How To Help Your Local Animal Shelter
All too often our intent to do good somehow tends to get sidetracked and the end result is the accomplishment of nothing of any real substance. In the area of animal rescue this can have a lingering and devastating effect on the ability of our local animal shelters to continue their work with the quality needed to address an ever-growing issue. While many would love to be able to help make a difference in the lives of animals if they could, we collectively as a society falsely believe that money is the answer to all evils and in a bad economy there may not be funds left after living expenses to make a contribution to our local animal shelter.
So we sit and do nothing, lamenting the fate of our less advantaged four-legged friends and our own inability to enact change. We posture with the "I would if I could" affirmation, more designed to stroke our own egos and conscience than to actually explain our apathy and indifference in exploring what is really needed by our local animal shelter. Rather than grasping onto what we as outsiders believe can be cured by the almighty buck our attention needs redirected, to examine how our unique intellect, life skills and work ethic can be routed to affect a positive outcome for the animals in question.
It all starts with a simple telephone call to your local animal shelter to explore the vast array of possibilities that exist for people of all walks of life to contribute in their own unique way. Animal shelters are constantly in need of a number of services that demand a large use of manpower which when not obtained through volunteerism must be paid for with cash resources. Building maintenance, grounds keeping, and a host of other issues that your local animal shelter spends their precious resources on can be performed capably by volunteers with a small amount of skill and a strong work ethic.
Even tasks that are usually performed by shelter staff such as exercising and grooming animals can be tended to in part by a large volunteer staff, reducing the need for paid staff and thereby lowering the overall need for cash resources.
Fundraising and and elevating public awareness is yet another area where volunteerism makes a huge impact. Just imagine for a moment if you were to volunteer for an animal shelter fundraiser and let all of your family, friends and coworkers know of the details and they each donated $1. How about $5? You get the picture - your mere presence makes a difference whether you realize it or not.
It's easy to get moving in helping your local animal shelter, just call and ask how you can get involved. Regardless of what skills you may have or how much or little available time you have to offer, chances are they will find a way to utilize a valuable resource you may have forgotten about - you.
