Volunteer Spotlight, Nick and Sara Hobeck
Volunteer Spotlight, Nick and Sara
Here at St. Andrews State Park, we are privileged to make meaningful connections with hard working and passionate volunteers. Volunteers Nick and Sara are no exception. The Florida Park Service has a saying that goes “People make the parks,” and Nick and Sara certainly help make St. Andrews the great park it is. Both from Southeast Missouri, each look forward to returning to the park year after year. Sara grew up camping in the park with her family and wanted to continue that tradition once she and Nick started their own family. They’ve been camping in the campground with their children for the past 10 years and decided they wanted to give back to the park and become resident camp hosts.
Nick works closely with the park's senior maintenance mechanic and can fix and build just about anything with a clear attention to detail. Sara works in the ranger station, camping office and behind the scenes in the administrative office where she works tirelessly to offer supreme support and customer service to park visitors. When asked about their favorite part of volunteering, Nick replied, “Getting to utilize my skills to help the park operations.” And Sara said, “Meeting lots of people and helping them enjoy their time in the park.”
When they’re not volunteering, Nick and Sar are teaching their children about the service of volunteering. They frequently spend their evenings picking up trash on the beach. For fun, they spend a lot of time in the water, swimming and kayaking or fishing as a family. They believe everyone should take some time out to unwind and give back. “…Volunteering for us, helps remind us to live intentionally,” they said.