A bit peeved at my local HS

[atinsley]

So, as I've mentioned before I am unemployed at the moment.. so I figured why not take some of this extra time I have and help animals!

I went to my local Humane Society's web site and got the e-mail address of the administrator to contact if you wanted to volunteer. I e-mailed her on Tuesday. Yesterday I figured, okay... e-mails get lost.. I'll call them. I called them early yesterday and left my name and number.

It's now been 2 full business days for them since I left my name and phone number and no response by e-mail or phone.

I'm gonna be persistent about it, and I know they're busy, but I wonder if they do this to everyone who tries to volunteer? I can see people just never ending up getting to volunteer because of it.

 

[ldg]

It's tough in the world of rescue. Most places are underfunded and under-staffed, and thus you'd think finding volunteers would be paramount... but with what's been happening this winter, I imagine they've got their hands full with animals-in-need situations.

When conducting an e-mail campaign for help with an urgent foster situation, it took up to 10 days to hear back from some rescues... but about 2/3 of them never even bothered to respond.

I'd consider swinging by there some time next week if you haven't heard from them.

 

[mrblanche]

At our shelter, we're always overstocked with volunteers, at least partly because all the high-school kids have to do some volunteer work to graduate.

 

[ut0pia]

I've had a similar experience with the humane society

I am sometimes angry at high school volunteer clubs, where they push for kids to volunteer anywhere, not just at a place they will be happy to be helping. When shelters get a large overload of kids who have no interest in really making a significant effort to help but just care about showing up so it can count for something, of course they aren't going to be too excited to take in new people

 

[ldg]

That's interesting. We're in a rural area with no Humane Society around. I wonder if they even push kids to volunteer around here?

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by LDG

That's interesting. We're in a rural area with no Humane Society around. I wonder if they even push kids to volunteer around here?

If it's an area where not a lot of kids go to college, then it's possible that they don't, that their first priority is getting them to graduate. I see my local humane society asking for donations all the time, they have a table in the student center of my university where they collect donations, but they never care to ask for anyone's time to volunteer. When I applied to volunteer through their website, they gave me an orientation date and then canceled on me by sending an email at 4 am the morning of my orientation telling me that it's canceled without rescheduling- we were a group of people who were going to have orientation that day and they canceled it for everyone.

 

[atinsley]

I'm only about 4 years out of high school and still live in the same area. I didn't have to do any volunteer work for school and think it's the same way now. However there are 2 other school districts around that possibly might require volunteer work.

I just wish they would get back to me as I'm sincerely interested in helping out the animals... it's not just a requirement for me!

I agree about the volunteer clubs. As bad as it'll make me sound, I've volunteered at a soup kitchen and it's just not my deal. I would rather be around animals

 

[atinsley]

Also, even if they don't need any volunteers, I would expect a courtesy call to let me know that they don't need me right now and maybe let me know a time soon when they could use my help.

If this Society doesn't need me then they should let me know so I can try the Society that's about 10 minutes further from me.

 

[mrblanche]

Originally Posted by atinsley

I just wish they would get back to me as I'm sincerely interested in helping out the animals... it's not just a requirement for me!

I agree with getting back to you. When I helped run a large real estate office, if we caught agents not returning calls, we'd terminate them. They had to return every call before they went home, even if it was just to say they didn't have an answer yet for the client.

 

[addiebee]

Aaron... it is the HSHV? Cascades? You can PM me the answer.

 

[white cat lover]

We're almost always dying for volunteers at the humane society here! Every group is run a bit differently, is there another humane society/shelter/rescue you can look into voluntering at?

 

[atinsley]

There is, but I'm going to try to get in touch at least a couple more times before I give up on them. If I have to stop in, I'll stop in. I have a class that starts Monday that's just a few minutes away from the shelter anyways.

 

[carolpetunia]

Where I used to volunteer, the shelter was getting over a thousand calls a day. They didn't even try to answer the public phone line, but let it go to voicemail -- and it could be two weeks before anyone got to the messages. It was a mess, but there was just no other way to do it without more money and more staff.

 

[sharky]

My local HS only has ONE new orientation a month and usually you get info about 10 days prior..

 

[atinsley]

I'm sure they've got their reasons.. and I'm not mad at them.

Just a little antsy is all

 

[atinsley]

Just to keep everyone updated, I stopped in there today after class and have an orientation on the 21st.

I'm excited.