Back to school came early this year! We will miss seeing children at the shelter volunteering with their parents, but let’s focus on volunteer opportunities for families during this school year.
Many students need service hours for their school, their clubs or to beef up their college applications. How about volunteering at the Aiken County Animal Shelter?
We do ask our volunteers to be 18 years old, but when parents or guardians can volunteer with their kids (12 years or older), it’s awesome! We love seeing families volunteering together at the shelter. It’s as easy as emailing us at info@fotasaiken.org and letting us know you want to come for a volunteer training session.
This summer, we had quite a few mother/daughter teams that came and walked dogs for us. The dogs and cats love seeing young people and it really benefits everyone. Teenagers especially need exercise, time away from phones and social media, and the benefits of caring for homeless pets in our community.
Our Doggie Day Out program is perfect for active families with parents that work. It can be really difficult to find time to help your kids earn service hours. Therefore, we have a program designed to make it easy! Just call the shelter, (803) 642-1537, ext. 3 and set up a time to pick up a dog for an hour after school or on a Saturday morning.
We try and make it as easy as checking out a library book, but way more fun! Students and their families can pick up a friendly dog selected by staff members and take it to the park, downtown or to Starbucks for a pup cup. These field trips give our homeless dogs a well-deserved break from the shelter.
Students can also think outside the box. This summer, Hannah Wildoner made artwork and bracelets that she sold to friends and community members. She donated her earnings to the shelter to help our pets – so cool!
We encourage students to come up with new ways to help the County Shelter’s animals. Start a club at your school, plan a fundraiser or organize a donation drive. We love partnering with students in these efforts. FOTAS is happy to send a wish list to schools and bring a shelter pet to pick up the items and meet with students.
Lemonade stands, garage sales and social media donation drives are all ways to earn service hours. Post a video of a student with their mission to help pets and collect either financial donations or items from our Wish List. Go to neighbors’ mailboxes and leave copies of what your student is trying to do along with a wish list and a date to leave items by their mailboxes for pick up. Safe and easy!
There are so many ways young people can help our homeless pets. FOTAS and the Aiken County Animal Shelter will help students get started and celebrate their efforts!
Their lives are in our hands.
By Kathy Cagle, FOTAS Programs Coordinator
