On Saturday, September 27, I, accompanied by a couple of my friends, decided to volunteer at the Atlantic County Animal Shelter located in Pleasantville, New Jersey. This was a considerably new experience for me, since I had never even heard of Pleasantville, and I had never volunteered at an animal shelter before. However, as a lover of animals and of new experiences, I decided that this would be an opportunity I could not refuse. So, bright and early on that Saturday morning, my friends and I piled into our cars, stopped for a necessary (and, of course, nutritious) Wawa breakfast sandwich, and headed for the shelter.
Upon arriving, we signed in for the day and decided where we wanted to work. Our choices were helping in the cat infirmary, cleaning pens in the cat adoption room, or doing maintenance work around the shelter. I decided to clean the pens in the cat adoption room, which required sanitizing them. Once that was done, we were able to give the cats and kittens toys made by Stockton students and the toys the shelter had, as well as take them out of their cages to hold them. I befriended an adorable kitten named Victoria. I contemplated sneaking her into my residence hall numerous times, as did other students I was with. Although that was not possible, I thoroughly enjoyed my opportunity to see what the shelter was about, as the staff seemed to truly care about their animals and facility. I also enjoyed being able to assist the staff members and the animals in cleaning up and providing the animals with new toys and clean places to rest. I have been told that Stockton offers this volunteer opportunity at least once a semester, and I will definitely volunteer any day at this shelter in the future.