Woodland Heights has been around for over 100 years, and its slogan, “small town near downtown,” fits perfectly. Here, neighbors help each other and work together to make our community a great place to live.

When you volunteer for neighborhood projects, you help make our community stronger and get to know your neighbors while working together. No matter what you care about, there’s a way for you to share your skills, learn something new, and build real connections that make a difference here.

Take a look at the Volunteer Committees below and consider joining one to help make a difference in Woodland Heights

the beautification committee

Takes care of the green spaces that help make our neighborhood beautiful. Right now, the WHCA looks after four green spaces in our area, the Norhill Esplanade, the The Watson Street triangle (intersection of Watson and Usner), the Ley Park Butterfly Garden, and the Houston Avenue Esplanades (intersection of Main Street and Houston Avenue).

Additionally, it oversees:

• The Boy Scout Flag Program

• The Wildflower Planting of 1 of the Houston Avenue Esplanades

• Planning and installing an irrigation and lighting system for the Houston Avenue Esplanade

Volunteers are welcome to help in any of these areas, no real experience is needed just a willingness to learn and a desire to help beautify our neighborhood. To volunteer email Ryan Taylor at beautification@woodland-heights.org.

the lights in the heights committee

This committee oversees the implementation of the WHCA’s Lights in the Heights event, which occurs annual on the 2nd Saturday of December. Logistics and planning for this event begin in the Spring and include securing selecting the event streets, obtaining COH closed street permits and approvals; coordinating security; insuring port-a-potties are available; coordinating the annual logo/ornament design recruitment, selection, and ordering of the ornaments; and oversight of the home decorating contest. This committee is the backbone of the logistical planning for the event and though it’s work is not visible without it would not be possible to hold the event without this committee.

Volunteers are welcome to help with the delivery of fliers and other organizational duties. If you like to help organize and be a part of the behind the scenes activities this committee would welcome you. To volunteer email Ashley Allison at lightsintheheights@gmail.com

the lights in the heights BASH committee

This committee oversees the coordination and implementation of the annual fundraiser for the Lights in the Heights. This event helps raise almost half of the funds needed to host Lights in the Heights. It works at securing a venue, developing sponsors, identifying and securing auction items, seeking food and beverage sponsors for the event, and serving as hosts for the event itself. The planning for this event begins in the summer.

Volunteers who enjoy working to identify and secure sponsors for the various items needed to make this fundraiser a wonderful evening for ticket holders and raise funds to support the Lights in the Heights event are welcome. To volunteer email Nikki Haley at bash@woodland-heights.org.

the lights in the heights entertainment committee

This committee is responsible for coordinating the entertainment and lining up neighborhood porches for the annual Lights in the Heights event held in December. Every year as LITH guests stroll down the event’s selected streets they are entertained by music from the porches of neighborhood homes. This committee works to secure neighbors permission to volunteer their porches as entertainment venues for musicians during the evening of LITH. In addition, the committee secures musicians to volunteer to provide entertainment at no cost to the homeowners for the evening. To ensure that the evenings entertainment is “harmonious” so that one band does not overshadow a neighboring band the committee works to coordinate acts so the music can be heard from everyone’s porch.

Volunteers who enjoy meeting people, handing out fliers, and posting band signs on the evening of the LITH event are welcome to email Stephanie Frey at entertainment@gmail.com.

the save the dinosaurs from extinction committee

This committee works to ensure that the annual lighted dinosaur display at LITH, located on the Norhill Esplanade, continues to twinkle during the holiday. The dinosaurs were originally brought to the esplanade by Ward Pennebaker, who brought the whimsical reptiles to the neighborhood when he and his family moved into Woodland Heights. Since then, they have sparked the imaginations and memories of many children and their families. Since then neighbors have learned from Ward the process required to create the lighted panels and install them every year. They work throughout the year to keep the tradition alive by creating, repairing, and installing dinosaur displays, and by teaching other neighbors how to create them.

Volunteers interested in fund raising for the dinos continued maintenance and learning how to make and maintain these twinkly dinosaurs should email Tiffany Tyler at dinos@woodland-heights.org. 

the Woodland Heights Home tour committee

The Woodland Heights Home Tour is held every two years and is a major fundraiser for neighborhood activities. The tour takes place during a selected weekend in the spring and includes a Friday night preview tour. Volunteers are needed to serve as docents, cashiers, sponsors for signage placement, and to handle other duties throughout the pre-planning and implementation of the tour itself.

If you are interested in volunteering, email either Megan Mastal at mmastal@insightspr.com or Louise Moss at limoss@comcast.net. Please note this is a biannual event, and the next Woodland Heights Home Tour is scheduled for the spring of 2028.

the stude park committee

This is a newly formed committee! You can help these neighbors develop a plan to form a Friends of Stude Park group to advocate for, and eventually raise funds to implement, improvements they’d like to see in Stude Park. The group is currently working on volunteer projects to clean Stude regularly scheduled days. Additional projects will become available as the group continues to work on what they would like the Friends of Stude Park group to implement in the future.