Volunteer Opportunities
NOTE TO POTENTIAL VOLUNTEERS: We find ourselves in the amazing position of having more volunteers wishing to socialize the cats in the shelter than we can fit into the schedule! Please consider volunteering for some of the other activities that are critical to our mission:
- Agility Ring Crew! Our Special Projects agility ring crews work 4 to 24 hours in a single weekend to earn badly needed money for the Fund for Veterinary Care. Read more about what is involved.....
- Caregivers! Good, responsible "caregivers" are critical to shelter operations. They perform the unglamorous but absolutely essential daily activities that keep our shelter cats safe and healthy. Read more about what is involved...
- Event Coordinators! Lots of willing worker bees, very few people willing to help organize them. Read more about what is involved...
- Foster homes! Did you realize that all of our dogs are in foster homes? And did you realize that the reason we can't help more dogs and cats is because we don't have more foster homes? Read more about what is involved...
Without volunteers, Animal Aid would not exist. That’s why we’re
always in need of dedicated volunteers to help care for animals during
their stay at the shelter. If you love animals and can spare as little
as one morning or evening per week, our animals need you!
On-site volunteers, supervised by a paid staff person or experienced
volunteer, provide food, water, brushing, love and attention to our
animals, and assist with cleaning kennels, washing dishes and laundry,
and changing litter boxes and bedding. And don't forget that the human
rooms need regular maintenance as well!
What times are you needed?
Most of our day-to-day operations take place Monday through Friday, and this particularly applies to socializing activities (petting and playing with the cats). Saturday is reserved for our adoption counselors to greet "Show and Tell" visitors, and Sunday is a day of rest for the kitties, this means we do NOT schedule socializers on weekends.
Our weekend volunteer opportunities include:
- Caregiving – that is, cleaning, providing food, water and possibly medication
for the shelter cats each morning and early evening.
Good, responsible "caregivers" are critical to shelter operations,
and there are additional requirements for these folks:
- Minimum age: 15 years; parent/child teams may be considered
- Training is required
- Caregiving duties require a fair amount of physical stamina and flexibility: bending, stooping, possibly being on one's knees to clean lower level cages, carrying out soiled litter weighing up to 20 pounds, bringing cases of canned food upstairs, sweeping, vacuuming. If you have medical issues that would prevent you from performing the full range of caregiver activities, be ready to discuss how you would handle those tasks.
- If you are pregnant or have physical limitations, please consider consulting your doctor before considering this position.
- Physically fit caregivers may be asked to help replenish bags of food and litter weighing up to 40 pounds.
- Don't sign up unless you're willing to commit to working at least 20 hours over a period of 2-1/2 months. This works out to about 6 shifts of 2.5 - 3 hours each, plus the training session.
- Shifts are scheduled before and after times that the public may be in visiting the cats: 9-11:00 am or 4-6:00 pm daily.
- Adoption counseling (Note: this requires a fairly long training period)
- Event Coordination – ready to limber up those
management skills (and wouldn't this stuff look good on a resume)?
There are a variety of ways that you can help. The primary levels
of involvement are:
- Be a sub-coordinator for one segment of a larger program or event (e.g., serving as coordinator of publicity for the garage sale, overseeing sign-makers, flyer distribution, e-advertising and other publicity; would work under the lead coordinator of the event).
- Be a lead coordinator for an entire program or event (e.g., coordinator for our participation at the Northwest Pet and Companion Fair would recruit and organize any sub-coordinators for the event and report the results of the event to the Events Committee).
- Become a formal member of the Events Committee. The Events Committee meets monthly, and anyone serving as lead coordinator for a major event would ordinarily be expected to regularly attend and actively participate in these meetings. Any Animal Aid volunteer is welcome to attend a meeting in order to learn more about our processes, events calendar, etc. We are especially eager for participation from volunteers willing to share their ideas, energy, and expertise in areas like marketing, education, publications, outreach, and fundraising.
- Volunteer for one or more specific events Emails are sent
frequently requesting volunteers for specific events. Simply respond to the
contact person noted to get involved!
- Assisting at outreach activities by staffing a wide variety of events ranging from adoption events to simply having a presence at a neighborhood fair.
- Helping with specific fundraising events like our "Cute Critters in Costumes" Photo event in the Fall.
- Joining a Special Projects team earning funds to support the Animal Aid pets and our various programs – a good example of this is our Agility Ring Crew, which earns money for our emergency medical loan fund by helping out at canine agility events. This is a good way to earn four to sixteen Community Service hours in a single weekend.
Concerning Young Volunteers
Some of our most diligent and committed workers have been young folks, and we can't say enough good things about them. However events prompt us to add the following requirement for new volunteers:
- Anyone under 15 years of age must be accompanied by a parent on their first visit. The parent must stay for the full visit in order to learn about volunteer expectations.
- Youths under 13 must be accompanied by an adult or responsible teen during all their volunteer activity. After a probationary period of a few visits, if a young volunteer proves to be responsible, we may offer that youth the option of volunteering unaccompanied.
What Kinds of Help Do We Need?
We have something to fit every personality and skill level:
Work directly with the animals
|
Help maintain the animals' home
|
Help with technical activities
|
Help with organizational activities
|
|
