I’m looking for my next volunteer gig. Do you have any ideas?
For several years, I volunteered at my local animal shelter. It’s essentially a municipal shelter for several local animal control agencies. Overcrowding can be an issue. Euthanasia is used. I spent about 4 hours a week working there. I entered stacks and stacks of DOA records into the computer. You’d be amazed how many cats are HBC (hit by car). I also scooped poop and cleaned cages. I walked dogs. I helped with adoption visits. All the basic stuff.
Then, for six years, I served on the Colorado Authors’ League (CAL) board of directors — 2 as web chair, 2 as president, 2 as past president. That ended in 2005 when I decided not to take a director position on the board.
I also serve on the auxiliary for the fire dept. That’s meant organizing or working at various fundraisers. It’s meant getting food to the firefighters on the line when they’re stuck at wildland fires. But, considering the sometimes ugly local politics involved with the dept, I find that less fun than I used to.
So, since I left the CAL board, I’ve been trying to figure out what my next volunteer thing should be. I honestly didn’t think it would take me this long to pick something.
Not that there haven’t been requests. Since I write for a living, there are groups who have asked me (sometimes repeatedly) to be the volunteer newsletter editor. But, here’s the thing. Since I write all day, it’s hardly a get-away for me to do it as a volunteer.
To me, volunteering is a form of escape.
Now that I have more basic training experience, I’m thinking about helping train rescue dogs. If my dogs were different, I’d even consider fostering, but Tom is not hip on that idea … too disruptive to our routine since we both work at home most of the time.
I’ve asked around about volunteering for local agility clubs, but I didn’t get very far. One reply suggested “volunteering at a local shelter.” Uhm, gee, done that. Still, I sometimes volunteer at a trials for a half day or day, but that’s not quite satisfying either.
Sometimes I think Lilly might be a good dog for kids to read to, but she’s so shy I’m not sure.
Maybe I should do something entirely non-dog. Maybe I’ll look at those volunteer matching sites and see what comes up.
Thanks. I’ll find something. I saw someone posting elsewhere about Dog Scout Troops. I’ll have to look at that too.
Funny, I was just looking at some volunteer sites the other week. The work I’ve been doing for BC Rescue is easy, just calling references and asking questions and then the home visits. I only take those that are local because I don’t have time to be hauling all over Denver and they seem to have enough people to cover other locations. They announce when/where they need people on their yahoo group so you can volunteer when you please. They also need people to handle transport.
I volunteered at Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center for years and that was really fun but they moved way out of town on Hwy 52 east of 287. I may go back there in the summer.
I almost always work at agility trials but I don’t consider that real volunteering because it’s helping me and the sport I love but not really making the world a better place.
Good luck finding something and thanks for reminding me to get back on the ball trying to find something for myself.