Volunteering
The success of Furever Yours Rescue depends solely on our volunteers. There are a number of roles that can be worked into your schedule and available time. Your time can make all the difference to finding a pet a Furever home; to help them adjust to their new life; to make it to an important vet appointment and so much more.
Beyond what you provide to these cute and cuddly friends, you will be surprised what they provide to you.
Transport |
Do you have a SUV or Van? Do you like taking road trips? Love spending time with pets? Then you are the perfect candidate to join the transport team! Whether it’s a ride locally to a vet appointment, picking up an animal from the shelter here in Philadelphia, or traveling all the way to a out of state shelter from NJ to AR. We need dedicated helpers to safely transport our pets! Suggested volunteer time for this team: Varies. |
The |
Day trips are little outings that allow a foster pup awaiting adoption some key things:
Suggested volunteer time: 30 minutes to unlimited. Take a walk in a park or go for a whole adventure. Take a car ride or go home and watch a movie together. Only restriction is no other dog interactions during your day trip. |
Cat Community |
Welcome to our Cat Community Corner where amazing connections can be made for cats AND people! We utilize an Everyday Adoption Center in the Willow Grove Petsmart to house our adoptable cats saved from the streets, shelters, and community members. Every day we visit our kitties several times and I hope eventually to have enough volunteers to keep our kitty room open during all store hours. Our goals for this space included a sanctuary for vulnerable cats and a safe haven for people who are vulnerable as well. This volunteer position is suitable for any cat lover! But we have chosen to focus on three key groups of people: disabled adults, seniors, and teens. All folks who may find it difficult to be accepted at other locations or made to feel like they aren’t much help. Connecting these people with each other and our cats enriches the lives and all! Being located in Petsmart has allowed us to create a unique opportunity in our community for adults with disabilities to get involved and volunteer in a safe controlled environment. ADA compliant accommodations, helpful informative staff, calm private area, and simple routine with detailed guidebooks all make it possible for us to welcome some folks who often find themselves turned away at other organizations. Here you are an integral part of the team and you will Gain independence, make meaningful friendships, feel a sense of importance, inclusion, and satisfaction knowing your time matters to the kitties and team who depend on you! Teens we have a space for you! You can volunteer at any age with a parents supervision and independently based on training maturity and ability. You can donate your time to the kitties and keep them clean and entertained until you send them home for adoption! It’s not just good for the cats it’s good for you too! Volunteering will help you maintain focus and drive in life, fill up time that use to be boring, improve your public speaking skills, learn leadership skills, team work ethics, increase compassion and empathy, and feel a sense of responsibility and independence! Make some great friends along the way! Seniors we need you and you have not been forgotten! We know that life after retirement or the loss of loved ones can get very lonely. We welcome you to join us and re-energize your life with the love and companionship of our cats! Your time is still valuable and needed here at Furever Yours Rescue . Help to guide and mentor our teens and disabled adults with your wisdom. Can’t do heavy lifting? That’s ok the youngsters have it covered. Feed and play with cats do some light cleaning and be an advocate to attract more adoptions, donations, and volunteers by simply being present and chatting with Petsmart Shoppers! Min one visit a week 1-2 hour |
Goats |
Our team of happy goats grew up in our rescue and have sanctuary with us. We need you to help us maintain their pen to the highest standards, feed, groom, and SNUGGLE them endlessly. Participate in Fundraisers to raise funds for their care, supplies, and equipment. Participate in events as their handlers. Goats are smart sweet affectionate and personable. 3 of the 5 are bottle babies and all are friendly and love to interact and even play games of chase in the yard. You can truly enrich their lives by joining our goat team and dedicating yourself to these 5 lives and their 2 pen mates who were once in a state so vulnerable their very lives were at stake…. And now they are Furever home! Help us make it beautiful and happy for them! Suggested time 3-6 hour |
Small Animal |
Do you love animals? All animals from rabbits to chickens and ducks goats chinchillas ferrets axolotl‘s? Do you have some free time to volunteer for a great cause? Have you always dreamed about being able to work hands-on with the special creatures? Look no further than volunteering on the FYR small animal team. We need daily assistance caring for all of our small “furrys, feathered, and scalys”. Responsibilities include feeding and cleaning and grooming. Recommended volunteer time: 1 to 3 hours |
Kennel Volunteer |
