Volunteer with Friends of Shelby

Volunteers breathe life into our mission to preserve, protect, and enhance Shelby Park and Bottoms. Volunteers are at the heart of Friends of Shelby: planting trees, picking up trash, maintaining trails, assisting with special events, and helping with various larger projects.

Check out all the ways to get involved, and sign up today to receive updates on volunteer opportunities.

All ongoing volunteer projects are family friendly, so long as volunteers under the age of 18 are accompanied by a legal guardian. Dogs are allowed at trash pickup events so long as they are friendly with other dogs and kept on a 6 foot leash at all times.

Keep scrolling to sign up for upcoming events!

Upcoming Volunteer
EVENTS

Fridays by the River

East Nashville’s favorite Friday night event is back for another season of beer, food trucks, live music, and community. We couldn’t make it happen without our dedicated volunteers! Help us with setup, checking IDs, selling beer, and cleanup at the end of the night, and you’ll get a snazzy volunteer shirt to say thank you (plus a free beer for volunteers over 21). Click the dates below to sign up for a shift!

May 1st - May 8th

Park Explorer Family Day
SAT May 9th (1:30-4:30 PM)

Help Friends of Shelby and the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center put on our annual Park Explorers Family Day event! We'll be welcoming the families of our Park Explorer students to join us at Shelby for a day of exploration, learning, and connection with the natural world. Throughout the school year, these students have taken 4 different lessons and we'll be hosting activity tents with each of these lessons to allow the students to show off what they've learned! We're looking for volunteers to help us with set-up, running the activity tents, and clean-up at the end.
Click here to volunteer!

Young Friends of Shelby Volunteer Day
SAT May 16th (9-11:30 AM)

Join Young Friends of Shelby for our first volunteer event of 2026! Young Friends of Shelby (YFS) is a new group for park lovers aged 25-39 who want to connect, give back, and have a little fun along the way. Whether you're up for a volunteer day, a group hike, or just grabbing a drink after work, YFS is a chance to meet new people and support the place we all love—Shelby Park & Bottoms. On this volunteer day, we’ll be removing invasive plant species near Lake Sevier to free up space for our native tree saplings and plants to thrive!
Click here to volunteer!

Cornelia Airpark Concert
SAT May 23rd

Tickets for the 2026 Cornelia Airpark Concerts are officially on sale as of April 1st, and we could use all the help we can get to put them on! From setup to checking IDs and tickets, these events wouldn’t be possible without our rockstar volunteers. To say thank you, everyone that volunteers get a free t-shirt, and people over 21 get a free drink ticket.

Click here to volunteer!

ongoing Volunteer
PROJECTS

Invasive Plant Removal
SAT May 2nd (1-3:30 PM)
TUE May 5th (9-11:30 AM)

We’ve reached the end of our official Restore the Forest season for the spring, so be sure to join us for one of the last events until the fall! We’ll be removing invasive plants from the forest to make space for our native forest species to thrive. Come see what all the hype is about!
Click here to volunteer!

Lake and Golf Course Cleanup
THU May 14th (9-11 AM)

Sometimes, things end up in strange places around the park. Join us for a morning of making things right! We’ll gather debris out of the lake to prevent algae growth, and then help our friends at Vinny Links clean up golf balls around their driving range.
Click here to volunteer!

Trail Maintenance
TUE May 26th (9-11 AM)

Summer is a great time to hike the trails in Shelby, so let’s make sure they’re in tip-top shape! We’ll mulch trails and trim back plants to help our neighbors have the best time possible in the park.
Click here to volunteer!

Trash Pickup
FRI May 8th (9-11 AM)

A beautiful summer day spent saving animals from harmful litter and improving Nashville’s water quality — what could be better than that? These events are a great way to explore the park, meet new friends, and make public spaces safer for everyone who loves them.
Click here to volunteer!

SHELBY PARK AMBASSADORS

Do you love Shelby Park and Bottoms? Would you like to be more involved in park events, the community, and Friends of Shelby? Join our Park Ambassador program! Park Ambassadors help achieve our mission of preserving, enhancing and protecting the park by increasing our community outreach via tabling, events, and open houses. In this long-term volunteer program, you will learn all there is to know about the park and FOS and share this valuable information with the public!

Interested in joining the team? Send an email to cd@friendsofshelby.org!

Community Group Volunteer Program

Friends of Shelby loves to work with groups. Whether it's your ten-person office or your 100-person church, please reach out and see if we have a project that would suit your goals. Friends of Shelby helps coordinate the project and provides tools, gloves, and work project assignments to match the size and capabilities of any volunteer group. Each volunteer day begins with an orientation including the goals of the park improvement effort, tool training, and general safety rules.

If you are interested in a project for your group, please click the button below and fill out our interest form!
Questions? Email our Community Outreach and Volunteer Leader at cd@friendsofshelby.org.

GROUP VOLUNTEER EVENT INTEREST FORM