Volunteer FAQs

When you volunteer at Wenatchee Valley Humane Society: You are one of the most important people to the many animals that come through our doors every day. You help create an environment of respect, responsibility, and compassion towards animals. You improve the lives of the animals in our community. You play a part in keeping the animals social and healthy, and keeping the shelter operating in an inviting manner. You help provide community awareness of our programs and services.

No. We no longer accepting application for the Court Ordered Community Service.

Visit our shelter and you’ll find that it’s an inviting, bright, and clean facility. Thanks to hardworking staff and volunteers, pets in our facility receive quality care, social interaction, and exercise. We see the work we do as both rewarding and inspiring because we have a positive impact on the lives of many animals and on the people who adopt them. While we occasionally see sad cases of cruelty or neglect, we also experience the joy and satisfaction that comes when neglected animals are rehabilitated and find a loving, new home.

Volunteers are asked to complete an online application at www.wenatcheehumane.org/volunteer as well as attend a volunteer orientation. At the bottom of your application you will be able to sign up for an upcoming orientation. At the volunteer orientation you will learn about the volunteer opportunities and how to become more involved with our organization.

You must be at least 16 years old to volunteer independently. We welcome children, ages 10 and up, to volunteer as long as they are accompanied at all times by a parent/guardian. If you are a parent/child team interested in volunteering, we request you fill out a group volunteer application.

Due to the nature of the work, and often confined physical space, we are not able to safely accommodate volunteers under the age of 10. For safety reasons, all volunteers must meet our general requirements and be able to work safely with the adoption animals. Individual volunteers must also individually complete the application process. Our foster program is a great way for youths and parents to have a rewarding volunteer experience together. Although the primary volunteer must be 18 years of age, the entire family can participate in the fostering experience.

Yes, we do ask volunteers to commit 8 hours a month for at least three months.

In order to provide the animals at our facility the best care and support, WVHS requires volunteers to commit to a minimum of 3-months of service volunteering on a regular, pre-set schedule. This requirement is needed to ensure quality training and to maintain a consistent level of volunteer coverage. We realize our volunteers are not only generous people, but active with other “life duties” and we certainly allow for vacations and needed days off when requested in advance.

Yes. Each role has training sessions which cover all aspects of that volunteer role. Training is done with a staff member. The time it takes to complete training varies, based on volunteer availability, training schedules, and specific training needs.

Yes, we have a $20 uniform charge which helps offset material costs and includes your volunteer name tag and T-shirt.

Walking the dogs (or socializing with any of our WVHS adoption animals) involves more than a leash and your time. We want to make sure the animals consistently receive a high-level of quality care and stay as healthy as possible while they are with us. To do this, we need to educate our volunteers about safety procedures and protocols that are currently in place to limit the transfer of diseases. We also want to educate our volunteers on how to correctly interact with our shelter animals in order to reduce stress on the animals and provide positive behavior reinforcement so that our animals are ready for their new home. In addition, our dog walkers also are adoption counselors who help customers with questions during their shifts. We want to make sure our volunteers have the information they need to assist customers and help with potential adoption visitations.

That’s great—thank you for your previous service—however, each humane society, animal control facility, or rescue group is an independent agency, so very few of us are connected locally (as in some states) or to any organization on a national level. Therefore our policies and procedures might be completely different from the facility where you previously volunteered. Most shelters adhere to a “Standards of Best Practices/Care” so there are certainly some similarities; however, we need you to be familiar with our shelter and our policies/procedures.

Student Volunteers are welcome to complete their community service hours through us. The hours for educational community service are 7AM - 12PM daily. You will need to pre-arrange your schedule with our volunteer coordinator prior to serving and must arrive promptly at 7 AM for your shift, in order to access the building.

Due to the high volume of volunteer applications we receive each year, and the costs associated with paper applications, we prefer all volunteer applications to be submitted electronically. The most cost-effective way for us to communicate with volunteer applications and our current volunteers is with an online volunteer management software and email. For this reason, we have moved most of our applications processing online along with all our volunteer scheduling. Using email and online scheduling saves money on postage and printing costs, and helps us keep our program viable and efficient. Plus, the vast majority of communications between WVHS and our volunteers is done via email. For this reason, we require that all volunteers have online access and current email addresses.

The WVHS does not accept volunteers with a criminal record in relation to (1) sexual offense, (2) violent crimes or (3) animal neglect or cruelty within the last 15 years. We require all adult volunteers applying to volunteer to state any past criminal records and reserve the right to conduct a background check on any volunteer.

No prior experience is needed in our entry level volunteer positions, but we do require all volunteers to have good communication skills and a willingness to learn. We supply all the training needed for each entry-level volunteer position. For further advanced volunteer positions, we ask a minimum hourly requirement; however, each volunteer asking for further advanced duties will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Communications about animals available for foster goes out via email to all current foster volunteers. These animals are placed into homes on a first-come, first-served basis. Foster volunteers are never expected o take an animal that is not a good fit for their home or family. Foster animals are not yet available for adoption, so are not listed on our Website. Our foster homes work with animals in need of medical care, sick, pregnant, or of a recumbent stay.