To My Fellow Volunteers

Dear fellow volunteers,

I simply do not say it enough – you guys are amazing!

This weekend alone, this is what we have going on:

PETSMART – Saturday and Sunday
Every weekend we feature adoptable dogs at PetSmart Whitby, and some weekends we also have a booth set up at Pet Valu locations.

This weekend’s line up!

This requires:
– a volunteer to schedule the dogs who will be there
– a volunteer to schedule the people who will be there
– foster parents to transport the dogs to and from the store
– volunteers to actually be at PetSmart with the dogs speaking to the public
– a volunteer to make sure the binder of adoptable pets is up to date in the store and that there are good quality blankets, treats, and crates for the dogs

MEET AND GREETS – Saturday
Tomorrow, we have several meet and greets arranged up at our TAGS dog park (as we do every Saturday) so that hopeful families and hopeful furballs can meet each other to see if the adoption process will continue.

This requires:
– an adoption coordinator to filter through the applications, schedule all of the meet and greets and confirm with the families ahead of time
– foster parents to transport the dogs to and from the TAGS dog park for their meet and greet
– supervising volunteers to assist in the meet and greets
– a volunteer to follow-up with the families to see if the adoption process will continue to the next stage, a home visit (which requires more volunteers!)

TAGS TRAINING SESSIONS – Saturday
While the meet and greets proceed, families who have already adopted from TAGS will be participating in one of their follow-up training sessions.

This requires:
– at least one amazing supervisor/instructor for the course
– a volunteer to schedule which participants will be in which class to avoid over-crowding

MICROCHIP CLINIC – Saturday
TAGS offers affordable Microchip Clinics on a regular basis because we believe  that a microchip can save a pet’s life.

This requires:
– a volunteer to schedule the clinics with Pet Valu locations in advance
– at least three trained volunteers to microchip the animals
– at least one volunteer to make sure all of the equipment is ready
– a volunteer blogger to write a post advertising the clinic

BINGO – Sunday
At least twice a month, TAGS is invited to share in the revenues from bingo sessions at Red Barn in Oshawa. We are fortunate for this opportunity and really benefit from this fundraising source. Of course, in order to share in the proceeds, we have to have volunteers on hand to help facilitate the bingo sessions. (To see upcoming Bingo dates, visit our Events page)

This requires:
– a volunteer to schedule the volunteers who will be in that day
– a team leader and at least three other volunteers to actually attend bingo

Phewf! And that’s just this weekend! Last weekend, in addition to all of this (other than the Microchip clinic) we hosted a Pub Night at The Edge in Ajax on Friday night and one of our volunteers who also happens to be a talented photographer held a photoshoot on Saturday morning for several of our foster dogs. On some weekends we also add new dogs to the program, which requires driving to go pick up the dog, doing an intake behaviour analysis, finding a foster home for the dog, arranging for them to be spayed or neutered, then their bio has to be added to the website, then they need to be scheduled in to PetSmart…it goes on  and on! I really could go on all day about how much you all do, day in and day out. I’m also well aware of the fact that I’ve likely forgotten many important aspects of all of the above examples (sorry!).

I know we all love being out in the community, meeting our supporters and working hard to re-home our adoptable animals. But it’s definitely a lot of work sometimes and it’s easy to see how easily things could hit a snag (or fall apart entirely) if we didn’t have such a wonderful group of volunteers.

So with that said, please take a moment this weekend in between all of your other responsibilities to give yourself a pat on the back for everything you do. TAGS would not be what it is without all of you.

Sincerely,
Jenn

P.S.: We are always looking for new volunteers!