Have you heard of @threeriversparks ? The mission of Three Rivers Park District is to promote environmental stewardship through recreation and education in a natural resources-based park system. It encompasses over 27,000 acres of parks and trails and serves millions of visitors annually! Gene Lau started volunteering at Eastman Nature Center in the winter of 1988. An ad in his local newspaper asked for help leading snowshoe hikes. “Well, I’d never done anything like that before and didn’t know anything about Eastman Nature Center, but it was minutes from my house.” Gene recalls. “I didn’t have anything better to do and it sounded fun.” Back in ’88, volunteering was a little different. Instead of supporting a naturalist who would lead a hike, Gene got a quick tutorial on using snowshoes, which trails to use, some history of the snowshoe and off he went with his first group! Or as Gene puts it, “People, map, snowshoes? Alright, have fun!” While he doesn’t quite remember what that first snowshoe hike was like, he still helps with these programs today — 33 years and a whopping 10,000 volunteer service hours later! Gene is the first volunteer at Three Rivers to reach 10,000 volunteer service hours. But how did he get here? Check out the feature on their website to learn about his inspiring story!https://threeriversparks.org/blog/legacy-service-how-one-volunteer-gave-10000-hours#minnesota #upstreamchallenge #mnupstream #exploremn #careforminnesota