It's not just our nation's students and teachers who are suffering from the "back to school blues" right about now. It's also many of the country's non-profits--the organizations who rely on volunteers to complement the efforts of lean staffs.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
Saugerties, NY, 9/17/08
It's not just our nation's students and teachers who are suffering from the "back to school blues" right about now. It's also many of the country's non-profits--the organizations who rely on volunteers to complement the efforts of lean staffs.
Take the plight of Catskill Animal Sanctuary, for instance.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is an upstate New York haven for twelve species of farm animals--animals as large as 2,500-pound draft horses and as tiny as 3-pound dwarf rabbits. With 160 animals to care for and twenty shelters to clean each day, CAS is a joyful but busy place that relies in part on volunteerism to ensure that water troughs get cleaned, feed bins get filled, barn aisles get swept, fences get repaired, gardens get weeded...all in the interest of its four-legged charges.
Spring and summer brought nearly forty new volunteers to the growing organization. "The days are longer and warmer, the school year is winding down, pre-vet students seek internship opportunities, and when summer arrives, teachers and students suddenly have even more time to give," explains director Kathy Stevens, author of Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary. "This summer alone, we had four full-time interns and plenty of teachers and students rounding out our daily work crew of just three people. It was fabulous!"
And then September arrived. Within a single week, CAS lost two-thirds of its volunteers. What's challenging is that they leave just when the work becomes more difficult. Animal care director Walt Batycki explains, "We go from using hay to supplement grass to using hay as our sole feed source for many of our animals. Hauling and distributing forty bales a day is challenging work. And in the dead of winter, snow and ice make even the simplest of tasks a challenge."
What might you do if you volunteer at CAS? Most people ask to work directly with the animals--assisting with feeding, cleaning, turning out and bringing in the animals, and grooming. What the animal sanctuary needs at least as much are skills that would be broadly labeled as "other": website management, graphic design, plumbing, carpentry, landscaping, painting.
So, if you love animals and are either in the CAS region or able to work remotely, complete a volunteer application at www.casanctuary.org. And if animals aren't your thing, contact an organization that is. Chances are they've got the back-to-school blues, too.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a not-for-profit haven for abused and neglected farm animals, and a center for education regarding a responsible and compassionate lifestyle. Stevens may be scheduled for book readings and educational presentations by contacting her at eks@casanctuary.org.
Website: http://www.CASanctuary.org | 
Digg it
