New Experiences, Cuteness, and Service

Going to the Atlantic County Animal Shelter was the service project chosen by the honors program for the fall semester of 2013. Although the event wasn’t organized in the best way, I leaned many things, and got a lot out of providing service. The times that were told to the students were changed many times and were not really even final. In the end my group and I went to the campus center and waited around until the allotted time given from Facebook. Since the upperclassmen in charge of the service project did not come to the meeting place we all agreed to just go ahead. We had to provide our own transportation. This was a problem because for a bunch of college freshmen who have never driven around in this area before, getting lost was an easy task. Eventually, we were able to find the animal shelter and get to work. Since we were the last group left we had poop cleaning duty. My friends had the task for cleaning litter plans and I got off lucky with just needing to scoop litter. I also had the chance to talk to the veterinarian who worked there and was able to learn a lot about her job. She was responsible for giving the animals vaccines and medicine for when they were sick. Although I was very sad to learn that the shelter did, at times, have to euthanize some of the animals, I still admire the volunteers for working so hard to give the animals a temporary home. After about an hour, most of us had finished our tasks and were waiting around for more orders. There was not much else for us to do so we were allowed to socialize with the animals, which was absolutely the best part of the experience. My friends and I were first sent to the dogs, to let them out and play. The volunteer showed me how to put on a leash and let me pick a dog. I picked this adorable cream colored, Shino Inu. Another small dog was also allowed out and we walked them around the back yard. After letting them run around, play, and do their business we had to return them to their cages and meet for lunch. The food provided was good and much needed, since we were so hungry. In the volunteer lounge we had our reflection session and discussed the day. When that was finished we were allowed to leave, but I decided to stay. Since I was the driver, many of my friends also had to stay. In our extra time, we spent it socializing with the cats in the shelter. There were cats of all sizes and colors. There were tiny kitten and old cats too, but they were all extremely friendly and all loved to get picked up and pet. These animals, that were abandoned, lost, or stray all just wanted a home and to be loved. To be able to provide them with the service of giving them love and attention, was extremely satisfying. One of the highlights of the day was to see the precious dog that I had walked that day get adopted by this family and taken to their. By the end of the experience I was relaxed, and feeling really happy. It was such a fun experience, and I did not even mind doing the actual work of cleaning and filling the liter pans. It was frustrating in the beginning since the event was not organized I the best manner, but it was all worth it in the end. These animals only really want to be held and given love, so being around them was so fulfilling for me that I actually decided t keep coming back to the shelter to volunteer. Every Friday I take a group of my friend the shelter around three, and we just socialize with all the animals. It provided the perfect opportunity to not only de-stress, but also provide a service for animals.