By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

Candace Weis got involved with the Friends of the Parks shortly after her retirement in 2013.

Her friend, who was the president of the organization at the time, recommended that she join the group.

“I retired, and I kept thinking, ‘What do I do now that I am retired?’ and I had a friend who was actually the president at the time, and she asked me to be on the board of trustees, which I had no idea what that meant, but I just said, ‘OK, I’m up for it’ and right from the start I was fascinated by all different types of people from all over the county sharing a love of nature,” Weis said.

Weis became a woman of many hats, writing the biannual newsletter and the brochures, and stepping up anywhere else she could help out.

“When I first started out, I came from a setup background. My very first job was working at a print shop. I have kind of always done things like this, so right away I took over brochures, the newsletter, and all of those types of things,” Weis said.

After getting the hang of those many hats to balance, Weis decided to take on the biggest responsibility in the Friends of the Parks.

“I was doing the newsletter, all the brochures, and all the types of stuff. I was quite busy and content with all of what I was doing, but I thought, ‘Well, I probably should put myself out there and become the vice president. What does the executive board do?’ So I did that, and then the president ended up stepping down shortly after, so I was thrown into being president with little to no experience going into it,” Weis said.

Being president of a nonprofit organization comes with lots of responsibilities; one of the biggest responsibilities is fundraising.

“When I first came, there was a spring sale of flowers for Mother’s Day. They would order hanging baskets and other stuff like that. Then on the side, we had four small tables with plants native to Northwest Ohio, and this year at that same event, we sold 3,300-plus native plants to the area over only six hours. It is truly crazy how much that has grown and changed over the last 10 years,” Weis said.

As more support for the parks comes in from Wood County residents, she hopes anyone with even the smallest interest will get involved.

“Truly, the more members, the better,” she said.

Chris Smalley, director of the Wood County Park District, said that Weis is a wonderful addition to the parks group.

“She’s unstoppable. I love my conversations with her,” he said. “There are certain people that you talk with and they amp it up — she’s definitely one of them.”