SHELTER VOLUNTEERS KEEP GIVING
At the end of the year, nonprofits are supposed to do a few predictable things. Thank our partners. Thank our donors. Thank our networkers. Thank the people who fundraise on our behalf and keep the lights on. And of course all that’s important.
But this year, I want to start somewhere else. I want to first and foremost thank shelter volunteers and recognize the people who do lifesaving work every day - quietly, consistently, and for no money - in a shelter system that I believe would collapse without them.
Our volunteers do the work that most people don’t see.
They don’t just handle the easiest dogs and the lap-loving cats. They are trained and trusted. They do the slow and sometimes tedious work of rehabilitation. With patience and love they rebuild trust and instill confidence in animals who have lost all of the only life they ever knew.
None of this is required of them. They do it because they love animals.You see it everywhere at shelters: volunteers brushing cats in the cat room, tossing tennis balls to dogs who love to play. You see it in the way they learn individual dogs’ messaging — the curl of a lip, the pitch of a bark, the tentative acceptance of a treat.
Shelter volunteers are not accessories to the work of rescuing and rehoming lost and abandoned animals - they are an integral part of a shelter’s infrastructure. So this New Year join with me and take a moment to thank a shelter volunteer. The animals don’t care about wages and titles. They care who shows up.
