Item - 2019.ZB2.14

The Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo received the item for information.

The purpose of this report is to review and update the Board of Management on the activities of the Volunteer Services Unit for the year 2018. The volunteer team consists of Year-Round Volunteers, Summer Volunteers, Volunteer Hosts, Wildlife Health Centre Volunteers, and Zoo Ambassador Student Volunteers. All volunteers support the Zoo's educational programs by interacting with guests, helping to raise public awareness and involvement in conservation, interpreting the zoogeographic and ecological relationships of the animal and plant kingdoms, and enhancing the experience of each Toronto Zoo guest with whom they come in contact.  In 2018, a team of 430 volunteers donated 34,106 hours of their time to the Toronto Zoo reaching an estimated 772,857 people.