Animal shelters
provide respite for animals without homes.
Animal shelters are often the only center of support for abused, injured or homeless animals in your community. Shelters are grateful for the work of volunteers who give valuable time and talents for the sake of the organizations and the animals to which they give care. Contact your local shelter and ask how you can help; the range of ways you can contribute may surprise you.
Spend Time With the Animals
Animals can spend weeks or even months waiting to be adopted. Volunteers can make their waiting easier by giving the cats, dogs and other shelter animals regular human contact. Taking dogs to obedience classes or for regular walks is vital to their well-being. Cats require regular grooming and socialization through play or petting.
Become a Foster Guardian
Many animals arrive at the shelter not ready to be adopted due to illness, pregnancy or youth. Foster guardians tend to these animals in their homes on a volunteer basis, providing a quiet place for an animal to heal or for kittens to grow up.
Share Your Professional Skills
Animal shelters need legal and financial advice. Qualified volunteers can provide accounting and legal services that may include reviewing contracts and preparing public financial statements. Those who enjoy teaching can also help with humane education in schools and community locations.
Share Your Creative Skills
Shelters must undertake a marketing plan, both for their services and for their animals. Volunteers sometimes maintain a website for animals available for adoption, which includes colorful blurbs that express the animals' personalities. Shelter publications, such as newsletters, often rely on volunteer contributions of photos, articles and news pieces about successful adoptions.
Event Staffing
Fundraising events are a usual part of shelter life and are often provide funding for animal care. Volunteering for these events can be a great way to meet other shelter volunteers and promote the work of the shelter in the community. Whether it's taking tickets at the door, setting up tents or ushering guests, there is likely an event job that can make use of whatever talents you bring to the cause.
Tags: Animal shelters, other shelter, Share Your