Community Volunteer WorkdayS

Our Community Volunteer Workday Program is at the heart of the National AIDS Memorial Grove.  For 33 years, volunteers have gathered each month to create and maintain this sacred space for hope, healing, remembrance, and togetherness.

Held on the third Saturday from March to October, our community of volunteers ensure that the 10 acres of the Grove are cared for, protected and maintained for the thousands of people who visit the memorial throughout the year.

Led by our amazing Grove gardening team, every year nearly 2,000 volunteers provide approximately 7,200 hours of annual volunteer labor.  Without this volunteer support, the site would revert back to a state of disrepair. 

Since 1991, volunteers have dedicated more than 300,000 hours of time in the Grove. Their work includes planting over 10,000 trees, plants, flowers and shrubs, removing countless tons of brush and debris, and supporting large hardscape and infrastructure projects. Importantly, they also ensure the care of the thousands of names engraved in the Grove, hardscape features, resurfacing paths and roadways, and trenching for irrigation systems.

Our 2024 Community Volunteer Workday Schedule:

March 16 - April 13 (Cancelled) - May l8 - June 15 - July 20 - August 17 -

September 21 - October 19 (from 8:30am - 12:30pm)

To RSVP for an upcoming workday, please send an email to Steve Sagaser at: ssagaser@aidsmemorial.org

Download our Volunteer Workday Fact Sheet

Sponsor a Community Volunteer Workday

We welcome corporate and non-profit partners to be partners in our Community Volunteer Workday Program by supporting all the workdays or a particular workday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and donations are accepted to help cover workday costs. For more information, please contact Steve Sagaser at ssagaser@aidsmemorial.org

Special Group Volunteer Workdays

In addition to our eight regular Community Volunteer Workdays, we hold also hold eight ‘Special Group Volunteer Workdays’ each year, one per month, preferably on a Thursday due to our Rec & Park gardeners' schedules.  ‘Special Group Volunteer Workdays’ are held at the request of a corporate, community, or other group (such as a school or church), and must be approved in advance.  With corporate groups in particular, in order to help cover costs associated with a Special Group Volunteer Workday, we ask that you consider sponsoring your workday by making a donation to the National AIDS Memorial.  If you are interested in organizing and/or sponsoring a Special Group Volunteer Workday, please send an email to Steve Sagaser at ssagaser@aidsmemorial.org.

Free Golden Gate Park Shuttle:

The free Golden Gate Park Shuttle offers access to the National AIDS Memorial Grove and the eastern half of Golden Gate Park with stops along JFK Drive and at the Music Concourse.

The shuttle operates 7/days per week:

• Monday-Friday, 12 noon to 6pm

• Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays, 9 am to 6pm

Learn more about the shuttle and access to Golden Gate Park here.

  “What we need to ask ourselves daily is, what kind of world are we leaving for future generations?"

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Volunteer Workday Fact Sheet
Map/Directions to the Grove
History of the Grove

SUPPORT THE GROVE

Donate to the Grove
Consider a Legacy Gift

Our work helps ensure that the lives of people who died from AIDS are not forgotten and the story of AIDS is known by future generations - so that never again will a community be harmed because of fear, silence, discrimination, or stigma.