Everything Helps! Ways to Volunteer at Your Local Dog Rescue
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A DogGeek.com exclusive by Teresa Barker
Well, it’s no surprise that running a dog rescue is an enormous task. It makes sense that rescues can always use volunteer help with cleaning, feeding, bathing, walking, and caring for the dogs who reside there. But there are also unlimited possibilities for alternative volunteer support that you may not have thought about when the desire to help overcomes you. Here are a few ways you might be able to help, which may utilize your talents or professional qualifications, along with a few that take no time at all!
Make a Cash Donation
This is often the most overlooked and fully appreciated area that dog rescues could use more help in. If you think that donating money seems impersonal, you are wrong! Organizing fundraising events is time consuming and laborious, which takes away time that could be spent directly with the dogs. If you want to get creative, call a shelter and offer to pay their electric bill for the month. Or, make a donation in the name of a friend (human or canine) for a holiday or birthday. Set up a payment plan that you can afford, and skip 1 latte a week to donate your coffee fund.
Donate STUFF
Picking up a bag of dog food for your pooches? Pick up another for a local shelter. Have too many blankets and towels in cupboards all over the house? Red Rover, Red Rover, send them right over! Did you get a new computer, printer, digital camera, or (fill-in the blank)? Maybe your local shelter has that on the top of their wish list. In most cases, cash and items donated to a non-profit shelter are also a tax write-off for you. Woohoo!
Share Your Talents
If you’ve ever taken a photography course or tinkered around with taking photos for fun, you’ve probably got services that would be appreciated at the shelter. It’s hard to get a headshot of a dog who wiggles, pants, and thinks that “CHEESE” means it’s treat time. The better the photo of the dog needing a home, the more likely he is to get adopted. What do you love to do? Now ask how that can be a service to the rescue.
Use Your Professional Qualifications
Whether your profession is Web Marketing or Event Planning, there’s a need at the shelter! After all, you have to remember, a dog rescue is a business with a heart. Running a business requires an administrative department, volunteer coordinating, a marketing team, a legal team, and much more to keep going. Donating a few hours of time sharing your expertise goes a long way for many of the rescues running on a skeleton crew.
Obviously, fostering a dog and sharing photos of adoptable dogs on your Facebook page are awesome ways to help. But the need to help doesn’t stop there. Get creative and realistic about what you have to offer, and go for it! Heck, you might just be asked to dress up like Santa Claus for a holiday photo fundraising event. Now that sounds like fun!
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