Volunteer

We welcome volunteer gardeners and docents.

Volunteer gardeners work on the island every Wednesday and Thursday morning from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm to weed, prune, and plant. To sign up, click here. Our volunteer program began in 2003 when the gardens were completely overgrown and since that time volunteers have donated thousands of hours to rebuild the gardens of Alcatraz.

Group volunteer days are also available. To set up a group volunteer workday, please review our list of available projects and fill out a group project request form. Work groups have made a tremendous contribution to the garden project. For a list of recent volunteer groups, click here.

If you are interested in becoming an Alcatraz Historic Gardens docent, please fill out an application. Docents lead visitors through the gardens for up to an hour and/or engage visitors at a designated stop in the garden. Docents complete a training course and lead tours at least twice a month.

Watch a short video about volunteering in the Gardens of Alcatraz. View past issues of the monthly email news sent out to our regular volunteers.

I finally got him to admit that he didn’t know he was in prison anymore.”

Fred Reichel, warden’s secretary, 1934-1941, referring to how inmate Dick Franseen felt about gardening.