Weekly Commitment

Today was my first day at the animal shelter. It’s a no-kill shelter and there are so many different kinds of animals. It’s sort of far away, I had to borrow Molly’s car in order to get to it but it’s a big place so it was easy to find. They have cats and dogs but they also have farm animals that are up for adoption, too so they have a large acreage for the goats, horses, pigs, and even a baby cow that somehow wandered onto the property. During my weekly shift I’m in charge of picking up the poop in the yard that the dogs play in and making sure the water trays in the barn and other outdoor areas are filled. After my chores are done, I get to hang out with the animals for as long as I want. I took a big German shepherd named Bruce out for a walk along the property along with a little white toy poodle named Margot, a fat bulldog named Sam, and a pit bull named Sarah. After that I brushed a black pomeranian named Todd.

I didn’t go into the cat area; I don’t think I’m ready. I did see it from far away, though. The cats all seem to have their own little area but mostly live in a large communal area with lots of toys, cat trees, and scratching posts. The litter box room is off to the side and is its own separate space for the cats to get some privacy. There also looks to be another room but I don’t know what it’s for.

Nancy is the volunteer supervisor at the shelter and she’s a very nice woman. She was wearing jeans and a blue plaid shirt over a black tank top when I walked in and shook her hand. She gave me the tour of the acreage and the volunteer sign-in area. Then she showed me how they end up taking animals.

“Obviously, when an animal is brought here we can’t put them into the regular population until they’ve been given a health screen.” She said walking into a large white room full of metal cages and medical equipment, “This is where the animals are kept until their health screens are complete. We have several vets that volunteer their time here to assess the health of our animals new and old. Our shelter mainly relies on volunteers in order to do what we do. There are only three paid employees: me, Jan, and Doc. Jan is our vet tech, she monitors the health of our animals and makes sure they get the health care they need if they ever get sick. Doc helps maintain the facility. He fixes fences, mows the grass, that kind of stuff. I run the website and manage the volunteers.”

She ended the tour back at the front desk.

“We are mostly funded by private donations. A lot of people give us food for the animals but it usually isn’t enough to last for a significant amount of time. There are a few local businesses that donate some of their profits to us and, of course, small donations from families that are familiar with what we do. We also make money from the adoption fees of the animals.”

I asked if there were any pamphlets that I could maybe give out at work and she handed me a box of them. I think Bruno might be interested in helping the shelter out so I’m going to talk to him about it when I go to wok later. I’m sure he’ll at least let me set out the pamphlets to help advertise it.

I had a fun time at the shelter and I think it will be a nice escape for me to have every week. My cooking class and career-changer class starts up this week, too. I like being busy. I think I’ve been so complacent about my life ever since Sean and I broke up that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to have plans that don’t revolve around anyone else but myself.