Quote Originally Posted by Karen
Compose and send a letter each to local schools - pick a specific teacher is best to address it to - and to local churches, listing specifically what donations the shelter needs. Old towels, old stuffed toys, any cat or dog food ... and, most importantly, who they can contact at the shelter to arrange a time to drop stuff off.

And have a list attached of the volunteer opportunities and parameters if people have to be a certain age or have any kind of trainng, or whether, for example, a Scout troop could volunteer to come by once a month and clean cages and walk dogs, for example. If various groups volunteered, they could be spread out throughout the month so that it happens regularly.

Stress that time is just as important as money, and if for example, you are poor and on a fixed income so cannot donate anything, but have time you could donate, that would be great!
Good ideas Karen thank you.

I don't know about my own church members as they struggle financially, however other churches in the area have more money and larger congregations than ours does, I'll see what I can do with writing a few letters to them.

I myself am not 'poor' per se, but to take care of my cats in the manner I think they should be does take up a large portion of the income though. We do have some time to donate and I'm sure any little bit would help.

I hadn't even thought of writing letters to the school or scouts, great idea.

I'm thinking that, compared to other humane societies I've seen that ours doesn't do a very good job with adopt-a-thons or advertisement/fundraisers due to lack of volunteers or organization and that could be part of the problem. I realize people in our area tend to be more along the line of needing the services of the spay/neuter/vaccination clinic more than donating to it's cause. But I honestly believe that if more people knew of how badly the help was needed there some would donate more or at least donate if they haven't before.

Thank you for the great ideas!