All You Need Is Love: Volunteering at PAWS Chicago

Apr 30, 2006

Some come in scared, shaking, and unable to walk up stairs on their own. They are often matted in dirt and grime. Illness or injury plagues many of Chicago’s homeless cats and dogs after surviving abusive owners, trying to stay alive on the city streets, or enduring the stress of being turned into a shelter. 

At the PAWS Chicago Admissions & Recovery Center, every animal that walks (or is carried) through the door has a different story. The goal is to medically treat and nurture these cats, dogs, puppies, and kittens so that they regain their health, confidence, and liveliness— and go home to a new protective, loving family. None of this would be possible without the legion of PAWS volunteers that commit so much of themselves to the animals. 

The thousands of volunteers are the essence of PAWS Chicago—every single program is dependent upon these individuals. Animal welfare is such a labor intensive field that PAWS Chicago could never afford to hire enough people for all of the animal care and adoption needs. Volunteers groom, socialize, walk, and play with the PAWS animals at the Admissions & Recovery Center. 

Volunteers handle every aspect of weekend off-site adoption events that take place in retail areas throughout the Chicagoland area: loading animals into vehicles at the 26th Street Admissions & Recovery Center, handling animals on site, talking to potential adopters, adoption counseling, adoption follow-up, and returning to PAWS at the end of the day. These weekly events would not be possible without volunteers. 

Now, as PAWS Chicago prepares for the opening of the Lincoln Park Adoption & Humane Center, much planning and preparation is needed to accommodate the projected increase in demand that will accompany the new shelter in Lincoln Park. To help ease into the transition, PAWS Chicago is now scheduling adoption appointments at the Admissions & Recovery Center from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Trained adoption counselors are needed for these in-office appointments. 

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

Erica Klima spends much of the time when she’s not at the front of her 6th grade classroom volunteering for PAWS Chicago in one capacity or another. She’s been a dog walker, a cat socializer, a cat and dog adoption counselor, and a manager for off-site adoptions. Basically, she drops by the Admissions & Recovery Center at the Lurie Clinic after work and on days off and does whatever needs to be done, including helping update the volunteer database. “I love it,” she says. “If you have the time, you should give it.” 

Erica will be one of the adoption counselors on duty during the new Saturday adoption counseling sessions at the Admissions & Recovery Center. She’s helped with the PAWS Chicago Community Outreach program, going into park districts, libraries, and schools throughout the inner city to talk about responsible pet care, the importance of spaying and neutering, and special education on dog fighting. Currently, she’s also lending a hand with training sessions for new volunteers, sharing her knowledge and experience with them. 

She also manages to plug important community outreach messages into the adoption events she attends, talking to kids about the right way to approach a dog, talking to their parents about PAWS Chicago, and recruiting more volunteers. 

Erica shares her home with three gray tabby cats, all rescued, and Millie, a 6-month-old pit bull from PAWS Chicago who has graduated from puppy class at K9U and is now in obedience class.  

Christine Cook has been a PAWS Chicago volunteer for about three years, splitting her time between working at the Clark Street Cat Adoption Center and in the Lurie Clinic. 

At the Cat Adoption Center, she feeds, cleans, and socializes the Center’s feline family. At the Clinic, Christine’s worked as a dog handler, a dog adoption counselor, and a cat adoption counselor. She’s also worked off-site adoptions and will be handling Saturday adoption counseling at the Admissions & Recovery Center in the Clinic. 

Christine, who works for an investment research firm, grew up around all kinds of animals, including horses. She wants to be a part of reducing the pet overpopulation problem and making Chicago a no-kill city. “It’s so rewarding when you get an animal into a good home,” she says. 

A former PAWS Chicago Junior Board member who has also helped out occasionally with Community Outreach programs, Christine has three cats, including Chelsea, a 5-year-old Siamese adopted from PAWS Chicago.  

Casey Harris fell in love with a now 8-year-old pit bull/Boxer mix named Madison that she adopted from PAWS Chicago soon after its inception, and she’s been volunteering ever since. 

Casey spends most Fridays helping out with various PAWS Chicago programs, including Community Outreach programs in inner city schools and churches, as well as staffing Angels with Tails adoption events and walking dogs. A psychologist, she is now going to start doing cat and dog adoption appointments on Saturdays at the Clinic’s Admissions & Recovery Center. 

“It’s so gratifying to see pets go into good homes. People send pictures, and we can see how happy they are in their new homes. Maddie’s been my love,” she says, noting how good a companion the pit has been for her two-year-old daughter and will be for her new baby. 

Volunteers Needed! 

Sign up at www.pawschicago.org