Dec. 11, 2018
Contact: Nancy Lee Gomer, Marketing Coordinator, 636-949-7535, or 636-795-1137, ngomer@sccmo.org
St. Charles County, Missouri – St. Charles County Parks longtime Boone Home volunteer Colonel Robert Pecoraro of Cottleville recently received the 2018 Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer Award from the National Association of Interpretation (NAI) at the group's national workshop on Nov. 30 in New Orleans, LA. Pecoraro is only the 12th person to be honored with this prestigious award. He also received the NAI's Region 6 2017 Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer Award last year along with fellow parks volunteer Colonel Barney Combs.
The Outstanding Volunteer Interpreter Award is presented to an NAI member who has worked five or more years as a volunteer interpreter, whose educational background is not in interpretation, and whose current volunteer duties are in front-line interpretation or administration of an interpretive program. They must demonstrate a mastery of interpretive techniques and program development, and must demonstrate initiative and a dedication to the affiliated institution.
For more than 30 years, Pecoraro, a certified interpretive guide, has been an active volunteer. He has donated thousands of hours of service as an advocate for historic and cultural preservation at The Historic Daniel Boone Home near Defiance. As a volunteer, he brings the legacy of Daniel Boone to life by bridging the past to the future through first-person interpretation of John Filson. Filson was Boone’s biographer, a Revolutionary War veteran, surveyor, and the first official historian for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Earlier this year, Pecoraro and Combs were recognized for their work with a proclamation by the Governor of Missouri, and in 2017 both received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Parks Department.
Catch Pecoraro and Combs in action during the Christmas Candlelight Walks on Dec. 14-15 and at The Sappington-Dressel Home: Heritage Preserved event on March 30 at the Boone Home. For more information about home tours, volunteer programs and special events at The Historic Daniel Boone Home, call 636-798-2005 or visit stccparks.org.
NAI has 7,000 members in over 30 countries and is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) professional association for those involved in the interpretation of natural and culture heritage resources.
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