Alrighty! Do you want to give your time and energy away for the greater good of animals? Awesome!

The thing is, though, what you put in, you will get out in some ways. There is plenty of work that needs

to be done. Rescues and shelters are always in need of some help. The cool thing is that there are

many different and unique ways to help!

-What Do You Think This Volunteering is?

It’s ok to be selfish when answering this question. Because, as much as it is a way for you to give

selflessly, there could be many hidden benefits waiting for you. Opening new healthy doors will not

only be beneficial to yourself, but it will also impact the lives around you—view volunteering as a

healthy outlet.

To start with, you can volunteer when the time works for you. Only want to volunteer on the 1st

Saturday of every month? That will work!

Want to stay flexible and call in when you stumble upon a free time? We need you! Get in your car and

come on over.

Maybe you want to get serious in the volunteering world to see where it can take you. You could do the

trickle effect and slowly incorporate it into your life, or you could plunge right in. You have the freedom

to do as you wish with your time.

The cool thing about volunteering is that your time and sacrificed energy are appreciated. You are in a

place where people respect you for being there. It can be satisfactory work. If you know helping

animals is something that you want in your future, you will be in a place where you have the

opportunity to meet the right people to start a relationship. It is a solid foundation you will begin to

build off of.  

You can customize a time to volunteer. Not only that, you can choose your job. What benefits that

come with your job title can you offer? Use your talents and positions in any way you can to make the

most significant difference.

-Here is a list of 7 ways you can help.

Photography

Are you a professional photographer? Every shelter and Rescue could use your talents for updating

their website. Shelter and rescue pages are constantly changing. If you can give quality photos for them

to upload, that would be huge. You could also offer your time and equipment to video a training

seminar or an event.

-Box store employee?

If so, I would bet there are plenty of damaged pet items. Typically these items will just get thrown away.

Talk to the right person, let them know what you are doing, and ask if you can complete your devised

plan. If your boss is a stickler (Which he probably is), go ahead, sneak them out the back. Jail time for

the greater good shouldn’t be frowned upon that much.

-Marketing skills?

Find local businesses that want to help. Maybe you are in a position where you work with small local

businesses on a daily basis. It is not out of the realm to structure a plan for how they can help and ask

them. It could go hand in hand helping them out as it would be good publicity, allowing that company

to help.

-Psychologist?

You could offer your services to the rescues and study the behavior of animals. Not only will this give

the rescues an open-minded second opinion of the dog, but you may also look at things differently and

bring overlooked issues to the attention of the Rescue. This may also give you a relatable but different

look at your practice.

-Social Media

It doesn’t take much to share rescue dogs on your Facebook page. Sharing adoption dogs online is an

individual job. It only takes one person. If you can’t physically be there, you can create a nice write-up

about a dog; you can be helpful and contribute online. Also, you can keep your ears open to anyone

looking for a dog and to help them fill the gap.

-Event Planner

Rescues and shelters are oftentimes found running events for many reasons. If you have a creative

spin and ways to help manage and run an event, your position could be extremely helpful. This could

be a way for you to grow your business.

-High Schooler

Are you in high school still unsure what to do but know that you love animals? This could be a place for

you to come and show people how hard you can work and how much you care. When people see those

who need help, they will want you to come back. When you give, people see that. In return, they want

to help you. It is irresistible. Heck, who knows, maybe someday you will be able to run your shelter or

Rescue.

Examples like these could go on and on. This should get you in a frame of mind to look at what you

could offer. Nothing is too small or too big. We do owe it to animals that have come from ill

circumstances, some near death, to give shine a bright future on them. To do it with pure love and

pure intent is as pure as it gets. Find your way to help and custom it to work for you.

Use your talents to benefit on any level. People quickly gain respect when you do stuff they do not

want to do. Right down to cleaning kennels, nobody wants to clean kennels, do the dirty work. The

bottom line is that you are a human and can offer something if you feel the inclination. 

 

 If you cannot train or foster, you still can give your time in ways that help. Remember, a balanced walk

is the number one gateway to get a healthy foundation for a dog at the end of the day. You, as a

volunteer, can give this in a hands-on way. 

If you can give a dog a healthy balanced walk a couple of times a week to start the beginning stages of

balance, you will play a big role in helping dogs.

Look at this as an outlet. If things in your personal life are unmanageable or undoable, you are stuck

for some reason or another. View this as purity to set yourself and dog straight, a new outlook, a new

way. 

The impossible becomes possible when you open your doors to new light. It is critical to a dog that it

feels purity from you even if it’s not positive. Positive and negative is what create balance. Accept your

role. 

 

Overall, survey your situation as to how you can help.  

There are many ways that we can all help. It doesn’t matter what you believe in. Any avenue will work,

bring reality as to how you can help, strip all the feelings, follow your moral compass. Especially if you

are trying to give back balance, move forward. That’s what the dogs show us. It’s ok to move forward

no matter how bad it is.  

Volunteers play a vital role in the rescue and shelter world. When rescues find people like you who

want to offer what they can to help, it keeps the light burning. The Rescue and shelter’s main goal is to

rescue animals, find them a new home and prevent dogs from being surrendered. All of this effort

comes at a cost. Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with it. Most just don’t care too much about

it. 

Make the difference. Keep that light burning!