Volunteer with us!
Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Five Acres Animal Shelter.
We have almost 200 volunteers who help us with day to day animal care needs and a variety of opportunities and programs to fit the needs of our community. We are excited to connect with community members who are as dedicated and enthusiastic about animals as we are!
How do volunteers help out at Five Acres?
It is our goal to provide our shelter pets with care, love and comfort while they await their adoption day. From providing daily care and feeding, to cleaning and enrichment, Five Acres volunteers support all aspects of our daily shelter operations and help ensure our cats and dogs are happy and healthy.
OUR VOLUNTEER POSITIONS & ROLES:
Canine Clubhouse Dog Walkers: Five Acres dog walkers provide hands-on animal care, exercise, enrichment, and socialization for our shelter dogs. We especially are looking for people with previous dog walking experience, specifically with larger, stronger dogs. No matter the weather, our walkers are committed to coming in for their weekly shifts to get the dogs out in rain, sunshine, and snow! Being a dog walker at Five Acres requires additional basic training.
Kitty Cottage Care Team: Our feline volunteers care for our shelter cats and kittens. Volunteers help ensure our cat spaces are clean and tidy, while feeding, socializing, and helping with other tasks in the Kitty Cottage.
AniMeals Pet Food Pantry: Every Saturday our AniMeals volunteers help distribute pet food and supplies to community members in need. AniMeals volunteers are an essential part of our volunteer team, and help ensure our community pets have what they need to stay in their loving homes.
Front Desk/Reception: During our open hours, Front Desk Reception volunteers greet visitors, answer phone calls, and support our staff in a variety of administrative roles.
Maintenance Crew: Are you handy at fixing things? Perhaps you enjoy grounds keeping or painting? Volunteers on our maintenance team help keep the Five Acres facilities working efficiently for both our people and pets!
Spay/Neuter Clinic: Our clinic volunteers support our veterinarian and vet techs on spay/neuter surgery days.
Events Team: Join the Events Team to support upcoming fundraising and community events, fill volunteer roles for events, help to gather items for events auction/raffle, and more!
Our hands on volunteer animal care needs for Fall/Winter 2024:
Canine Clubhouse:
We welcome volunteers to the Canine Clubhouse every day to help walk dogs and provide enrichment and socialization. We ask for a weekly commitment for a specific day and time… at this time, we need the following shifts filled:
- Mondays from 7-9am
- Thursdays from 5-6:30pm
- Fridays from 5-6:30pm
- Saturdays from 1-3pm
- Saturdays from 5-6:30pm
*If you have experience working with shelter dogs, or working with large, strong dogs who exhibit some challenging/unique kinds of behavior at times, we need you! Dogs in a shelter setting are not like the dogs you have at home or living next door… while they are here, they are not home with their people yet, and as much as we try to make their temporary home here comfy and pleasant, we are in need of experienced walkers who embrace their unique challenges!
Kitty Cottage:
The Kitty Cottage has volunteer needs every morning to help scoop litter, sweep, vacuum, mop the floors, wash dishes and laundry! We also have a volunteer need from 4-6pm every day, as well. Please see specific needs below for Fall/Winter 2024:
- Sundays from 9-11:30am
- Wednesdays from 9-11:30am
- Fridays from 9-11:30am
- Saturdays from 4-6pm
If you are looking for hands-on animal care volunteer opportunities with cats or dogs and the days and times listed above do not work for your schedule, please check back in a few months from now to see if our needs have changed. Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Five Acres Animal Shelter!
What you need to know before submitting a volunteer application.
Five Acres Animal Shelter volunteers are self-motivated, sensitive, and dependable. If you are interested in joining our volunteer team, below is a list of questions that you should ask yourself to make sure that volunteering with us is a good fit for you:
- Are you over the age of 18? The minimum age to volunteer directly with our animals is 18. If you are not 18, please visit our Youth Engagement page for ideas on how people under 18 can help animals in our care.
- Do you have health insurance? All Five Acres Animal Shelter volunteers are required to be covered under their own health insurance policy. There are no exceptions to this. We require all volunteers to sign our liability waiver through the application process.
- Do you meet the Essential Capabilities of Five Acres Animal Shelter Volunteers needed to volunteer safely?
- Do you have reliable access to the internet to access our volunteer management program (Better Impact), as well as an email address that is checked regularly to receive information and updates?
- Are you able to adhere to and follow volunteer program guidelines and policies, as outlined in our Volunteer Handbook?
- Are you able to make at least a 6-month commitment to a regular, weekly volunteer shift?
- Are you seeking court-ordered community service hours? At this time we are not able to accommodate court ordered community service participants, or individuals with a recommendation from their attorney to complete hours in anticipation of a court date.
If you fulfill the requirements above, please continue to our volunteer application below.
Please note: all potential volunteers are required to submit a volunteer application, pay a $20 registration fee, view an online orientation video, attend a 30 minute volunteer planning meeting with our Volunteer Manager, and complete any additional training, depending on the area(s) of your interests.
Thank you!
If you have questions, feel free to connect with us by sending an email to kate@fiveacresanimalshelter.org or CLICK HERE to check out our Volunteer FAQ!
Thank you so much for your interest in volunteering with us!