Being the only no kill shelter that accepts owner surrenders in the immediate Southern Illinois area puts a special kind of strain on the Randolph County Humane Society. You see the names of other no kill shelters in the area, but what you probably don’t realize is they only accept animals that come through their doors from animal control so any animal lovers in their county have to either find someone to take their animals themselves, take them to a high kill shelter, or bring them to the Randolph County Humane Society. I wonder how many people really understand what it means to volunteer for the Randolph County Humane Society. This isn’t pleasant work. These animals, through no fault of their own, are forced to stay in cages through out the day when there is no one around to let them outside should they need to relieve themselves. If the volunteer shows up late for the evening shift these animals not only have gone hours without relieving themselves, they haven’t been fed at their normal time and they’re hungry. Think about how you would feel if you were locked up in a building, dependent on the kindness of strangers to come to your aid, to unlock a door so you could relieve yourself, then wait until they fill your bowl with food and water so you can eat and drink. The cages are given a perfunctory cleaning, then the cycle starts all over again until the day crew comes in, the people that, during the week anyway, dedicate their lives to these animals. And for all of the dedicated folks that come in on the weekends and in the evenings, please, please don’t take offense. I’m speaking to those that don’t understand the obligation they’ve committed themselves to, those that don’t understand how little these animals have and how much their presence and intervention into their lives means to them. It is critical that you understand that when you volunteer to work at the shelter that means you are going to work harder than you have ever worked before. You are going to see things that are going to break your heart. You will clean up disgusting messes. It will be necessary for you to clean up dogs and cats because they don’t deserve to live in the filth that someone less caring than you felt was okay for them because after all, they’re just animals. It takes people with hearts filled with love that are willing to make the extra effort to take care of the least of them among us. But the rewards are the satisfaction of knowing you have helped the most vulnerable during their greatest time of need. And perhaps if you extend your hand now when you find that you are in need and have to extend your hand to ask for help there will be someone there that will lift you up. They need you now. They need you to come into your shelter and help out, but they need you to be committed and be there when you say you will, doing the work you committed to, offering a hand up to lift them out of this place they find themselves through no fault of their own. Help the people that have the only no kill shelter that helps the owners that find themselves in a situation they never thought they’d be in, whether through sickness or death in the family or whatever brings you to the shelter door. The Randolph County Humane Society works miracles but remember, it is only through you that they continue to save lives, one by one.
Volunteer today to make a difference in the life of a shelter dog.
Advertisement
