Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 03-25-2020 09:25 AM

    What sort of things are other shelters having volunteers do (other than fostering) to continue to help the shelter without physically being there during the COVID-19 outbreak? While everyone is in quarantine, what sort of fun/creative things can volunteers do from home so that they still feel helpful during this time? We know this is a very uncertain time for a lot of people and want to give our volunteers and members of our community a sense of purpose.


    #coronavirus
    #PeopleManagement
    #covid-19


  • 2.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 03-25-2020 10:05 AM

    Sewing fabric masks for our veterinarians, making toys, doing a digital fundraiser.


    #PeopleManagement


  • 3.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 03-26-2020 05:52 AM

    Best Friends recently came out with these kindness cards, which are really cool! https://support.bestfriends.org/site/DocServer/Community_Kindness_Card_PRINT.pdf?docID=1081


    #PeopleManagement


  • 4.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 10-13-2021 05:38 PM

    We hosted a "stay-at-home" gala this past weekend. We live-streamed for about 2.5 hours from different volunteers' houses with activities they came up with for the gala - everything from a "kitten cam + kitten naming raffle" to a dance segment to "pin the butthole on the cat" game to a tour of a volunteer's home brewery setup (his current brew he named 'spotted cat').

    Our volunteers pretty much prepped everything (a recommended playlist, recommended 'kitty cocktails') and then ran the show for the actual event. It brought in over $2,000 

    Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/577134713148046/


    #PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)


  • 5.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 04-02-2020 10:13 AM

    Hi Erin,

    I love this idea! What platform did you use to stream and switch between users?

     


    #PeopleManagement


  • 6.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 04-06-2020 06:45 AM

    We used Zoom; the rescue bought an account (for staff and volunteer meetings during all of this) and it worked perfectly! We had a designated person 'monitoring' the Zoom session (to mute people, turn off cameras if needed, etc) and the Facebook event in case anyone got confused about where to go. The 'Host' can mark someone's camera as a "spotlight" so it stays the center screen even if others are talking. We had a couple practice sessions ahead of time to master jumping from person to person and screensharing, etc. 


    #PeopleManagement


  • 7.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 10-14-2021 08:02 AM
    Write bios for pets!
    Edit photos and videos!
    Create community cat graphics and flyers!
    Plan pop-up adoption events!
    Translate shelter documents into other languages for accessibility! 
    Work on data projects!
    Be a part of the Cat Behavior Team / Kitty Help Desk!

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    Monica Frenden-Tarant
    Maddie's® Director of Feline Lifesaving
    American Pets Alive!
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  • 8.  RE: What can volunteers do to help the shelter from home?

    Posted 10-14-2021 08:59 AM
    Hi Riley,

    In the beginning of the pandemic we couldn't have volunteers at the shelter at all, so we set up monthly zoom meetings to keep them updated and share information. We also allowed them to ask questions/concerns. We kept up with monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) emails to keep everyone in the loop and help with engagement. We set up online fundraisers that we asked volunteers to support and help with. Which included participating in the events, spreading the word for us and helping out via social media to help spread the word further. We had a few odds and end type projects that could be done from home as well that volunteers could come to the shelter, pick up the materials and do from home. We also had poster distribution that we needed help with, transports here and there and help distributing pet pantry (our free pet food program) to those community members that were homebound. Lastly, we had out Pet Therapy volunteers send in "we miss you" videos with the therapy pets and I put together a video to send to the hospitals that we would normally visit in (we did that around the holidays last year to help spread some cheer since we couldn't be there in person). The hospitals shared that video with their patients and staff.

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    Erin Ellis
    Community Engagement Director
    Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe

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    Volunteer & Community Partnerships Specialist
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