Volunteering

My volunteering experience does not begin with Best Friends Animal Society. It began in 2004 when I volunteered for approximately a year and a half at a defunct tiger "sanctuary" here in southern California. Days were spent cleaning cages, feeding the tigers, and maintaining the facility all while the I's were dotted and the T's were crossed in an effort to move them to a more healthy facility. My 21st birthday was spent sweeping tiger cages and shoveling tiger poop, this was my choice.

I then did a brief stint helping out a wonderful organization called 2nd Chance 4 Pets on their campaign for Bella, a differently-abled Labrador Retriever who needed a lot of help, love, and support.

It wasn't until February of 2011 that, as cheesy as it sounds, my life changed forever, this was when I began volunteering with Best Friends Animal Society-Los Angeles. I was a bit weary at first, as someone with severe anxiety, I was hesitant to go about this alone so my husband signed up with me and together we volunteered at our first BFLA event, Super Adoption 2011!

At this point in time I have gone though two generations of volunteer shirts, spent countless hours at special events and pop-up adoption events, and many hours helping out in other ways. Recently I have been lucky enough to volunteer from home for Best Friends Animal Society-Los Angeles and I am able to do so much more for them without having to wait for the next event!

Through my time spent volunteering with BFLA, I have learned more than I ever hoped or imagined I would. I have made irreplaceable friends, and most importantly, I hope I have made a difference in at least one life of an animal.

My proudest moment spent volunteering for BFLA occurred at Super Adoption 2012 when I helped an adorable couple out with adopting a kitten. They came with the hopes of adopting a kitten they had seen the day before, unfortunately that kitten had been adopted by another family since their return. I brought them to a special polydactyl kitten that we had available and they fell in love. Of course there is a chance that they would have seen said kitten without my help, but I like to think that my turning to them and asking if they needed any help, which then fueled our conversation, really did play a part in saving that kittens life and enabled them to find a wonderful companion.

I don't know where my volunteering with BFLA will take me in the future, but I know one thing is for sure and that is I will do whatever I can to continue to support them in all of their efforts to create a world with no more homeless pets.