a lifetime of outdoor recreational experiences and to foster the stewardship of our nautral resources", founder Ed Gerhardt

Volunteers

Thank you for your interest in JrAHA and please join us in community service by volunteering.  

We have three volunteer groups for our program services (fishing, archery and hunting) and volunteer needs for special events, fund raising and administrative help.  

You are invited to volunteer as a TPWD certified outdoors instructor in fishing, archery, hunter education.  We can assist you in these certifications; it’s easy and fun and you don’t have to be an expert, just let us know what your interests are.  

Because we work with children, all TPWD applications include a background check.   Working in the Houston ISD also requires a background check. There are no fees for these background checks.

Angler Instructors are certified either directly with TPWD or by participating with JrAHA in a class and a field trip to fish.  This calls for an initial commitment of approximately 4 hours time and completing TPWD application forms.  There are no fees for this certification.  We have classes and field trips on going most weeks.

Archery instructors are certified through the National Archery in the Schools Program (Texas-NASP).  This training takes a full 8 hours in a NASP Basic Archer Instructor class (BAI).  JrAHA has trainers qualified to conduct the BAI and routinely schedules classes.  There are no fees associated with this certification.

Hunter Ed instructors are certified through TPWD's classes, which you can do through them or contact JrAHA for coordination and assistance.  This is a 2-3 day commitment plus some on line web instruction time.  There is a TPWD fee for the hunter safety course certification, $15.00

The Texas Youth Hunt Huntmaster certification is another program conducted by the Texas Wildlife Assoc. and TPWD.  JrAHA can coordinate and assist you in getting scheduled and you have a two-day training program plus a cost of $90.00

JrAHA asks its volunteers to pledge 4 hours a month to helping JrAHA conduct its planned programs and activities.  That equates to 48 hours a year.  Many times a volunteer spends 8-12 hours on a single day's event.   For our grant applications each volunteer hour is worth $19.89 per hour as "in kind" donations.  (i.e. 48 X $19.89 = $954.72) and is often submitted as JrAHA's matching fund commitment in a grant application. 

 Please provide as soon as you can the following pledge in person, mail or via fax or electronically in a PDF document with signature to elg@jraha.org.  The fax number is 713 880 8107. 

To JrAHA Volunteer Coordinator: