You love this Village and we have ways you can help.

You may have found your way to this page because you met one of our Volunteers working around the Village, saw one of our safety signs, read about us in The Pine Cone or in the City’s Friday Newsletter, or heard about us from a friend or neighbor.  However it is you found us, we are excited that you want to join our movement to keep Carmel beautiful, safe, and inviting!

There are many ways in which you may participate.  As a Carmel Cares Volunteer, you may work on one of our Programs and Projects as much or as little as you want and in any way that best fits your skills and abilities.  Being a part of a volunteer team, you will have a feeling of accomplishment by helping to maintain or improve what we treasure in Carmel-by-the-Sea. But may also help by making a financial donation. Let’s show you your options. Click on the blue links to learn more about our activities.

Our Programs and Projects for Volunteers are:

• Median Minders — Adopt, plant and maintain your own median island, easement, or bump out. You now have the power to transform your neighborhood into a Carmel treasure! You can do the work with our help or have your gardener do it for you. There are some basic rules to follow but you can still have fun expressing your Carmel creativity.
• Tree Tenders — Care for an oak or pine tree seedling in a small pot for around two years, until it is ready to be planted in Carmel’s urban forest. This takes very little time from you and your tree will have your name on it for many years to come.
• Pick Up Posse — Do litter reduction walks on a specific day in one of five regions around the community. We provide the tools, a Carmel Cares T-shirt, and training. Be part of our effort to make Carmel a “Leave No Trace Behind” community.
• Scenic Pathway Restoration and Maintenance Project — Join a team of Volunteer and professional landscape workers to improve this world-famous pathway and to keep it well-maintained. We meet every Wednesday from 7:00 am to 12:30 pm. You may stay as long as you want. Just bring your own gloves, and we’ll provide all the tools. With a little exercise, fresh air and world-class views, this may be the best volunteer job in the world!
• Forest Theater Maintenance Project — Help keep the Forest Theater clean and well maintained and water trees under the guidance of Friends of Carmel Forest. We meet every Thursday from 9 am to 11 am and provide all tools. When we leave every week there is always a feeling of a job well done and you’ll attend your next event with a feeling of pride.
• Devendorf Park Renewal and Maintenance Project — Join our team to make improvements to this lovely park and keep it well maintained. We are opening up the views and creating beautiful new garden areas a little at a time and will provide everything you need. You can be on the ground floor of the transformation of our “town square”.
• Forest Hill Park Renewal and Maintenance Project (new) —  Be a part of the research and planning to explore potential landscape and equipment improvements and assist Public Works with maintenance. This is an escape from the crowds and quintessential Carmel.
• Other Miscellaneous Projects — We have other projects such as drought tolerant demonstration gardens at the Public Works Department and the plaza by the police station. Nearby neighbors are also doing ongoing projects including Vista Lobos Park, the Lincoln Trestle Bridge area and the Carl Cherry Theater,  a “secret pathway” near the corner of 6th & Lincoln, and maintaining the garden across the street from the Post Office. All of these could use your assistance from time to time.
• Find Your Passion — If there is a project on City property you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t how to get started, we can work with you to investigate how to make it happen. We love to find new ways to make the Village more beautiful, safe, and inviting. No guarantees, but we’ll give it our best!

NOTE: In order to work on any of our projects you will need to fill out the required Liability Waiver form before starting work and read and sign our Safety Guidelines form.

Ways to Support us Financially:

Carmel Cares is a California nonprofit corporation that has received 501(c)3 tax status with the IRS and California, making any contributions tax deductible. We are an extremely efficient organization as all of our administration is conducted by volunteers and we use volunteers to manage and conduct our projects as much as we can. While we have some pretty handy volunteers, we pay local professional gardeners and contractors on tasks that are too strenuous or require specific skills and materials. We and our partner Carmel Gives also purchase equipment that cannot be supplied by the City’s Public Works Department and even purchase equipment for them. In addition, over time, we plan on taking on larger and larger projects.

You can help us achieve our mission by making financial donations of any size. Go to our www.carmelcares.org/donate page to find out how.