Park pals in Suomenlinna

Thanks to the park pal volunteer programme, it is now possible to work for the benefit of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Organized by the City of Helsinki, park pal work is voluntary work that a person does in the city’s public parks more than once a year.

Park pal activities take place in the various districts of Helsinki, including on Suomenlinna. This gives Helsinki residents the chance to participate in the upkeep of a historic sea fortress and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is also one of the city’s districts.

Help preserve our Sea Fortress

By volunteering at Suomenlinna, you’ll get to work in a unique cultural environment. Suomenlinna volunteers get to work in the historic Piper Park, Church Park, and Casino Park, and in other parts of the island.

Suomenlinna receives a total of about one million visitors annually, from Finland and abroad. The work done by park pals is visible to visitors, and helps the administrative committee’s employees with their work on the island. In other words, voluntary work has real significance for the preservation of this historic site.

What park volunteers do on Suomenlinna

Voluntary work on Suomenlinna is done for instance in the parks, on the shoreline, and on the major routes. Suomenlinna’s park pals help with the upkeep of the area, for instance by collecting litter, raking the lawns, and plucking up weeds and invasive plant species. It is possible to arrange specialized tasks for people with specialist skills.

Volunteer activities are supervised by the regional park volunteer managers. Suomenlinna’s park pal supervisor is our gardener Pauliina Harvikka. Part of Pauliina’s work is taking care of the lawn areas, yards, historic parks, and pavements.

Become a park pal

You can register as a Suomenlinna park pal at the Customer Service of the Urban Environment Division at Sörnäistenkatu 1. You can also register by contacting our park pal supervisor directly:

• Pauliina Harvikka, puh. 0295 338 312, pauliina.harvikka@suomenlinna.fi

When you register, your contact details will be added to the volunteer register and you will receive all instructions needed. As a park pal you can decide the amount of work you do independently. We wish that you record the number of hours you have volunteered in the Park Pals calendar. All park pals receive their own calendars.

For more details, please contact the Governing Body of Suomenlinna’s landscaping specialist Iina Johansson, tel. +358 (0)29 533 8322 or iina.johansson@suomenlinna.fi.