Why be a Cape May MAC volunteer?
Volunteering at Cape May MAC allows you to meet new people and make a contribution in helping the Cape May region thrive. Cape May MAC is one of New Jersey’s leading cultural and heritage organizations.
Whether giving out information at our festivals, offering skills as a volunteer in our offices, or taking tickets at our Music Festival or other events, your time and talent have a huge impact in helping carry out our preservation, interpretation and cultural enrichment missions!
Volunteer Opportunities
- Marketing and Communications Volunteer Positions
- Benefit House Tour Volunteer Positions
- Curatorial Volunteer Positions
- Grounds and Maintenance Volunteer Positions
- Special Events Volunteer Positions
- Museum Education Volunteer Positions
- Hospitality Volunteer Positions
Volunteer Benefits
- 10% Discount at Cape May MAC Museum Shops
- Significant discount on Cape May MAC membership dues
- Invitation to exhibit openings and lectures
- Volunteer Recognition Reception and Awards
Those who achieve Platinum (150 hours or more) Gold (100 to 149 hours) or Silver Awards (50 hours to 99 hours) receive free admission to a variety of tours, including Crafts & Collectibles Shows and the Cape May Music Festival Concerts.
Volunteer Engagement Manager
Anne Walsh
Email: awalsh@capemaymac.org
Anne Walsh, M.A., joined Cape May MAC in Spring 2023 as Volunteer Engagement Coordinator. She is experienced in establishing relationships with organizations and individuals and organizing community engagement activities, with college students using a service-learning teaching method. Anne believes that the volunteers are the heroes behind-the-scenes of organizations. She enjoys working with people and is pleased to be a part of the Cape May MAC team. MAC stands for Museums, Art and Culture. Anne loves architecture, history, art and the culture of Cape May, just like the volunteers who get involved at MAC. She also loves music, hosting a community radio show, writing, painting and volunteering in her community. Anne welcomes all new volunteers with a willingness to “help you, help us!” and will work with individuals and organizations to arrange rich and worthwhile volunteer opportunities.
To volunteer with Cape May MAC, please fill out an application: https://app.betterimpact.com/PublicOrganization/253a7cec-4841-45bc-ae30-ed2c5a4f9095/1
Volunteers of the Month
March 2023
Larry Hume
Larry Hume, of Cape May, N.J. is the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteer of the Month for March. He is the owner of Sunset Beach Gifts and was nominated by Cape May MAC Director of Tour Operations Nanci Coughlin. Hume goes out of his way to welcome people arriving at Sunset Beach by bus on Cape May MAC group tours. He works with Cape May MAC in advance, arranging for bus parking and supplies for welcome bags for the drivers. Part of a group tour’s experience might be to attend the Sunset Beach Flag Lowering Ceremony, a Hume family tradition for over 40 years that honors veterans. “When the bus arrives, Larry checks if there are any veterans on board, so he can honor and include each of them in the flag-lowering ceremony,” Coughlin said. “He has a special way of making the tour meaningful and personal to our visitors. They come from all over the country and they leave with a special memory to last a lifetime. They feel both welcomed in Cape May, and cherished, thanks to Larry. We are honored to work with him and grateful for what he does.”
February 2023
Roger Henry
Roger Henry, of North Cape May, N.J. is the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteer of the Month for February. He was nominated by Cape May MAC Volunteer and Member Engagement Manager Sara Kornacki. “Roger is a long-time volunteer who recently retired from single-handedly maintaining the sparkle in the trolley brass for the last five years,” Kornacki said. “Roger originally became involved with Cape May MAC as a museum instructor before lending his skills as a volunteer on the Grounds Crew team, then managing the brass maintenance on our signature fleet of trolleys. Roger showed up every week in season for five years. His hard work, genuine spirit, kindness and sense of humor have made him a joy to have, and we are very grateful for his service.”
