Volunteering Goes to the Dogs: From Unconditional Love to Unconditional Caring

 

I’m not a big fan of meetings.  One that I look forward to every year, though, is when the fulltime staff of Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) sits down to choose the six individuals who will each be recognized with our annual Heart and Soul Award for outstanding volunteer service. As meetings go, it can be a bit of a madhouse! Reviewing a list of the 525+ active PAWS volunteers as we narrow it down to six award winners is both inspiring and daunting. 

All the staffers at PAWS are passionate about the volunteers they personally work with, so the discussion is emotionally charged. Then there is the fact that we try to represent each of the major areas where our volunteers serve: dog walking, the pet food bank, in-home animal support including transportation and foster care, office support, events and outreach, and board of directors. We all want to choose individuals who have truly gone “above and beyond” and represent the heart and soul of PAWS better than anyone else.  

Of course we can’t select every deserving person, so we ease our consciences with the reminder that the awards are annual and we will soon be able to recognize more of our volunteers. Still, it can be a gut-wrenching process. At our organization, pets may be wonderful support, but it’s the people who make it all possible. See what I mean and meet some of our PAWS heroes online at www.pawssf.org/volunteer.

I present workshops and publish on volunteer engagement not because I think I have all the answers (I don’t!) or because I think I lead perfect programs (that would be impossible), but because the process of teaching allows me to be a better practitioner.  I’m particularly passionate about the topic of volunteers in the animal welfare and human-animal support services fields because so much of the impact of PAWS and many other organizations is directly related to our ability to mobilize a vast army of volunteers. 

There are naysayers who suggest that making the welfare of animals our number one priority is somehow misguided, that perhaps we should focus on people’s needs instead. My response is that, historically and culturally, human welfare and animal welfare are inextricably linked. Let’s not forget that it was the animal welfare movement that helped create a formalized child protection system when the founder of the ASPCA intervened in a horrific case of child abuse in 1871.

In honor of the thousands of volunteers I’ve worked with over the years and in recognition that most of us, whether on the paid staff of an organization or as volunteers in leadership roles, will find ourselves in a position to empower and guide others, I want to share one of my favorite documents, the “Volunteer Bill of Rights.”  Produced by my friends at the Volunteer Services Department at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, this stirring piece reminds us that volunteers bring so much more to our agencies than just free labor; they bring passion, experience, innovation and, perhaps most important of all, heart and soul. 

To all the volunteers who share their time and talent at PAWS, and to the thousands more who serve our sister organizations throughout the Bay Area and beyond, thank you for all that you give. Here’s to making it a better and more humane world, one volunteer at a time.

 

As long-time President/CEO of Pets are Wonderful Support (PAWS) in San Francisco, John L. Lipp has worked with hundreds of community volunteers to support the healing power of the human-animal bond. He will be leaving PAWS this month to become Executive Director of the Greater Bay Area Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. John’s new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recruiting and Managing Volunteers (Penguin/Alpha), is available at amazon.com or ask your local bookseller. Follow John on Twitter at www.twitter.com/voluncheer.

 

The Volunteer Bill of Rights

Every volunteer has:

 

1. The right to be treated as a co-worker — not just “free help,” not as a “prima donna”
2. The right to a suitable assignment — with consideration for personal preference, temperament, life experience, education and employment background
3. The right to know as much about the organization as possible — its mission, its policies, its people, its programs
4. The right to training for the job — thoughtfully planned and effectively presented
5. The right to sound guidance and direction — by someone who is experienced, well informed, patient and thoughtful, and who extends the time and attention necessary to invest in appropriate supervision
6. The right to a place to work — an orderly, designated place, conducive to work and suitable for the job to be done
7. The right to enhance skills and knowledge — through advancement to assignments of more responsibility, through transfer from one activity to another
8. The right to be heard — to have a part in planning, to have respect shown for comments and suggestions
9. The right to recognition — in the form of appreciation events and service awards, through day-by-day expressions of appreciation, and by being treated as a bonafide co-worker

 

 

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