We need a hearty team of truly dedicated consistent and capable volunteers here in our main location. Ideal candidates have some experience tending to animals and feel comfortable engaged with large groups of dogs. Do you feel really comfortable at a bark park? Do you read dog body language well? Do you feel confidant in handling dogs you do not know? Do you feel comfortable working with animals with behavioral issues? Can you consistently multitask and handle a high energy environment? Are you emotionally prepared to work in the shelter sector? Can you learn quickly and adhere to routines? If you feel that you would answer yes and thrive in this experience then we are looking for you! Daily sanitation of our kennel is a top priority here at FYR . We clean kennels 2- 6 times a day depending on the needs of our pets. Volunteers in this position are imperative to our success and sanity! You should have a like minded perspective, be committed to improving the experience of every FYR dogs stay with us, be comfortable giving commands to dogs, be motivated to volunteer by a passion for what you can give to the pets and organization, be non judgmental and positive, excited to volunteer somewhere that welcomes all shapes sizes backgrounds and ability levels, be able to lift 40-50 lbs, freely bend and squat repeatedly, able to stay calm in stressful situations and be in good physical condition to work in the kennel area. Duties include: interacting with dogs, cleaning kennels (strip, scrape/scrub, mop/ disinfect, re-stage), feed, wash dishes, organize supplies, restock supplies, poop scoop yard. Possibly unload, organize, and inventory donations. Training will be 11 am -2 pm Once active independently 9-12 is ideal time slot for a candidate to regularly commit Suggested time 4-6 hours |
Yard Doody! |
Our yards are the most important part of our facility as they are where our dogs are able to interact with one another and us freely run frolic and play. We clear our yards of feces at minimum once a day. This is a fun job as you get to spend a lot of time with the dogs in the yard as well. Suggested volunteer time: 1 hour. |
Shed |
Our on site storage shed needs lots of maintenance and constant organization as donations never stop coming. Team members should love to organize and sort. Help us keep supplies organized and accessible, an inventory for shopping, and even create adoption packages. This is a great position for an independent worker or a group of friends to do together! Suggested volunteer time: 1 hour to 4 hour. |
Tiny T Team |
One of our most beloved programs is our tiny tea therapy team. We have a small collection of wonderful pets who thrive and truly enjoy interacting with different people in different environments. With our trustworthy little team we go out into our local community to service nursing homes to public schools and street fairs to private parties. Most visits are 1-2 hours. Some of our visits are on a volunteer basis and others are paid sessions that help fund the care of the animals. We would love to have more team members and be able to expand our visits to more locations. We can even bring our program to your loved ones nursing home or school! During these visits you are responsible to: prepare supplies and pets for the visit, grooming pets, transport to location, oversee the behavior of the animals and the interactions with participants, clean any accidents, clean space reload before departure, Transport animals back to rescue. Suggested volunteer time: 2-4 hours |
Fosters |
Fostering is a critical aspect of rescuing. Without fosters Furever Yours Rescue is very limited in the number of animals we can save. There’s only so much space at the inn! Most of our pets going into fosters have been pre-evaluated at our main location but occasionally we seek a foster for an animal coming directly out of a shelter or being owner surrendered. We do not utilize a extended foster net work but do you like to have a small group of trusted fosters nearby. We send out primarily adult dogs and kittens but could have a foster need for puppies, cats, or other small animals on occasion. Fosters should have general animal experience and understand the inherent risks of working with animals. Animals are predictably unpredictable.
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Communication |
Staying in touch with our adopters for the entire life of the pet is one of the cornerstones of our rescue. Members of this team will reach out to past adopters to check in with a prepared prompt. If the adopter does express any concerns or questions you will record them and forward them to the Rescue for a core team member to respond to. We will also send Veterinary reminders for new adopters and overall Rescue communications. Our goal is to make contact with every adopter at minimum once a year after adoption. As the number of adopters is growing to 1000 I can no longer personally find the time to contact everyone myself. You can help us achieve this very important task and have a great time checking in with happy adopters from the comfort of your own home. Members of this team well receive a monthly list to work through at their own pace. Seeking 1-3 candidates to commit to this position. |
Grant writer |
Looking for any experienced grant writers willing to offer services on a volunteer basis to help us secure some more funding for particular purposes. |
Adoption |
This position is ideally for one individual or a small group of people sharing the load. We want to have the cat room open for meet and greets during all or most of Petsmart working hours 9-9 most days 10-7 Sundays. To do this we need committed volunteers to dedicate longer volunteer hours in blocked time slots. If you love engaging with the community, promoting rescue, fundraising, talking to strangers, making a difference in cats lives…. Then this could be for you!! Come alone or with a friend. Partners looking for something to do together? Retiree who realizes sitting at home isn’t for them? Stay at home mom looking to get out of the house? I know there is someone out there that would love this position!! Suggested time 4-8 hour Time min 2hr, shifts could range from 2 -8 hour for an adoption coordinator position whatever you can donate the cats and shoppers appreciate! |