BECOMING A Sanctuary VOLUNTEER

To begin the volunteer journey you will need to set up a phone interview with our Volunteer Coordinator.

There is a place for all volunteers helping us at the Sanctuary.  

Volunteer Duties: 

• Prepare emergency shelter and facility for animals when needed

• Provide daily care, including feeding, watering, and cleaning animal enclosures

• Maintain daily care logs on animals in our care 

Effectively communicate observations and/or animal needs to the shelter manager 

Disaster response volunteers are required to complete certain FEMA courses, and trainings on safety, emergency management, the Incident Command System and other critical aspects of emergency care.  

Disaster Response Volunteers must complete the following free online courses and provide certification of completion. 

• IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System (FEMA)   

OPTIONAL

• IS-10 Animals in Disaster: Module A-Awareness and Preparedness (FEMA),   

• IS-111 Livestock in Disasters (FEMA).     

Disaster response volunteers must complete a criminal background check before being approved

• Physical difficulty; involves cleaning and maintaining enclosures; requires ability to stand, bend, and squat and requires a high level of manual dexterity 

• Mental difficulty; requires training in protocols and procedures with the expectation that they’ll be followed; involves working with little supervision and problem solving as needed  

• Emotional difficulty; requires ability to cope with a highly emotionally-charged environment with animals who are homeless, abandoned and/or injured; requires reacting calmly under stress

Volunteers can expect challenging environmental, physical, and emotional conditions.  Volunteers typically work shifts no longer than 8-10 hours per day during a disaster response operation at the sanctuary.