I’ve been thinking a lot about volunteerism these days. In the current economy, it is sometimes hard to imagine fitting one more thing into your day, especially if it is a financial or time commitment with potential to impact your personal bottom line. But the flipside of the coin (be it only a penny, perhaps) is that when your own life is challenging, sometimes the best route is to focus on solving the problems of another. Call it compensation of the best kind, but I was raised in a small-town where those with the least were often seen to be giving the most, in whatever fashion they could afford. I still subscribe to this aspect of small-town mentality.

Baltimore Humane is a bit of a small town just outside the big city. Through my work here, I have met amazingly talented people who have found creative ways to give to the organization¹. Romeo Santos, a local runner and dog enthusiast, has been carving out hiking trails and assisting with developing our Spring 5K.  Marc Adams, a local artist and cat lover,  has volunteered, via a raffle, to paint a portrait of one of our shelter cats adopted between April and September.  Our loyal crew of Wednesday Night Hikers arrive each week even when the skies look dark to take our canine crew for a hike on those aforementioned newly carved trails. And finally, I recently met Pete and Dave, two guys who volunteered to drive 20 hours straight in order to transport shelter dogs running out of time in Tennessee so that we could find them homes here in Maryland.  The world spins on the hard work of volunteers like this, and I stand in awe of their labor everyday.

Ironically, my career as a veterinarian started via the volunteer path:  I was working as a teacher in Washington DC and volunteering at local animal shelter once a week.  Soon I was enjoying my volunteer work more than my “real” job and one thing led to another, -- and, well, here I am. You never know where your volunteer work will lead you.  Let that be a warning to you.

It’s easy to come up with a list of what we’re lacking in this economy, but so much better to get to work with what we’ve got.  We’d love to see you at the shelter – bring your time and your talent, and we’ll find a job you'll treasure.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Heartily Agreed

Hi. Just wanted to say that I am a new volunteer, along with my mom and we have both found working at the Baltimore Humane Society to be absolutely fantastic. So much so that it often becomes difficult to go through the week without constantly thinking about the animals we've encountered. The very first time we interacted with the dogs and met just 3 or 4 of them, the next day I found my thoughts constantly drifting to the dogs. I didn't say anything to my mom, thinking that I maybe was being a little overly sensitive. An hour or so later I saw my mom and she said, "Nick, I've gotta say that I can't stop thinking about the dogs we've met", to which I quickly responded in kind. We have a beloved dog of our own that we love immensely, but the animals at the shelter will tug on your heartstrings and make you feel so good that you were able to give them a little bit of happiness until they find a good home. It will change your life QUICKLY. If you are a dog lover, there's no chance that you won't enjoy your time volunteering with the dogs and I'd imagine it goes the same way with the cats and catlovers. Do YOURSELF a favor (because you will be as positively impacted as the animals) and volunteer. You will not regret it and you will meet the best mammals there are...both human and animal! Hope to see you there!
P.S.-I am new, so this may be a false perception, but us men seem to be poorly represented (only in numbers, not qualtity) as volunteers, so it'd be great for some more men to come show that we love and care about animals just as much.

Nicholas Sadaka , September 08, 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...

I did not know you guys get no public funding at all. It's amazing what you guys go with no public funding. I will get the word for donations on my blog, loveoftheanimals.wordpress.com. Thanks alot for all you guys do.

Valerie Bragg , October 22, 2009 | url

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment