 Aloha and welcome to a new show here on ThinkTechHawaii.com called Hawaii's Volunteer Champions. I'm your host Peter Rawson. We're going to be talking to a variety of volunteers to find out why they do what they do and who they do it for. Why do they give up the two most precious resources any of us has which are time and personal effort for some cause or other and what are the causes people want to work on. So I have two great guests today and I'm welcoming them now. I have Kat Salero and Emily Green. Emily is the education and engagement manager for Hawaii Marine Animal Rescue which is the organization Kat volunteers for. So Aloha to both of you. All right Kat let's just start right with you and tell us what you do for this organization Hawaii Marine Animal Rescue. Sure well I started as a field support and outreach person. Basically we respond to a variety of things mostly Hawaiian monk seals on the beach and we go out and educate folks right on the beach and about keeping their distance about the flight of the Hawaiian monk seal. As I got further and volunteering I started on the rescue and straining response team. We go out and help all kinds of animals birds turtles do you name it we go out and help all kinds of all kinds of animals. Oh that's terrific so I take it you're kind of on call you don't really have fixed hours or are you there's certain times where you go someplace to be the volunteer. Super flexible we create our own schedules and so for the field support and outreach team you basically volunteer eight hours a month you get to pick those hours broken up into four four hours each any day in day of the week you want. So when you do outreach where where do you go who do you outreach to. Yeah it depends so I volunteer a whole lot in the southeastern section so Waikiki very busy areas so a lot of the folks I'm talking to are visitors people who aren't familiar with our wildlife at all. Okay so is that like organizations or schools or just go up to people on the beach and say hi would you like to know about Hawaii marine animal rescue how did who do you talk to. Yeah so it's mostly them coming to me because I'm responding to a seal on the beach creating sort of what we call an SRA setup basically a nice line 50 feet from the seal so they're coming over visitors to see what's happening and I grab them when they're there and we have a nice conversation about what's happening. Okay so it sounds like you don't spend really much time in an office or inside you're mostly out outdoors out on the beach is that is that right. It's one of the best reasons why I picked this gig volunteer gigs because I get to be on the beach. All right Emily tell us a little bit more to give us the big picture of Hawaii marine animal rescue what you know beyond obviously what's she doing. You guys have or the problems have been in the news a lot lately with monk seals being murdered frankly and being endangered tell us about the organization. Yeah so I'm the education and engagement manager for Hawaii marine animal response we go by age mark just easier to say but we're a nonprofit we've been around for about seven years now and we work with Hawaii's monk seals sea turtles seabirds dolphins and whales so any kind of protected species typically the majority of our work is the FSO field support and outreach program which is one of the programs that cat is a volunteer with and that is our monk seal program. We're going out onto beaches where monk seals have come up onto the shore to press monk seals have been about a third of their life on land and we go out and set up what we call an SRA seal resting area which is a space for them to have a nice long nap and we go out identify the animal assess body condition and then do outreach and talk to people make sure they know how far to stay away from seals why the seals there make sure people know that the seal is okay a lot of people are really concerned about our seals when they're on beaches not a normal thing to see other places around the world and so that's a big part of our FSO program we also do our monitor cups which I see on the spring right now and we do all of the monitor up monitoring and outreach around the island every year during up season which is from march to september we also have our rescue program which does the rest of our animal work so rescues for sea turtles seabirds dolphins and whales most of that's going to be eninglement stuff as well as just general health issues we do that kind of stuff every day that is very flexible it just depends on when an animal helps and what we deal with that and then our other programs are our marine debris program so that is we have a group of divers who go into near shore waters and clean up hooks lines nets weights primarily what we consider derelict fishing gear they'll pick up pretty much anything but that's our main area of focus we also have our marine operations program which is our boat so we use that to do pickups as well as to rescue animals if necessary and our education program which is mine and that is going into classrooms and public outreach events and teaching in a more formal setting and lastly we have our hotline so we the only way we're able to hop operate is that people call us and let us know so we operate the NOAA marine wildlife stranding hotline for Oahu and Molokai and that operates from 7am to 7pm which is how long we're in the field for every day 365 days a year people call us let us know that seals are on the beach or a turtle needs help and we go out you must have some feeling about all these news articles we've been reading about the attacks on the on the monk seals i i can't imagine why how or why anybody would do that uh what what's your feeling about that it's awful it's not something that i think we're supposed to be able to wrap our minds around not something you ever expect to see or feel with um yeah it's been a hard thing for all of us we spend so much time with these animals and we dedicate so much