Meet Our Volunteers

We couldn't do what we do without the help of hundreds of people each year who volunteer their time and talent to protect our coast. Here are just a just a few of the people who give so freely of their time. We'll feature new volunteers from time to time. So check back often.

Wayne and Mary Grossnickle, Sneads Ferry

How does a couple, one originally from Wales and the other a retired captain with the New York City Police Department, end up knee-deep in a salt marsh with hands full of oysters? Volunteering for the federation is just one way that Wayne and Mary Grossnickle spend their free time helping to protect and restore our coast.

Retired since 2000, Wayne and Mary moved to Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry. They soon developed an interest in oysters, joining the Shellfish Gardeners of North Carolina and the federation.

Despite less-than-perfect field conditions, the Grossnickles have participated in all aspects of our oyster habitat restoration program. They have also helped with the stewardship of the Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve and volunteered at festivals. Wayne and Mary deserve our thanks and recognition as true leaders in coastal stewardship.

Bob Hixson, Hubert

Bob Hixson likes to play on the water. So he works for us as a volunteer.

Making sure that our coastal waters remain clean is important to Bob because he likes to kayak behind Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park and hike to the beach to body surf in the waves.

We believe in clean water, too, so it wasn’t too hard to get Bob to volunteer over on Jones Island in the White Oak River where, in partnership with the park, we’re building an environmental education center. The federation bought much of the island in 2005 and donated it to the park.

A skilled carpenter, Bob has worked on sprucing up an old pavilion on the island that will be a classroom and meeting room.  Battling mosquitoes and scorching heat, Bob contributed over 21 days last summer working on the island. He has also participated in a Jones Island clean up and has even been a chef, steaming up a bunch of oysters for a federation board of directors meeting. Bob is already looking forward to new volunteer challenges on Jones Island this year.

Tom Thomason, Nags Head

If you look at the pictures from the Northeast Region during the last several years, one face keeps appearing again and again. He’s there in the rain gardens at Manteo Middle School, planted in November 2006. He’s there helping landscape the grounds at the northeast’s new office in the summer of 2008 and he’s there in the shots from last winter bagging oyster shells at Jockeys Ridge. Tom Thomason has been one of the region’s most enthusiastic and loyal volunteers. Accompanied often by his wife, Lynn, he’s turned federation volunteer events into a means for accomplishing two personal goals—helping the community while getting as much exercise as possible.

Tom spent 24 years in the Air Force and reached the rank of colonel. During 1985 and ’86, he was an acting assistant deputy undersecretary of defense under President Reagan. Tom retired in 1997 and moved to Kill Devil Hills from their long-time home of West Springfield, Virginia. “I was ready to take some walks on the beach,” Tom says.

But beach combing wasn’t enough. The Thomasons soon became involved in a variety of volunteer programs in the community. When the federation’s Northeast volunteer program began in earnest in 2006, Tom and Lynn were among the first to sign up.

An avid gardener, Tom’s efforts have been particularly helpful to the region’s rain garden program. He says he keeps volunteering because of the staff’s smiling faces—and the ability to help out while keeping active.

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