We are excited to announce that we have hired a new development manager to the FPC team, Josh! Josh comes to us with years of experience working for Willamette Week’s Give!Guide. We are so excited to have his years of experience and expertise here at FPC. To introduce you all to Josh, we sat down with him for a quick interview.
What brought you to work here at Forest Park Conservancy?
I came to Portland to visit a friend in 2014 and after returning to D.C., where I was living, I was really stunned by Forest Park and how Portland had this incredible space right in the city. After a few years in D.C. I decided I really wanted to come back to Portland but this time permanently and Forest Park played a huge influence in that decision.
After I started living here, I worked for Willamette Week’s Give!Guide campaign, where I got to learn more about FPC and what the organization does for Forest Park. I really wanted to be a part of FPC’s work, and so I was very excited when I saw the development manager position become available.
What will your work focus on while at the Forest Park Conservancy?
I will focus on raising funds to support FPC’s work. This will include managing individual donations, memberships, corporate partnerships, and grant funding.
Before working at the Forest Park Conservancy, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve had?
The most unusual job I had was during college. One summer, I worked for a wholesale distributor loading beer trucks. I would work from 3 pm to 2 am loading multiple trucks a day. I would spend hours zipping around a warehouse on a forklift building pallets full of beer to load into the trucks.
I remember one time I went to get a pallet off of a tower, I didn’t have my forks aligned properly and accidentally impaled a pallet of beer, in which many cans exploded all over both myself and the forklift.
What is your favorite quote?
“Four R’s, my friend – reduce, reuse, recycle, Rihanna.” -Ilana Glazer (Broad City)
What is your personal favorite place in Forest Park? Is there a part of Forest Park that you have heard about that you want to visit?
My personal favorite spot in Forest Park is the Wildwood Trail starting at Newberry Road on the north side of the park. In my experience, it’s the quietest spot. I want to experience more of the mid-section of Forest Park though, like Tolinda Trail.