effort to them and that they are healthy and safe and yeah so it's it's a tragedy anytime we have a seal it is a tragedy it's awful too uh how many people does the uh does your organization employ actually how many staff people do you have yeah there are six of us that are paid staff we're a pretty small team um yeah most of us are okay and and roughly how many volunteers do you have oh somewhere around 90 probably between all of our programs um the majority of our volunteers are in our fso program which chat is a part of uh there's about 60 volunteers in fso and then our second biggest is our marine debris program which is our diverse so it seems to me that safe to say that you really couldn't carry out your mission without those volunteers is that is that rely is that a fair thing to say yes definitely we rely in so heavily on having volunteers who can go out to our seals um and help us with rescues and diving we have about 70 seals that utilize a walk with habitat at any time and so on a given day we have anywhere between i don't know two and ten monk seals hauled up on a walk who typically maybe more and yeah and so having people who are able to go out and respond to those animals is crucial we can't do it what we do without them all right cat tell me uh you mentioned the chance to be outdoors which is one of the good things about volunteering for this organization why do you volunteer in general i imagine you've got a real you know another life you've got maybe a job maybe a family whatever it is why do you volunteer yeah you know what i i'm taking up space on an island with really limited resources uh and i feel it's my responsibility to do something to give back um and you know i i also sit in a chair all day so being able to get outside and help endangered animals is pretty good pretty good way to do that in general and that and specifically this organization i mean among all the organizations you could have chosen and there are others that would have gotten you outside why this particular one yeah so listen threatening endangered animals is a passion of mine i i want to help uh and i feel like so many visitors come here without understand having an understanding of how fragile our ecosystem is uh that we do have endangered animals on our beaches um so i feel hmar is just the the place to be to respond on the ground to these animals okay uh are there any uh you you have you work for another non-profit so you have some experience in kind of that situation but are there other uh experiences or skills that you bring to this volunteer work uh that you think are helpful or make you particularly useful uh i mean yet i say yes i like to say yes and so they they appreciate that yeah uh i also have the gift of gab so i like to go out there and chat with folks uh and especially when i'm passionate about something uh i like that i want to talk about it so if you and emily surround a couple of of visitors they probably can't get a word in edgewise can they because you both got the gift of gab i think okay i may i'll be bombarded with i know emory in a workshop and she was a star then and i bet she's terrific when she's doing this right a classroom so are there other skills perhaps that you wish you had you wish you uh knew more about or something like that or you're pretty you feel pretty comfortable pretty confident i'm comfortable talking about the basics uh but there's always more to learn uh and there's always more being discovered that's what's kind of cool about these species too um so it's it's really interesting to learn about the animals uh i'm learning currently about some of the birds uh that we have on our island albatross and others and i i find it so interesting uh so yeah i if i lacking anything it's just more knowledge about about our situation here and is there a way for you to get a way for you to get that knowledge are there any kind of uh there must be some training or classes or something uh i probably should ask emily this but cat what are what kind of training have you had to help you to do this job yeah we go through uh quite a bit of training uh both at on the campus and in the field which i find very helpful um and as emily knows i ask a whole lot of questions uh all the time so i'm a curious person and they're the staff is awesome and available uh to answer anything even if it's not related i've asked bird questions all kinds of questions to them and they're really responsive to us as well all right emily um tell us a little bit more about cat is a volunteer she's not exactly shy and willing to talk about it but uh you know how do you see what she does and how do you uh you know how does somebody like this really help what you do immensely oh my gosh i don't even know how i can like phrase it perfectly to like encapsulate all the things that cat does for us um how long have you been a volunteer for like two ish years yeah two ish years cat is someone that you can call at really any point and be like hey you want to like go do something for us please maybe um and she's always willing to go out and willing to help and she's so flexible in her time schedule and you are so calm under pressure cat volunteers a lot in southeast and in yk busy beaches there's a lot of people there's a lot going on it chaotic from time to time and you're so good under pressure and that's part of the reason why we moved you to the rescue team so our rescue team you really do get put in situations that are not comfortable for a lot of people we're dealing with disease turtles injured animals and one of the things we look for is people who are calm under pressure and cat fits the bill for that so cat has always been very responsive very flexible with her timing open and interested you're always asking questions and wanting to go out and learn more which i love that's something that i'm really passionate about and i want people to ask questions i want people to learn uh that's why i'm in education and so cat has always been someone