Jessica Collier

Week One: 1/28/07-2/3/07

I am volunteering at the Joplin Humane Society. I went there a week ago to sign some papers and set up my volunteering schedule. My first impression of this organization was not very good. Before I even walked in the front door I could smell the stench of dogs and cats. It did not appear to be very clean to me when I went inside but I was only there for a minute so I did not want to start judging too much. The next afternoon I went back to start volunteering. When I first got there they asked me why I was volunteering. I explained to them that I was there for a class at Missouri Southern. It seemed like they wanted to make sure I wasn’t there for other reasons such as community service for getting in trouble. I was told that I could take the puppies out and play with them in a small room. The room was tiny, dirty, and there were bugs crawling around. I was not too impressed but after a few minutes I forgot all about that because the puppy I had out was so scared. I immediately jumped into action and tried to comfort him. After a few minutes of me holding him I put him on the floor to explore. Of course, he had to do his business all over the floor so I had to clean it up. I soon realized that all of the puppies do this when I sit them on the floor. I played with the puppies for two hours that evening and I cleaned up a lot of their messes.

That night I thought about how the volunteering had gone. I wished that they had given me more to do. I don’t mind cleaning or doing dirty tasks. Doing more activities actually makes the time go by faster. I decided that the next day I would try to talk to the people who work there to see if there was more that I could do.

The next day when I arrived I was surprised to see so many people stopping by to drop off donations. I did not realize how many donations animal shelters get. They received newspapers, dog and cat food, and bedding for the animals. I was also surprised to see so many people cleaning. I thought that no one cleaned there but I realized that the animals are just really dirty and it is hard to keep the shelter clean all day long. I talked to the people that work there more and I realized that all they really want me to do is play with the puppies. I did that some more but this time I took the puppies out of the little room they had me go in before and I visited with some people looking to adopt. I was so proud of myself because I actually convinced one couple to adopt a puppy. I told them that I had played with it the day before and that it is really sweet. I did have the problem though of people thinking that I worked there. They would start asking me questions and I would have to explain that I didn’t know anything because I am only a volunteer.

This experience has been pretty good so far and I am looking forward to going again. One man at the shelter said that I was probably looking forward to getting all of my hours in as soon as I could so I didn’t have to come anymore. I told him that I actually enjoyed coming and that I didn’t mind getting messy. I am not sure he believed me but hopefully I will be able to prove that to him in the next seven weeks.