January 2023
Carol Crossed
Carol Crossed, of Cape May, N.J. and Rochester, N.Y., is the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteer of the Month for January. She was nominated by Cape May MAC Chief Outreach Strategist Mary Stewart. “Carol approached us to present a program for our Lunch & Learn program,” Stewart said. “She wanted to speak on the topic of a book she published in 2019, called, “Vintage Tweets: Suffrage Era Postcards.” Carol spoke about the 400 postcards in her personal collection which tell of the struggle between support and opposition in the early woman’s movement. ‘Vintage Tweets’ is a tribute to one of the most radical eras in U.S. history and was released in conjunction with the opening of the National Woman Suffrage Centennial at a book signing in Seneca Falls, N.Y. The topic is both timely and appropriate to our interpretation of the Victorian era and her kind donation of her time helped us to further our mission of interpretation and cultural enrichment.” Crossed is recipient of the 1996 Susan B Anthony Award, Peaceful Solutions in Non-violence Award, Women’s Wall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y., the Gaudete Medal, and the 2018 Catherine McAuley Award, given by the Sisters of Mercy. She purchased and restored the birthplace of Susan B Anthony in Adams, Mass. The home opened as a museum in 2010. To recognize this accomplishment, she was awarded the Northern Berkshire Massachusetts Business and Professional Women Award. “We are honored by her generosity and very grateful to Carol for giving her time and sharing her knowledge with the Cape May community in this way. Cape May MAC Lunch & Learn programs are a wonderful and free community asset for learning about all sorts of topics of history, thanks to people like Carol who share their time and expertise,” Stewart said.
December 2022
John Curtis
John Curtis, of Cape May Court House, N.J., is the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteer of the Month for December. He was nominated by Chief Outreach Officer Mary Stewart and Museum Educator Brenda Leonard, for a presentation he made on impressionist art for one of Cape May MAC’s Lunch & Learn events in July. “John generously agreed to fill in at the last minute when our scheduled speaker had to pull out due to COVID-19 concerns,” Stewart said. “John chose as his topic, ‘Impressionist Art: How Do You Paint Light,’ which he based on his experience as a professor of fire arts and director of choral activities at Misericordia University.” In a one-hour presentation, Curtis illustrated the changes in the theory of the use of light and shadow in modeling the human form, as well as the evolution of accepted content for paintings. “In just a few slides, John gave a lively, often humorous, and thorough history of the origin of impressionism, which generated a lively discussion with his audience,” Leonard said. “We are very grateful to him for sharing his knowledge and for stepping up and helping us fulfill our educational mission in this way.”
November 2022
Lauren & Marc Shenfield
Lauren and Marc Shenfield, of Cape May, N.J. and Croton on Hudson, N.Y., are the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteers of the Month for November. They were nominated by Director of Visitor Services & Special Events Janice Corkery, for their long-standing support of the organization over several decades, and for graciously opening their Cape May home, the Aurorean Cottage, for house tours over the past year. “I spoke to Marc and Lauren at Cape May MAC’s 50th Anniversary celebration in September 2021,” said Corkery. “They have been supporters of the organization for many years. When I mentioned to them that I still needed properties to be on tour for our Taste of Cape May Kitchen Tour in October 2021, they immediately agreed to put their home on tour. The tour was less than three weeks away — and they didn’t even hesitate!”
September 2022
Sue Currie
Sue Currie is the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteer of the Month for September. Sue was nominated for the honor by Cape May MAC’s Director of Visitor Services & Special Events, Janice Corkery, for her dedication to assisting the Brunch & Bingo Events in 2022. “She is a retired educator from the Bronx, and definitely uses that experience to her advantage when she calls out the Bingo numbers. She gets the audience involved and enhances their experience. They love her!” said Corkery. “My most vivid memory of Sue’s volunteering for Brunch & Bingo was this past winter. She was supposed to be at an event and had an emergency and couldn’t attend. Not only did she alert the Cape May MAC volunteer coordinator, she also found her own replacement to make sure her position was covered not leaving us stranded.”
August 2022
Staff from the Madison Resorts Group
Staff from the Madison Resorts Group, of Cape May, N.J., are the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteers of the Month for August. The team was nominated for the honor by Cape May MAC Chief Operations Officer Melissa Payne, for their hard work on Earth Day, planting flowers in a variety of gardens at the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate. Dan Alicea, Brian Jones, Alycia Raroha, Olivia Suarez, Jimmy Maugeri, Dustin Seraile, Stacy McNeil, Kim Constantine, Kait Giovinazzo and Chester Santana comprised the volunteer team from Madison Resorts. Since 1970, Cape May MAC has been the careful steward of the Physick Estate, Cape May’s Victorian House Museum, and every year, celebrates Earth Day with a gardening project. “The work for Cape May MAC staff would have taken several days,” said Payne. “This extraordinary team of volunteers pulled together and planted the gardens in just a few hours.