who's willing to like take the extra step and do the extra thing and and go out and get the job done so we're really really grateful to all of our volunteers and everybody who does this work but cat is definitely one of our great great great volunteers she just won volunteer at the quarter um not that long ago um taking names so yeah she's she's a fantastic volunteer we're really grateful all right cat you i've heard you're good under pressure so let me throw a question at you that i didn't mention before tell me a story about some situation uh you know we're either you know in education or in on the rescue team some situation you were in where being calm and collected and really in kind of knowing what to do uh really paid off can you come up with a story like that oh yeah i have at least a hundred um so i i was on a pup shift uh on kimana beach this summer where a pup was born very busy beach lots going on the sun was just setting so it was getting a little bit dark we have quite a large area uh sort of roped off and uh naked baby runs under the rope and through the sra through right through toward the seal running right at the seal uh so what do i what do you do uh called out to him hey let me tell you a story just trying to entice him into coming my direction getting back under the rope um hey where's where are your parents just having a nice conversation about about it where are your clothes uh so i uh yeah so so i think just having a solution to just kind of winging it and trying to resolve the situation without making it worse i didn't want to scare him that could have pushed him toward the seals um so yeah just trying to get him back under the rope and and it and it worked all right i would assume most people when you talk to them uh and you explain what what's going on and why why this so much of this very popular beach for example is roped off most people would say oh okay i get it but do you encounter people who just don't get it of course of course we do um you know i have to say though 97 of people are interested they care once especially once you explain how endangered these seals are why we're keeping distance uh those kinds of things most people are really cool about it as three percent of people all you can do is sort of give the information and walk away and and hope they think about it later you have if if you were in a situation and somebody was really making your life difficult do you have any kind of backup or do you call the life card or uh what do you do if if you're really i mean there are some people out there who are just um belligerent for one reason or another do you do you feel okay in that situation yeah um i mean i i feel like i can hold my own in most situations but i have to say i don't feel abandoned at all i will call emily if the smallest thing is happening uh the the hawaii police department the honolulu police department has been super helpful as well they're always checking in uh the lifeguards are helpful uh locals on the beach are always super helpful so it feels like a community is supporting the effort um but directly uh there have been plenty of times i've i've had to call one of our field staff up and you know report a situation or ask advice about what what to do um and most of the time emily just gets in the truck and drives to me and and figures it out does the does the conversation for me uh so yeah super supportive in that situation but it does our big role our big role is if you are not paid enough to get into any kind of situation with anyone um so like we just say our recommendation is walk away if they're being belligerent it's not it's not worth it um there's just not so much that we can do all the time every time but yeah cat's right i would say 97 percent of the people who you deal with are that's good advice it's you're there to protect uh living things and you don't want to endanger other living things in that process and uh but it does sound like as a volunteer even though you're a volunteer you're you're virtually empowered like a staffer uh in other words you know sometimes volunteering is doing the stuff that is in the background so the staff can do the job or uh you know sometimes frankly volunteering is uh doing the job the jobs that the staff doesn't want to do but it does sound like you're really out on the front line just as if you were just as if they were paying you which they're not uh to uh to act as as a real rescue official yeah i feel empowered in that way too uh and i do you do feel it you know you put on the shirt you walk out there you look super official uh so you kind of rise to the occasion as well uh you you're you're the one on the beach with the shirt on people are going to come to you all right very cool emily maybe you can help this question i you know kai mana beach is a very popular beach it's kind of one of my favorite beaches has been for uh as long as i've lived in hawai which is probably longer than both of you live together but uh you know uh why are the why does it seem so often that the monk seals are on that beach or is it just my impression because of the news yeah why is that such a popular beach with the monk seals you're not wrong uh that is definitely a beach that they're on pretty frequently i cannot answer that question for you you'd have to ask eddie who's one of the skills that hanked out there uh she could probably tell you i have it's a good area there's a reef right there it's pretty like you know like the natatoriums on one side there's a jetty on the other but in terms of why they like that beach so much i would not tell you they love it though and they're there all the time and they're having babies on it so yeah maybe they love this yeah go ahead we just do whatever they want if they want to go there we will be there um but yeah we not sure why they choose that one well they were coming to that beach before i got there so that gives them the certain privileges but you know i suppose they like it for the same