There are many exciting ways to help your local animal shelter. Just a couple of the things you can do include donating needed items and volunteering time or resources.
Volunteering Your Time
Do you have a couple of hours free on the weekend? Attend a volunteer orientation at your local shelter and sign up to contribute a few hours each week or even each month to help out. Work is never in short supply. Help out with laundry, sort donations, feed animals, and walk and play with dogs.
Oftentimes the animals at shelters simply need a distraction from daily life in the shelter. The shelter can be noisy and stressful for dogs, for example. If you can stop by and take a dog out for a walk, run or just to play in a pen, that dog's day becomes less frantic and stressful. The lives of the shelter staff also become less frantic and stressful as well!
Many people say they can't volunteer at a shelter because it would be too sad. But think of the profound sense of accomplishment and satisfaction you can get from letting bored puppies out of their kennels for some fun, or spending a snuggle-session with a lonely lap dog!
Cats need love too! The cats in shelters are often in small cages and spend most of their time sleeping. You can take cats into getting-acquainted-rooms and help keep them socialized toward humans. You may find that providing TLC is very fulfilling.
If you cannot commit to a regular schedule, try asking about volunteering for special events such as shelter tours, tag sales and tabling events at festivals. Some shelters will happily accept the extra help.
Donating Resources
If you don't have the time to volunteer, simply donate needed items such as cleaning supplies and pet food. Many charities will not accept those old stuffed animals to give to children, but shelters will readily accept them. Next time you're at the supermarket, look for sales on pet food. If money is tight, save your used plastic grocery bags. During the changing of the seasons, you may want to clear out some old stuffed animals and blankets. This is a great free way to unload unwanted items and help animals at the same time.
Your contributions may be tax-deductible, so be sure to ask the shelter and be prepared with an estimate of the value of your items. Cash donations obviously fall into this category as well.
As a shelter volunteer myself, I can provide a glimpse of a typical shift. I arrive and check which dogs need to be taken out for walks. Depending on the time of day and how many dogs need to go out soon, I gauge how much time I can spend with each dog. I may then check to make sure each dog has enough water. A glance at the kitchen invariably proves that some dishes need to be done, and often there is a stack of laundry up to the ceiling. I may take a break from the dogs by sorting laundry and washing dishes and litter boxes. As a side note, I've learned some key dog-training pointers and become familiar with dogs of various breeds. Once you've learned individual dogs, you can spend time on the adoption floor helping people to be matched up with dogs that may suit their lifestyle.
Volunteering for special events is a good way to keep the shelter's name out in the community and get donations. The shelter I volunteer at recently hosted an information table at a farmer's market. People donated money and we told them about the facility and stories about the various pets available. The next time those people want to adopt a pet, they will hopefully think of our shelter.
There are many ways to help your local animal shelter. However you choose to help, there is a guaranteed sense of pride that comes with knowing you helped a homeless pet find a new home, or that you helped that pet's stay in the shelter to be less stressful and more enriching.