SOCSD Governing Board member likes meeting new people, hearing stories

Sam Blom can be found two or three days a week at the Red Rock Ranger Station Visitor Center in the Village of Oak Creek, answering questions and giving directions. It’s usually busy this time of year, with a lot of people from around the country and the world.

That’s how he likes it.

“I always like talking to people,” Blom said. “My father had a butcher shop of his own, so he always had customers come in. I also help with some estate sales. I also have helped people start them. I help people price them.

“I don’t want any money for it, but I just enjoy meeting people.”

Blom moved to the US from the Netherlands when he was 6 years old, first living in New Jersey. He moved to Cottonwood 21 years ago and then the Village of Oak Creek two years later.

“Today, we had a couple from Poland, and they [currently] live in Canada,” he said on April 7, after a “very busy” morning of volunteering. “I’ve met people from the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, a lot of Canada people, [the] Philippines.”

Blom speaks Dutch and will speak it when he meets a visitor from his native country.

“I had one couple, they had their teenage son and daughter with them, and we spoke Dutch after I found out they were from the Netherlands,” he said. “After we were all done saying goodbye, they came, went to their car and they brought me a package of stroopwafels” — a crispy waffle treat.

Volunteers

Blom is one of the about 55 greeters — or Visitor Information Services volunteers — with Friends of the Forest. He is also an elected member of the Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board.

“Friends of the Forest is a unique organization that was formed in 1994 as a result of the Sedona Forum entitled Building Partnerships with the National Forest,” Friends of the Forest co-Chairwoman for Visitor Information Services Annie Glickstein wrote in a recent email. “Approximately half of our volunteers live in the Sedona/Verde Valley area and actively give their time. Others are not able to personally participate but their membership dues and donations are vital in helping us to underwrite projects on the Red Rock Ranger District.”

The number fluctuates depending on the season, she said, as some volunteers have summer homes in cooler climates.

“I contacted the Friends of the Forest through the website and I indicated what I wanted to do,” Blom said. “Then I got emails from the coordinator and the president of the Friends of the Forest and I went for training in November — an hour or so review of the entire ranger station, what they have there, what they offer with the services that they provide. I shadowed somebody for a couple hours, and then I was ready to go.

“It helps that I lived in the Village for 19 years.”

Other volunteer opportunities include maintaining and constructing trails, protecting cultural resources, assisting with habitat protection and improvement projects, conducting wildlife and plant surveys, Glickstein said.

“I have the trail map I show them,” he said. “There’s about 120 trails, and it shows where to find it on the map, the name of the hike, the one way miles and the elevation increase — some are 2,000 feet increase, some are 150.”

He said those interested in going to any of the state parks, including Red Rock State Park, can do so at the ranger station as well.

“We also sell the Senior Pass, which, if you’re 62 or older, it’s a lifetime pass,” he said. “It’s $80 now … you can go to any red rock trail head and all the federal parks.”

As a volunteer, he doesn’t deal with money, that’s the job of one of the two rangers always on duty.

Outside of Work

When Blom’s not volunteering, he likes to spend some quieter time in his VOC home.

“I have a vegetable garden,” he said. “Two of them, and I have a lawn that I have to maintain … I have bushes to trim, flowers to keep alive.”

He also has two black cats.

“We have a six-foot fence all the way around the backyard,” Blom said. “They just love running around.”

He also attends the monthly SOCSD Governing Board meetings as an elected official.

“I try to attend sporting activities, at least one visit to each of the sports,” he said.

Last week, Blom attended the high school’s golf tournament in the VOC and the middle school soccer game. He used to coach soccer at the high school and middle school before current coach Gavin Shippen took over the high school team.

Blom also recently retired as an 18-year board member of the Verde Valley Senior Center in Cottonwood, now known as Station on 6th.