excellent suggestions. more and more high-schools are requiring community service before graduation, and far more kids would like to help animals than people--a sentiment i can certainly identify with! there's a lot of things that retirees can do, as well, with skills gained from years of working the real world.
with teenagers, many sanctuaries/shelters have a 16-years age minimum age limit for volunteers; others will say 18 in a minimum for insurance purposes. i've spoken with insurance professionals, tho, who say that liability insurance really doesn't apply to volunteers but only to VISITORS--that volunteers are assumed to have taken on any risks by the act of volunteering.... you can find lots of materials on freecycle lists, too, if you don't mind wading through lots of posts for things that aren't applicable. posting what you WANT, however, can work well. there are at LEAST two yahoogroups that exist solely for shelters/sanctuaries/rescue to post things that they need/have extras of to share with others. any university with a vet school or a vet-tech program is a source of volunteers; in fact, universities are a good source in general, as a lot of students really miss their own pets and would love to help out, even if "only" doing socializing, which is a major need for places with a lot of kitties. i was astonished to find out, when i moved to the sanctuary, that i was the first volunteer they'd ever had who knew how to medicate cats! i did up a flyer once, asking for "cooks, cleaners and cuddlers"--people to come in for an hour a day opening the 52 cans of wet food, scooping it into bowls and adding the lysine, and delivering it to the rooms; helping with cleaning (the never-ending cleaning-- every little bit helps, and frees the directors of the facilities for things like vet visits, maintenance, etc), and the all-important sitting on the floor and just being a cat toy..... so many people think that "helping out" means taking in another cat..... it can mean joining a group of people putting labels on the newsletter, taking photos of the adoptable cats and putting them on the petfinder site, writing thank-you notes for donations received; answering emails or phone calls; offering to pick up donations and delivering them to the shelter/rescue; transporting critters to the vet, on a leg of their trip to their forever home. it can be going out every two weeks and taking a spin on the riding lawn mower; it can be having another group they're with having 50/50 raffles where half the proceeds go to the rescue; it can be someone lending their fundraising skills and helping organize an event; it can be staffing an adoption event for a few hours; it can be sellling baked goods on a weekend. if we remind people of all the ways they can help, without adding a new fur-source to their homes, again, we help us all. MC On 2/7/07, tamara stickler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Well, three of my volunteers have now moved out of state (have since gone off to college), and the other two now have their hands full with their two new children, one of which is a Down's Synd. baby...where are you? I found the kids willing to help that time at one of the high schools in the area. They have to do community service to graduate in Maryland. Not all of the kids want to work at church, or are comfortable helping at a soup kitchen, and there are quite a lot of young adults who love animals and are very into activism, but are limited as to how much they can do first hand because they still live with mom & dad. BUT, if you contact the local high schools & churches in your areas, you'd be surprised by how many people are willing to help. AND if you have any affiliations with actual rescues, very often the local lumber yards & little ma & pa hardware stores in the area will be willing to donate either regular merchandise, or slightly damaged items that can be still be useful...just not "pretty". You can also get ALOT of stuff on the CRAIGS LIST website. People list items there they want to get rid of, but don't want to throw away....most are give-a-ways, some are up for trade. It never hurts to ask youth church groups, schools, shops that sell animal supplies..even vet offices, boarding & grooming businesses. But if you approach the schools and church groups, do it correctly, start at the HEAD of the school, explain in writing what you are looking to do and WHY, try to find some educational value in it for those who would help. If you are in need of blankets or throws for your rescues...contact an assisted living care facility. Offer to maybe give a talk to the residents about felv+, show pictures of your cats, or if they have the temperment and are up on shots, to bring them in to visit. Talk with them about what you do, what you need...if you supplie the raw materials, and can find a resident or two there who love cats and can say knitt or sew...perhaps you can sit with them and make blankets or throws that you need. ALWAYS remember tho to bring pictures back to your helpers of your critter using the items they made or donated. In that instance where I offered to help the woman who had offered to take Simms, I did so because I would have been making the living space more livable for an animal that had been in my care (and that I WANTED desparately to keep, but couldn't for space reasons (VERY small apt....condo Nazi's already all over me b/c I had too many...three of which were already special needs critters...etc...), I was willing to put the supplies I couldn't get donated on my charge card. As it is, I used that money to drive the cat across 4 states to a better home. T Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: No kidding! That was exactly what was going through my mind when reading Tamara's offer of help. I'm always wishing help like that would fall out of the sky and into my lap! Susan Hoffman wrote: Ummm, would you and your volunteers like to come give me a hand at MY place? I'll accept! tamara stickler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I agree. That's what scared me about the woman who originally agreed to take Simms. After seeing her place, I called her back and told her I had five volunteers lined up who had agreed to come help her finish insulating the garage where she kept the felv+ cats, build new cat trees and levels for them and her healthy foster cats and even help her husband build the larger shed he told me he wanted to build for the healthy foster cats that she had. I told her all her hubby had to do was get us a list of the materials he needed, give us a weekend or two when it would be good for them, and we'd be there. ________________________________ Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.
-- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892
