Los Amigos Volunteers Help Renovate the Valles Caldera Science and Education Center.

The Valles Caldera Trust has leased the Servants of the Paraclete's former hospital facility located on Villa Louis Martin Drive in Jemez Springs. This very large building with 24 bedrooms, a science lab, a meeting room and its own kitchen and dining area was in need of painting and tile work.

Los Amigos volunteers Jack and Darlene Crane, Peggy Gautier, Dale Tuggle and Jim and Dale Counce showed up on October 24th to take on these tasks. Several staff members for the Valles Caldera also participated and include Dr. Parmenter (Director of Science and Education), Caroline Charles (VCT archaeologist),  Scott Compton (VCT hydrologist), Mark Peyton (VCT wildlife biologist), Sarah Kindschuh (VCT biologist), and Brigid Shaw (VCT archaeologist).

Dr. Parmenter gave us all a brief overview of the operation of the science and education center followed by a tour of the facility. The center will be ready to host students and staff members from high schools and colleges from all over the country beginning in January 2010. The volunteers then split into painters and tile setters for the rest of the day. We broke for lunch which was cooked for us by Dr. Parmenter around noon and then got back to work until about 4:30 pm.

The results were very gratifying with the painters completing 5 bedrooms and the tile setters completing 750 square feet of the science lab. Jack and Darlene and Jim and Dale volunteered to come back on November 9th to do 5 more bedrooms. In the mean time staff members for the Valles Caldera completed the tile work.

In January when the first high school students come to Jemez Springs they will find freshly painted bed rooms to stay in and a very nice science lab for use in the curriculum that is being developed.