Volunteering and helping out

What to do if you want to help and volunteer for a time at the shelter!!!

This shelter works with the local government and the many locals that form the underground of helpers that do activities outside of Noahs Shelter.  There is so much more that could be done at the Shelter itself if we had the staff to help out full time, but funds are necessary to achieve this.  We are looking for people to VOLUNTEER a few hours at the Shelter, or a day, or a week to assist the staff there in getting things done.  We have tried to classify tasks that might need to be done into the following categories so that it may help you make a decision before you arrive as to what would be the most useful and efficient use of your skills and abilities.

The most obvious element of the work needing doing is mostly skilled manual, mobile or static in nature.  The following will explain a little more in terms of tasks falling under these categories:

Static tasks:   not a lot of physical effort involved in the tasks............. feeding the dogs and cats, sitting in a pen with a recovering or sick animal just talking to it and touching it, bottle feeding and cleaning excreta and the sick animal.  Washing soiled and blooded cloths and clothing, general localised activities like making tea, cooking rice, topping up water tanks with hoses, painting fences and pens with rollers, assisting a tradesman with tools and passing equipment............

     Skills and abilities required to do these things:  Patience, tenderness, compassionate nature. Sometimes a strong stomach because some wounds can be very traumatic looking, good at basic household tasks like using washing machines and cooking, using simple decorating tools to preserve existing infrastructure, working by oneself without supervision or in a small team of two or more,................easy going nature........can follow instructions to achieve objectives..........type of person suited female and males with a nursing or caring background, family orientated and able to communicate with others to get things done and has worked with animals before including pets and children............

Mobile tasks:   slightly more physical effort than that involved in Static tasks ............. walking a dog or dogs, going with catchers to assist with tasks that are associated with catching and or releasing dogs and cats that have recovered and are being taken back to their place of origin for release to their packs and friends, loading and unloading animals from the vans and cages, getting them into pens etc, washing and cleaning the animals, heavier manual jobs around the site, moving rubble, straw, bricks, washing the pens and general manual labour with the animals and the site.................

     Skills and abilities required to do these things:  Patience, tenderness, compassionate nature. Sometimes a strong stomach because some wounds can be very traumatic looking especially with new catches, physically capable and ambulant, can help lift cages with large dogs in them, able to recognise the risks and hazards in working with sick and injured animals and avoid being injured or exacerbating the situation by inapprpriate responses or reactions, can follow instructions to the letter, willingness to understand the situation and add to the general safety of the situation.............is calm and relaxed when working in difficult situations ................. has had experience over a long period with animals.................type of person suited female and males with emergency services experience preferably fire and police but also armed forces are very acceptable, as are farm owners and workers...............ambulance personnel to assist in the prep room and theatres....

Skilled Manual tasks:   slightly more stay at the Shelter physical work with an expectation that you bring a manual skill with you, electrician, plumber, brickie, carpenter sort of stuff can be given a job and a helper and the tools and get on with it with minimal supervision.  

       Skills and abilities required to do these things: Ability to use hand and power tools, ladders, shovels and other general working tools.  Can manage a small team and do the job efficiently and calmly.  Ability to manage people and their skills also a good thing, type of person suited female and males and would be tradesmen and women, decorators and general builders...........

It goes without saying you may choose to do whatever you can at the Shelter without having to use your skills if all you want is animal satisfaction and pleasure from working with them, these are only guidelines, to help us look at what you might do to maximise our needs...............................whichever it is, tea and coffee, and water is available all day and our most grateful thanks.

We would ask all volunteers be responsible about working at the Shelter as no insurance or medical assistance other than getting you to a care centre is available at the Shelter so please be careful and realise the hazards and the risks. We will say however that we would never place you into a situation but where animals are concerned it is difficult to always control it so you should always take a back seat and a defensive , non aggressive posture in terms of all situations involving the animals.

Donations that do not involve cash.  How you can help us.

There are many ways that you can help us without the need for giving money away. Below there is a list of things we can always use that can best be described as consumables. 

Towels

Cotton and linen

Cloths

Toiletries, soaps, powders

Medicines

Building materials

Plumbing pipes and taps etc

Food stuffs rice pasta 

Tins of food

Out of date milks, cream etc

Disinfectants, sterilising solutions

Detergents

Bleaches and chlorine

Old brushes like toothbrushes, nail etc