Stop by the nature center or arboretum at Roseville’s Central Park, you’re likely to run into Bill Kroona, planting flowers, trimming trees, or helping out with a community event.
Bill is a longtime Roseville resident and one of the city’s more dedicated volunteers, who specializes in nurturing our community’s natural areas.
“I’ve always had a passion for gardening and nature,” said Bill, who studied forestry in college, and still keeps his own yard blooming with flowers and vegetables, including his prize-winning giant tomatoes.
July is National Parks and Recreation Month!
Meet the people who have found their passion through Roseville Parks and Recreation and continue to create experiences for the Roseville community. Park and recreation programs are essential to community health and well-being and help cultivate lifelong friendships, memories and bonds that people hold dear decades later.
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Roseville Parks and Recreation’s mix of manicured gardens and natural areas proved to be the perfect place for Bill to branch out a bit more and give back to the community. He started volunteering soon after moving to the city and really picked up the pace after he retired from his general contractor job in 2009.
“My favorite tasks are anything to do with planting trees or flowers,” he says, but he never shies away from the more physical work including cutting and dragging invasive buckthorn, spreading mulch, lifting and carrying.
“I just love doing it. I do it for the parks. I do it for the people I meet including staff and other volunteers, but I also do it for myself,” Bill said. !["Bill]("https://cityofroseville.com/ImageRepository/Document?documentId=38313")
It also helps his mental and physical health. Bill walks 7 to 12 miles a day, often in the parks including Roseville’s Reservoir Woods Park, which he calls one of the city’s most cherished places.
In addition, Bill enjoys helping set up and volunteer at family-friendly community events including Earth Day, Halloween Spooktacular, and Wild Rice Festival.
“It helps the community, and it makes me feel like a better citizen. It’s rewarding for me too,” Bill said.