reason i like it it's a great beach uh it does have a very easy shoreline entrance and there's a uh a reef protection and there's you know i mean there's a reason it's popular with human beings and maybe that's the reason it's popular with with monk seals as well so anyway we'll we'll have to find out the answer to that question first of all are you recruiting more volunteers always always always always we never have too many volunteers people move off island people have less time um and the field is always busy so we can always use more volunteers in any of our programs so we have our field support and outreach program which is our most popular which is what cats part of with the monk seals our marine debris program our education programming our hotline needs volunteers like all the time uh and that's you do from home you can sit on your capture be in your bed and i don't care where you are as long as you can answer the phone and you have a computer that's all you need and that's a program that we're always looking for people to participate in as well as our fsco program so yeah so there is a range of opportunities it's not just people who are willing to be outdoors and and face off to visitors there's there's back in the house stuff there's as you say i might be able to qualify for answering the phone from my bed i'm not sure but anyway we'll see uh and but what do you look for in a volunteer if somebody comes to you and says you know i really would like to help what do you what do you ask them what do you tell them uh to make sure they're the right fit we already know you want people like cat uh but generally speaking what what do you uh what do you look for in a volunteer yeah so a lot of what we look for is the desire and the passion to be out there and be in the field the biggest thing that we do is public outreach so having someone who's comfortable talking to the public and doing that kind of stuff is really important um and making sure that they're able to kind of keep themselves separated from me we love them so so much but we have to be scientists at the end of the day we have to kind of separate ourselves from the animals to make sure that we're doing what's best for them at all times so finding people who are passionate about the cause and who love being on the beach in the hot sun for four hours and standing there and talking to people and being willing to put themselves out there is something that we're really looking for all the time and people who you know know the island know the culture of the island that's always something that's important uh for us as well okay hi cat i'm going to give you another pressure question here uh is there something you would uh change about the volunteering for this organization or is there some other is there something you would like you know or the hours sounds like they're very they're they're very on call is there anything you would say uh wow i'd like to see done differently uh you know the only thing would be continuing education i think we need more staff honestly to continue that education for the volunteers uh i you know but that takes we're a non-profit that takes money uh so it's to me that would be the only thing i would recommend you don't think emily would complain about the idea of more more funding and more staff i got a feeling so um and are you happy with the t-shirt that's the other important question do you like that t-shirt okay you don't have to do that one because it's me emily how do how does somebody who is watching this show uh now in the future how do they volunteer with you yeah so i know that down on the screen is our link to our website right um at the top of our website is a button that says get involved and then says join the team at the bottom um and that is the application application to be a volunteer there is no interview process you if you apply you will get in um but that is the application for becoming a volunteer basically so we have your information so we can reach back out to you and figure out what program is the best fit for you and then they will be scheduled for an orientation in the training so we do those probably every other month our next one's going to be in august and they'll go through training in our facility as well as in the field so that they're really prepared to do that and then they'll be sent out on their own where is your facility generally speaking i lua we're basically i lua okay and i should have asked before but how is your organization funded is uh is it all donation or are there some funding was in government money or what yeah so because we work with protected species we're partially funded by the federal government who permits and oversees those species we're also part partially funded by the state and other like government agencies white tourism authority things like that but we rely really heavily on corporate sponsorships as well as public donations we this is a really cool field there's really cool things that happen here but it is not inexpensive um it's a lot of money to do these like these field rescues and these responses and so we're always looking for donors and donations that's on our website too horrific amily uh thank you the uh the all the all the seals in the ocean have are very lucky to have you working for them catch same with you where i think we are all lucky and they're all lucky thank you so much for being part of this show and i hope a few people think about either donating money which is always welcome or donating time and effort which is perhaps even more valuable so this has been Hawaii's volunteer champions i'm peter rossing thank you for watching we're going to leave you with a thought about volunteering and see you in a couple of weeks aloha and mahal thank you so much for watching think tech hawaii if you like what we do please click the like and subscribe button on youtube you can also follow us on facebook instagram and linkedin check out our website think tech hawaii com mahalo