IDNR recognizes 2 Starved Rock State Park volunteers with statewide award

The beauty and majesty of Starved Rock State Park cannot be maintained for its 2 million annual visitors without the help of dedicated and selfless volunteers, and two of those volunteers were recently recognized by the state of Illinois for those efforts.

Ottawa’s Robbin Keenan and Utica’s Jake Krancic were among 15 groups and individuals honored as the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ “Outstanding Volunteers of the Year” at a ceremony at the Conservation World amphitheater on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.

“Volunteers like Robbin and Jake are a godsend. They are worth their weight in gold,” said Pam Grivetti, president of the Starved Rock Historical and Educational Foundation. “We are so grateful to have them with us.

“We have had great difficulty getting volunteers since COVID, so we’re pleased to have anyone come out and help us. It’s a wonderful volunteer opportunity because you literally get to talk to people from all walks of life, from all over the United States and all over the world.”

A volunteer at Starved Rock State Park for the Starved Rock Historical and Educational Foundation, Keenan started those efforts in 2019 in the foundation’s nonprofit LeRocher bookstore and now volunteers as the store manager.

She has donated hundreds of hours with financial accounting, inventory, ordering displays and more, leading the store to set monthly and yearly sales records.

Thanks to volunteers such as Keenan, the foundation been able to contribute almost $450,000 to the park since 1991.

Originally volunteering to use her skills as a gardener, Keenan was asked to help out in the bookstore because of her background in technical matters and her love of books.

“Pam told me about it because I’m with the foundation,” said Keenan, who is a native of Toluca and a retired software engineer and IT manager. “It’s just really nice of them, but there are a lot of good volunteers out here though.

“It’s a group effort, really. A lot of people out here volunteer at many places, like Pam volunteers at Stage 212, I’m a master gardener, master naturalist and have a guide dog puppy I’m raising. I don’t know how I got all this done when I was working. It’s a fun group of people, and we’re always looking for more people to join us.

“Volunteering gives me the opportunity to be involved with nature, my love of books and for teaching – especially the kids. I love it when kids come into the visitors center and their eyes light up and say, ‘Books!’ It broadens their world.”

Krancic, a native of Oglesby and noted fisherman and outdoorsman now retired from his career in the automotive service industry, has volunteered at both Matthiessen and Starved Rock state parks for the past seven years.

At the former park, he mows and maintains the model airplane field while also helping to distribute park and trail information at both parks and at the Starved Rock visitor center.

One example of his above-and-beyond work was his decision to set up a tent for himself near the airplane field so he could direct visitors wandering into the area when the parking lots were being resurfaced

He also volunteers his photographic skills and submits seasonal videos featuring both parks that are used for public outreach.

“I was very surprised that they nominated me. I felt very honored,” said Krancic, who was nominated for the award by site superintendent Alvin Harper and Lisa Sons, natural resources coordinator at both parks. “I’ve been cutting the grass for a long time and doing other kinds of maintenance.

“It’s amazing. When they asked me to help out in the visitors center, they told me that I would be meeting people from all over the world, and they were not lying. I just had some people from the Ukraine, from Spain, China, Poland. It’s amazing the people that come through and the stories are almost all the same: We’re here visiting our kids in Chicago or U of I, ISU or Northern; or my husband worked for John Deere and we were looking for something to do to get out of the city.

“It’s been an incredible experience being there and meeting them.”