July 2022
Susan Rotholz, Jed Gaylin and Eliot Bailen
Susan Rotholz, Jed Gaylin and Eliot Bailen are the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteers of the Month for July. Cape May MAC Chief Outreach Strategist Mary Stewart nominated them for their generosity donating their time to an afternoon fundraiser, “Musical Intermezzo,” benefitting the Friends of the Cape May Music Festival, on Friday, June 10. The fundraiser featured a classical chamber music mini concert at Vintage Restaurant on the grounds of the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate. Bailen, cellist and artistic director of the New York Chamber Ensemble, and his wife Rotholz, flutist with the New York Chamber Ensemble, have performed with the festival since its inception. Gaylin is music director of the Bay Atlantic Symphony, a long-standing performer in the festival.
June 2022
John and Cheryl Gulish
John and Cheryl Gulish, of Cape May, N.J., are the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteers of the Month for June. They were nominated by Cape May MAC’s Director of Visitor Services & Special Events, Janice Corkery, for their generous participation in a variety of Cape May MAC house tours, including the Gardens of Cape May Tour and the Kitchens of Cape May Tour. For the 2021 Kitchens of Cape May Tour, John and Cheryl opened their home to guests to explore their kitchen. This year the Gulishes participated in the first of two Gardens of Cape May tours. “I was blown away by their beautiful home and garden and their passion for their work nurturing the flowers there,” said Corkery. John and Cheryl’s long career as nursery owners and their in-depth knowledge of gardening have been great assets to the organization, as well, as they provide a wealth of planning advice.
May 2022
Jan Dwyer, Donna Flegal, Ernestine Zeli-Bove, Chris DuBois, and Tina Angstadt
This group was nominated for the honor by Cape May MAC Chief Outreach Officer Eliza Lotozo and Volunteer & Membership Engagement Manager Sara Kornacki. “As we are preparing to launch new volunteer management technology, this team donated their time to beta-test the software,” said Kornacki. “This control group experimented with the new platform to evaluate and assess the features and ease of use during the trial phase.” Lotozo and Kornacki agreed the technology is exciting. “We are excited about the possibilities of this new technology that we anticipate will make the administration of our volunteer program much more fluid,” said Lotozo. “More so, it promises to make the volunteer’s experience with us better and easier.” “We could not have proceeded without these folks helping us evaluate the benefits of this system since they will be using it as well,” said Kornacki. “We so appreciate that they were willing to help us with this important step.”
April 2022
Brenda Leonard
Brenda Leonard has volunteered for Museum Education in the past but this year, she agreed to create a new education program- More About Music. The goal of the program is to provide our audience with information that demystifies classical music and makes them more informed listeners and increase their enjoyment. Not only has Brenda researched and created the programs, she has also arranged for the venue and facilitated our entry into livestreamed programming. In addition, Brenda has volunteered to create weekly posts on classical music for our Fiends of Cape May MAC Museum Education Facebook page. All of this has happened as we prepare for the 33rd Annual Cape May Music Festival, and also serves to help us promote our festival programming.
Brenda’s knowledge of and enthusiasm for music is infectious and has energized both the staff she interacts with and the audiences she reaches.
March 2022
Dave & Kathy Morais
Kathy and David Morais, of North Cape May, N.J., are the Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Volunteers of the Month for March. They were nominated for the honor by Cape May MAC Chief Outreach Officer Eliza Lotozo. “Dave and Kathy are always ready and willing to take on any task needed by Cape May MAC,” said Lotozo. “They recently stepped up to assist the Outreach Department by offering to keep Cape May MAC’s posters current and up-to-date at the Washington Street Mall Information Booth, Cape May Lighthouse, Emlen Physick Estate, World War II Lookout Tower and Cape May Welcome Center,” she said. Additionally, Dave has begun to clean and reorganize Cape May MAC’s brochure barn by recycling old materials, unpacking boxes of brochures, and generally organizing and cleaning up the space. He’s also a regular member of the all-volunteer grounds maintenance crew led by Tom Carroll at the Emlen Physick Estate. “We so appreciate all that Kathy and Dave do for Cape May MAC. They are a dynamic pair,” she said. “We are so fortunate they choose to give of their time and energy to help us accomplish our mission, and we are very glad for this opportunity to recognize and celebrate them.”