Volunteering at a shelter

I just went to an orientation to volunteer at a local animal shelter. It is such a nice place!! It is called arf for short. Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation. click here for website
I had first heard about the place while at a friends for a house warming party. Then I also met someone else who adopted their dog from there at the dog park. THEN at work one of the Board Members of a previous association works there!! I figured I must volunteer there.
I filled out the application today. I can't wait to get started. I will probably not be interacting with the animals at first, but every little bit helps.
I'm sure I'll be telling lots of stories about my experience there. Hope you don't get tired of it. :D

Oh I'm sure you will love it! I've been volunteering for a year and a half now and I've loved every minute. As you say, you may be faced with a lot of cleaning when you first begin, but once the shelter see how devoted you are (they get a lot of people who mess them around, who volunteer once or twice and then never come back), you'll be sure to start doing a lot more interacting with the animals (though of course there is always a lot of cleaning every day of the year ;) ).

The only downside to volunteering is seeing some of the cruelty cases come in. This week we've had dozens of animals in from a hoarder. Hamsters, gerbils, rats, chinchillas, degus, ferrets, birds, this guy had the lot crammed in his home. And we've only got half of the critters, the other half went to another shelter! :(

Good for you, you will enjoy it. Me and my daughter volunteered for about a year at one of the local spca's, we only did dog walking and cat socializing, no dirty work, they had people that needed to do community service through the jail doing the dirty work so it was a lot of fun.

Somehow we made it through that year without adding to our fur household but it was difficult.

I'm glad that you're able to do this and I bet you'll enjoy it.:) I keep telling myself that I need to so something like this but then I might end up bringing more cats home with me.

Thanks for the responses.
This shelter only pulls from county shelters. It pulls animals that are adoptable and about to be euthanized. Animals are not taken directly to arf from the public.
The only thing Bruce said to me (and probably will every time) before I left was - no more animals!!!
And I saw Laguna and Tropicana while I was there too. Tropicana is a Border Collie/Aussie mix that is hearing impaired with two blue eyes. I recognized these girls from looking at the website ALL the time. LOL
I also saw a kitty that seemed to be the same size as Paizly and asked her age. They said she was about 3-4 weeks. Now I know that Paizly is much older than that. Cathy had her for 5 weeks and I've had her almost a week. She was said to be 5 weeks when she was originally found. So she must be small. :D
Ok, I'm off to play with Paizly now. :)

I loved volunteering! It is so rewarding:D

I love Amber, a kitty from the site that looks like a mini Stash! I would name her Satasha;)

I volunteered at our local Humane Society many years ago. I would go in every Wednesday morning and take care of the cats. Clean cages, wash bedding - you name it, I did it. I even dragged my husband in one Thanksgiving morning.

Only problem - it was so difficult to come home and leave all those cuties behind. During my 2 year tenure, we adopted one dog, and 4 cats.

ARF is a fantastic orginazation. I volunteered for them for a while. I've volunteered for the SFSPCA and for TVAR in Dublin as well. ARF is well funded and it's a great feeling to be around the place. They have amazing adoption vans! Next weekend they are participating in an event in Danville. Maybe you'll get a chance to work it?
Have you heard the story how Tony started the shelter? For the uninformed, Tony La Russa was a baseball player. A's I think. He rescued a stray cat that wandered onto the baseball field during a game and that got him started! :p
You'll :love: working there!
Claudia

I have no idea what I will be doing, yet. :) But I will probably do some of the mobile events I'm sure.
Yes, if you go to the site and read the history you'll read the story about Evie. She is the cat that started the organization about 18 years ago. :)

My original plan (before I got Paizly) was to be a foster. That may be on hold for some time. With Paizly being so small and occupying the extra room and with how Taz is reacting, my foster plans may not be possible. But we shall see in time how it goes. I wouldn't be able to foster a dog unless Bruce is willing to help me out since he is home all day and would have to care for a foster dog and Zoee. Unless I got a job closer to home and could come home during lunch.....hmmm......the ideas are flowing. :D
Although during the tour today several people admitted they would definitely be foster failures. One man already has failed fostering twice and he's back for more. LOL

Ohhh! Sounds like fun!

So, who wants to hedge bets on how many more residents come to roost at Cindy's house in the next year?! :p ;)

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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

Ohhh! Sounds like fun!

So, who wants to hedge bets on how many more residents come to roost at Cindy's house in the next year?! :p ;)

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If that happens it wouldn't be in THIS house. Bruce would kick my butt out!! LOL
I am still hoping to talk him into a buddy for Zoee. Shhhh!! ;)

Hey Cindy,

I'm very familiar with ARF ;) Our agility instructor teaches there during the week and at another facility on the weekends. Ivy and I switched to private lessons and we sometimes hold them at ARF. It's a nice facility. Golden State Greyhounds always reserves the outdoor field for playgroups. However, for irrigation purposes, the ground isn't completely level, which makes the a-frame a little wobbly. We had a lot of refusals because of that, but I don't blame Ivy. I wouldn't get on it either :p

Eh. I'm done rambling LOL

Have fun volunteering! I've been a volunteer at Berkeley Animal Care Services (city-run shelter) for a few years. I lost track, haha. I like working with the "red dot" dogs. Really gives you your adrenaline rush. It's like working with a bunch of Ivy's :D

AWWWW Cindy that is great!!!!! Good luck to you and that shelter could not be more lucky to have you there!!!!!

