Rescue Journal

a plea from erin

Carol · Sep. 12, 2010

hi, we could really use more house (etc) volunteers (I know I know, if wishes were horses right) but IF you have emails from others interested in volunteering and havent the time to deal with it, send them to me! I can help, ive an email addy an empty mailbox and a bit of free time in the evenings.
erin
jrnation@live.ca

if there are any wanna be house volunteers out there..email erin!

and so since i don't have a closetful of hidden and waiting volunteers...lets discuss the reality of finding really good volunteers.....

we probably get 3 or 4 requests to volunteer each week...those three or four are invited to come up and have a tour to see what we do and meet everyone....only a few ever show up. of the few who do make the trek out here for the tour..most of those we will never see again..of the few that ever actually make it back to do a volunteer shift or two...maybe only one will still be here a year from now.

so why is this?..is it such a horrible place to volunteer?...not at all..our dedicated volunteers love it here.
so what is the problem?
it is the point where fantasy and reality meet...it sounds like such a nice and fuzzy thing to do with ones spare time BUT...spare time seems to just slip by, eaten up in someones life..i keep meaning to....stretches out to eventually reach..i just don't have the time.

but here is the secret to successful volunteering...the kind that makes you really important in the average saint's life...you commit and make the time.
erin does it, mo and tammy do it..so do laura and lana, and laura, and brianne..helga does it, ann does it..lynne does it, KO does it, brenda does it even tho she lives 90 minutes away, maria and francisca do it and they live all the hell way over in north vancouver somewhere, lots more of us manage to do it with families and fulltime jobs...but we do it and keep doing it because we really want to do it and make the time to do it and that is the secret to successful volunteering at saints.

Comments

Colleen B

I will be back to visit and mop floors, I promise!

For any wanna-be volunteers - if you can find the time in your life to spend a few hours a week at SAINTS, I promise it will fill your heart in a way you can't imagine. It's far from glamorous, but you can truly see, feel and touch the difference that you make. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been :)

laura h

that;s fine carol, you were busy in the barn that day

Carol

oh, so sorry!!!!...my mistake laura and brianne...i never saw you guys like i usually do so i thought you had booked off and that laura had cleaned in there cuz i heard her in there at noon while i was cleaning the loafing shed (bet now she was giving a tour!)..just goes to show you...even when i am on site and working, i haven't a clue who is here anyhow...but i do so appreciate when folks are really here even if i don't actually know what the hell i am talking about!

lynne

erin colleen has gone back to edmonton.

laura h

BRIANNE AND LAURA WERE THERE ON SAT.

Tammy

Hi Lana, good to hear from you. My plans for this weekend changed. I will be back home saturday night so I will be able to make it to SAINTS on sunday.
It was quite a dilema, the nephews or the SAINTS crew. I was feeling guilty shorting either but a plan worked out so now I get time with all this weekend. Should be a great one.

lana

With my business I work 7 days a week.....but wow I actually have a quieter weekend coming up. So I can get up there Sat to help in the house and Sun to do the MP bldg since I think Tammy is away. Busy the 25th weekend but then hopefully should be more available in Oct.

Carol

just don't forget guys the mp building has even less regular coverage than the house does..i don't think anyone was in the mp building at all on saturday..luckily laura discovered this and was able to quickly do the building after she was done with her tours.....if laura and brianne are away on saturdays, there is no one...sundays helga and tammy cover most of the building but even yesterday..reggie's office never got done til i did bedtime...so lets not rob peter to pay paul either.

if we are short of volunteers on any given weekend day, it is much easier for me to do a house area..like the back cats or the big dog rooms after work and bedtime than it is to be doing the rabbits, cats, dogs, and birds in another building...i just want to get back into the house as quick as i can at the end of the day.

and there is the barn..with mo injured and wendy moved away..the barn is an issue now too.

but the good news is...i have the next few weeks of weekends off so i can do any areas that are short because regulars are away....and i think i will look closely at the money and see if we can call lyle to get the barnyard ready for winter..one less really big thing to worry about.

Helga

On Sundays, I could do one hour of FeLV cats and one hour in the house if that helps. The thing is I usually start at 8:30. Ideally the house stuff should come before the FeLVs to prevent the spread of the disease. Or can I get away with just sanitizing my hands, Carol? The house would get noisy earlier if that came first. Don't want that on a Sunday. Someone would have to show me EXACTLY what wants doing in the beginning and where everything is. If someone has the time to give a mini-tour of the house this Sunday (Sept. 19) after I do my guys we could start the new routine Oct. 3. Sunday Sept. 26 the yard sale remains have to be tidied away.

erin

itd just be nice to have that 3rd person in the house both weekend days (im not sure what the rest of saints needs). im not trying to make colleen or brenda upset at all! but when one of us regulars takes time off, like brenda is about to, like i am for thanksgiving etc, itd be nice to still have 2 of us there. 3 opens up alot of time for animal attention, 2 makes it tight, and just 1 is impossible. right now ann shuffles her schedule and comes in both days if someone is missing. and lynne comes both days regardless. chris-i dont mean to in any way offend....but yeah, we could definately use someone else. colleen-you left chilliwack?

chris t

I answer the volunteer emails. I am surprised to hear that there are not enough volunteers. I can send follow up emails if that helps.

Carol

colleen b...sorry..but i still consider you a saints volunteer so you better be prepared to visit us a few times a year..the suite will be ready, i have already offered any one of us to pick you up from the airport...so... as far as i can figure it...you will just be the volunteer with the longest commute!

Brenda

Colleen - please don't feel badly - You were a gift to SAINTS for awhile, and I enjoyed getting to know you. You truly have a "rescuers heart". I'm the one who feels like crap - skipping out again on the weekend "house crew". Take care and stay in touch on the blog.

lynne

colleen b do not feel like crap sometime things happen we have no control over you truly did love the animals wish you were still here.

lynne

i realized when we got the dogs into the house this mornig that we were having a problem with bibi. i started towel dryig him off and he just fell to the ground. i finished as he was laying there and then brenda and i got him up and took him to a bed. also perdy. she is so sore and falls a lot when taken out of her place. can she be helped what happens to her if the drugs do not work anymore. she is getting sorer and sorer. as to the volunteerig good luck erin it is great you want to do this. all i can say to prospective volunteers is that you feel great doing this. as far as time goes i get up sat and sun mornings and unless i have a previous engagemet i am there at saints. yes sometimes i so think oh shit i want to sleep in and then i think carol does this 24 7 and then i dont feel so tired anymore. i get up and go and open up the gate to saints to the sweet chorus of the dogs saying hello. it is good seeing all of them wanting a pet or a cuddle i cannot imagine a weekend without one of the saints coming for some loving or in my case a treat that makes my weekend complete. i can not imagine a life without saints and if you have not tried it you are really missing something.

Colleen B

Aw man, I'm so sorry...and now I feel like crap :(

erin

haha carol, i didnt think you were ignoring loads of offers, but maybe just maybe theres some like minded people out there with a few hours a week to spare?