I was reading a species description paper yesterday and noticed that among the thanks at the end was a High School student in the New York region, who had done some of the necessary drudge work. It looked like her connection was volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History. So it can be done, but like everything, connections to people and organizations help.
I imagine research world down there may be very rattled by the attacks right now. The Canadian institutes I know of (but have no connections to) take volunteers, but that can be costly because you have to spend physical time living where they are. I have a lovely pickled raven tapeworm in a jar that was a gift from a student who thought she'd get to study whales.
