Volunteer Coordinator Nikki Wooten Joins Bloomington Parks and Recreation Staff

[Special Services Coordinator Nikki Wooten|image:25442,right]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2016

For more information, please contact:
Nikki Wooten, Special Services Coordinator, Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, 812.349.3739 or [wootenn@bloomington.in.gov|mailto:wootenn@bloomington.in.gov]

Bloomington, Ind.- The Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department announced it has hired a new special services coordinator to manage the Department's volunteer and sponsorship programs.

Nikki Wooten began work Jan. 4 as the Department's special services coordinator. She will recruit, assign, train, and track more than 1,400 individual volunteers who contribute more than 10,000 hours to the Department each year.

"Volunteers are an important resource for all of our programs and events," Wooten said. "So what's great about this position is that I'm able to build this important resource for the Department."

Wooten's extensive experience in volunteer management, most recently with the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP), gives her the personal and professional qualities to meet the challenges of the position.

Wooten also worked with the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department in 2012 while a graduate student at Indiana University, where she spent the majority of her time with the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market and the Department's Community Gardening program. Wooten said she enjoys working with people, and that her passion for local food gave her unique perspectives in her work.

Wooten helped start the Double Market Bucks program at the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market in 2012. Double Market Bucks allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients to exchange food stamp dollars for twice their value in gift certificates to spend at the Farmers' Market to purchase fresh, locally grown food.

"Farmers' markets are often stigmatized in that they are thought of as overpriced," Wooten said. "This program allowed low-income people to buy farm-fresh, nutritionally dense, locally produced food at half price."

Wooten has a much broader role as the special services coordinator for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. She said she is excited for the opportunity to expand her influence in the Bloomington community.

"I'm looking forward to strengthening our resources when it comes to volunteers and sponsorships," Wooten said.

For more information about how to participate in Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department programs as a volunteers, or how to promote a business or service as a sponsor of Department programs, contact Nikki Wooten at 812.349.3739 or by e-mail at [wootenn@bloomington.in.gov.|mailto:wootenn@bloomington.in.gov]

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