Well, I'm about to go to my first volunteer job. There is a Doggie Benefit in Danville and I'm helping out this afternoon. I'm a little nervous because I have no idea what I will be doing and I do not know anyone there. I am very shy around people when I first meet them. Uh-oh, I think I'm getting a nervous tummyache. :(

I'll let you know how it goes. Sorry, not taking the camera since I don't know what I'm doing. :)

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Originally Posted by kallisto4529

AWWWW Cindy that is great!!!!! Good luck to you and that shelter could not be more lucky to have you there!!!!!

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I agree. :) You'll do great I'm sure. Congrats for giving your time & effort.

Hey Cindy! I work right across the street in the Blackhawk Plaza! The event should be lots of fun! I know by the time you see this you'll already know that! :D No need to be nervous...volunteers are great people and usually very grateful for any help anyone is willing to give. Good luck!:p

You'll be fine, and they will adore you!! No worries, my dear!

Can't wait to hear how it went!

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Originally Posted by kitten645

Hey Cindy! I work right across the street in the Blackhawk Plaza! The event should be lots of fun! I know by the time you see this you'll already know that! :D No need to be nervous...volunteers are great people and usually very grateful for any help anyone is willing to give. Good luck!:p

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I meant to post earlier that I would be out there, but I forgot. :( Sorry.

Anyway, when I first got there I was so uncomfortable. Especially since I had on the volunteer shirt people were asking me questions I couldn't answer. The guy I was supposed to check in with was busy with cat adoptions (3 kitties were adopted today!!:D Woo Hoo!!), so I stood with another volunteer and started learning the ropes. Then when the "boss" got there she put me on the merchandise table. It wasn't very busy, so that was good. But I was actually starting to answer peoples questions.
Then the weird thing happened. ARF people were making a huge deal out of the fact that I just had orientation last Saturday. I was like :confused:. And then it was explained to me that usually volunteers have to go through a training session and put in "x" amount of time (I think she said 6 months:eek:) before being put on an event.
Well, I guess it pays off to sorta know someone in the company. LOL But I do plan on going through the training. It's just that most of the training sessions were only offered during my regular work hours. I'll have to see what I can do about that. I don't want people thinking I don't have to follow rules.
OMG, I could sit here and type all night about things that happened in the 2 1/2 hours I was there. LOL But I don't want anyone falling asleep on their keyboards. That would hurt. So I'll end by saying that next Saturday I'm going to go learn how to work the boutique at the center. :D :D

Thanks for putting up with my babbling. :)

Wait, there were people fussing about the fact that you were helping out, just because you didn't have all the training yet? Normally shelters are happy to just have volunteers who want to help. If their training is during work hours, they'll have to figure out some way to accommodate your hours (it's not like you work weird hours, ya know, lol). Not everyone has the good fortune to be at home during the daytime hours (hahahah... like me during the summer!).

Glad you had a good time, learned a lot, and whatever you do, don't let them intimidate you. You're there to do good for the animals, and you're not going to quit your job or take vacation to do their training, lol, so don't let them make you feel badly about being there either.

Good luck, and have fun (remember that!!). ;)

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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

Wait, there were people fussing about the fact that you were helping out, just because you didn't have all the training yet? Normally shelters are happy to just have volunteers who want to help. If their training is during work hours, they'll have to figure out some way to accommodate your hours (it's not like you work weird hours, ya know, lol). Not everyone has the good fortune to be at home during the daytime hours (hahahah... like me during the summer!).

Glad you had a good time, learned a lot, and whatever you do, don't let them intimidate you. You're there to do good for the animals, and you're not going to quit your job or take vacation to do their training, lol, so don't let them make you feel badly about being there either.

Good luck, and have fun (remember that!!). ;)

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No, no. I'm sorry, I guess that came out wrong. When I said people were making a big deal out of it, it wasn't in a bad/negative way....at all. And it wasn't the other volunteers, it was actual employees. They were saying it more in the sense like - can you believe she just had orientation last Saturday?? Like they couldn't believe I was doing so well:confused:. The one "boss" lady said she knew I would do a good job. How she knew that, I have no idea. Maybe she talked to the other ladies that I had been exchanging emails with over the past months.
Another volunteer did make a comment about the fact that she had been there longer (as in she got there earlier than I did at the event) than me and I already had a job. I was like....oops. :) In fact, now that I think about it, she went to talk to the boss and I didn't see her again. Hmmm.....

But thank you for your concern Jennie. And I am going to check out the training sessions again. I think they offer them at different times each week or month. Exactly like you said, I'm there to give my time and have fun doing something I love. I will not let anyone else stand in my way of having fun. And overall today was a lot of fun for me. I met lots of nice people, ARF people and the public. Even though I've had a splitting headache since I got home. :( And I can't wait til next Saturday to work the boutique. That's where people go to get supplies for their new animals. :D :D

Here I go again, babbling. Ugh, I need to go take medicine and close my eyeballs now.

Till next Saturday!! :D :)

ARF is a very high end shelter, if there is such a thing =P If ARF were a dog food, it would definitely be Solid Gold or something along those lines. Pricy and meticulous. They do good work, but they are wealthy. As a result, they can afford to splurge on certain things and the facility is truly top-notch. From my limited experience with a few of the volunteers there, they can be a little overbearing, but it all comes out of a passion for the animals. It's like us PT people giving out more information than the OP really needs and almost scaring them off :p I know I've probably done that more than once, so it's not bad; it's just healthy enthusiasm!

Aww, Cindy, you were so new; I'm sure you did a heckuva job!! Don't be so hard on yourself =) At the next event, you'll be confident and having a ball!