For more than 20 years, Amy Shaw has been a constant presence in the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department.
Shaw, a Jefferson City native, started as the department's administrative assistant in October 1999, but she started working for the city in the Public Works Department a few years earlier, in 1994.
Before that, Shaw worked for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources then briefly for her church before eventually finding her way to work for the city, where she found her home.
"Being in two different departments gets you a wide variety of information, so I've been able to use some of that information to know who to contact in the city," Shaw said. "While the city was much smaller 25 years ago than it is today, the changes and how we've increased citywide have been challenging changes to adapt to."
One of the more recent and biggest challenges Shaw has seen during her time with the city was the Parks Department's move to The Linc in February 2017.
"While that challenge was something we had to do adapt to, it's been interesting to see how it's unfolded, just the changes - we've added staff since we've been here because The Linc is a growing facility that we offer to the community," Shaw said. "It's exciting to see the excitement on people's faces when they come in here to see that we have something so nice for Jefferson City."
As administrative assistant for the department, Shaw works as secretary for the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Recreation Services Committee, and the Parks and Recreation Foundation.
In that role, Shaw is responsible for putting together agendas and packets for the meetings and attending each meeting to take minutes and roll call.
She said she likes the variety of working with the members of the parks staff.
"There's a variety of people, of personalities, and you get to learn how to work with all of them to accomplish a good product," Shaw said.
The commission meets monthly and the committee quarterly. While the foundation is only required to meet once a year, Shaw said they're planning to meet more.
"We're trying to become an active parks and rec foundation, so that's warranted a few more meetings," she said. "We want to engage and figure out fundraising opportunities and how we can engage our foundation to be an active part of our department."
Shaw also occasionally works the front desk at The Linc, greeting people as they come in.
"Greeting the people and seeing the smiles on their faces and offering good customer service is very important to me, dealing not only with the people who come here but I can liken that into my job with my commission and my committees and my foundation members that I work with," Shaw said. "Good communication, good work relationships, produce a very good product."
Despite her long tenure with the department, when asked what memory stands out to her, Shaw looked back less than a year. After the May 2019 tornado hit Jefferson City, she said, The Linc was able to host a disaster recovery center for those affected.
"Our staff got to pitch in in a very tight moment and set up tents outside to provide comfort zones for people while they were waiting in that lengthy line," Shaw said. "Just seeing and being a part of that was close and dear to my heart."
Shaw said she looks forward to the future in her position and continuing to work alongside the Parks Department.
"I just want to continue to grow in my position and to do the best I can for my commission," Shaw said. "That's the biggest part of my job, is dealing with them, and I want them to see me as a responsible person and a person that they can come in contact with any day and that I'd be able to provide the help to them to provide the citizens of Jefferson City what they need."