Our volunteers are the backbone of everything we do. From growing oysters to planting trees to speaking with legislators, CBF volunteers are committed to saving the Bay in any way they can. Take a look at these six individuals who tirelessly work to do their part for clean water. We're grateful for all they do.
Kevin Green
Caroline Phillips
Kevin Green
Kevin Green has been devoted to saving the Chesapeake Bay evern since he and his wife moved to Hillsmere Shores in Annapolis roughly 20 years ago. After a 37-year career at the National Archives, Kevin now volunteers as much as he can for various local environmental groups. He has served in several leadership roles at the Arundel Rivers Federation, including board chair and interim executive director.
He was introduced to CBF aboard the Patricia Campbell, our 60-foot oyster restoration vessel, to retrieve oyster spat from Horn Point Oyster Hatchery. Since then, Kevin has helped transport millions of oyster larvae to their forever homes in the Bay. Kevin also manages a DNR oyster gardening program for his community and is an Anne Arundel County master watershed steward.
Fraz Tanvir
Azyir Worsham
Fraz Tanvir
During his second year as National Secretary of Labor for the U.S.-based Muslim youth group Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, Fraz Tanvir has seen a positive shift in momentum getting people out to help CBF and other organizations with tree plantings, clean ups, and other activities that benefit the environment. Tanvir’s groups, sometimes made up of more than 100 young men, are regulars at CBF tree plantings in Maryland.
Tanvir, a Drexel-educated IT professional, acknowledges that he and the volunteers he coordinates could be doing other things during their spare time, but his group believes Islam emphasizes giving time to improve the earth for mankind. That’s why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's international head, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has guided chapters of the group across the globe to replant the earth. “We do a lot of work,” Tanvir says, “but because we are unified as a brotherhood, the work is really easy.”
Morgan Stellfox
Courtesy of Morgan Stellfox
Morgan Stellfox
Morgan Stellfox was hooked on the CBF student experience by a canoe trip with her ninth-grade Environmental Science class in Pennsylvania. She is a senior at East Pennsboro High School in Pennsylvania. Stellfox met with her local legislators to advocate for more funding for the Clean Streams Fund and Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP) to reduce polluted runoff from farms.
Ultimately, the General Assembly dedicated $50 million annually to the Clean Streams fund and ACAP. “When you go and advocate for something like ACAP and see the money come, it’s really motivating,” Stellfox said. At school, she also helped create a student-led climate change panel and her Environmental Club raised $18,000 to build a greenhouse to provide healthy food in the cafeteria.
Frank Filipy (second from right) and his wife, Lisa (far right), after a cleanup with friends from Trash Free Shenandoah.
Courtesy of Frank Filipy
Frank Filipy
Frank Filipy lives with his wife, Lisa, on the South Fork Shenandoah River. For him, what happens to the Bay hits close to home. “I love the Shenandoah River. She’s my home water,” Frank said. “Out here in Page County, I like to say ‘we all live upstream.’ The Chesapeake Bay is an ecological treasure.”
The fish kills in the early 2000’s broke his heart, mobilizing him first to join the Potomac Riverkeeper Network about two decades ago then later many other organizations including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Friends of the North Fork Shenandoah, Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, and Valley Conservation Council, among others. In the fall of 2020, Frank joined CBF’s VoiCeS class. “I was looking to improve my clean water advocacy skills in the Bay watershed. It was a wonderful experience,” he said.
Frank went on to volunteer at tree plantings and youth fishing trips and advocate at the state capitol. His work with Trash Free Shenandoah cleanups has resulted in the removal of approximately 510 bags of trash, 188 tires, and numerous bulk trash loads.
Sue Mangan
Jeff Garber
Sue Mangan
Sue Mangan has jumped into a wide range of CBF volunteer opportunities—so many that she now has her own personal waders—“a good purchase,” she says. Her jam is visual story telling through photography, but Mangan has rolled sand, grown oysters, weeded and trimmed trees, and attended CBF VoiCeS classes.
According to Mangan, “I always had a camera in my hand even as a young child.” After more than a decade photographing insurance claim scenes, the native Marylander raised three daughters, coached swimming, and picked up a camera again during COVID. CBF is glad she did. The images Mangan has captured have been a tremendous asset in CBF communications, printed and digital. “It’s part of who I am,” says Mangan. “This is how I’m going to do my part.”
Read on for more volunteer spotlights and information on volunteer activities in our Fall 2024 Save the Bay magazine.
