Volunteer Information

CRAFT SHOWS (information & fundraising)

Arts & Crafts in the Park (September) – Newtown Park in Lawrenceburg Milan Craft Show (November) – Milan High School

Volunteers are needed to:

Make or solicit crafts and baked goods.
Bake dog biscuits.
Transport and unload items.
Set up display tables and boards.
Price items for sale.
Sell items, answer questions, and distribute information about P.A.W.S.
Tear down and pack away items not sold.

BARK & WINE GALA and SILENT AUCTION (fndraising)

Every year in October, P.A.W.S. sponsors a “dress-up” gala which includes delicious food, dinner music / entertainment, and both a live and silent auction. Proceeds of the event support P.A.W.S. programs and to help build a new Dearborn County Animal Shelter.

Volunteers are needed to:

Solicit and collect items for the live and silent auction. Cash donations are also accepted from businesses and individuals that do not have items to donate.
Distribute flyers around the county and the Greater Cincinnati and Northern KY area.
Contact local media about the event.
Sell tickets to the event.
Organize collected items and help to make baskets.
Transport auction items to the site on the day of the event.
Assist during the evening with ticket-taking, answering questions, and facilitating the evening’s program.
Collect money and/or credit card for purchases.

AURORA FARMERS FAIR PARADE (October)

This event is held on the first Saturday of October each year. P.A.W.S. volunteers ride on a “float” or walk with a shelter dog in the parade.

Volunteers are needed to:

Supply and drive the float.
Decorate the float.
Walk or ride with a shelter dog during the parade.

WINTER WONDERLAND PET PARADE (December)

This event is held on a Saturday in December. P.A.W.S. volunteers walk with a shelter dog in the parade which winds through the streets of Lawrenceburg.

Volunteers are needed to:

Distribute flyers about the event
Solicit items for “Goody Bags” and help assemble
Set up and take down tables
Register participants and hand out “Goody Bags”
Hand out prizes to winning entries
Walk a shelter dog during the event

TRANSPORTATION

From time-to-time, P.A.W.S. assists the Dearborn County Animal Shelter in transporting shelter animals for various reasons and volunteers are needed to make this possible. Some of the ways that P.A.W.S. helps with transportation are:

Rescue – The shelter needs assistance in transporting shelter animals to rescue groups who are willing to take our shelter animals and find wonderful new homes for them. These transports can be as close as the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, to as far away as Indianapolis and even the Chicago area. On the shorter transports, often the volunteer uses their own vehicle and a crate that is borrowed from P.A.W.S. or the shelter. On longer transports, or where there are more than 1 or 2 animals going, the volunteer may use the P.A.W.S. van.
Spay/Neuter - Driving animals from the shelter to the local veterinarian offices for weekly spay/neuter appointments.
Health Checks – Many of the animals going to rescue groups require special Health Certificates from the vet in order to cross state lines. Volunteers are needed to take the animals to the vet’s office and wait while animals are examined.
Emergency Transport of Injured or Sick Animals – Occasionally an animal coming into the shelter is injured or sick and needs to get medical treatment immediately. Volunteers who are available on short notice are essential to transporting, staying with the animal while it is examined, and then bringing the animal back to the shelter.

THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE FROM YOUR HOME

Make baked goods and crafts
Crochet or sew catnip toys
Bake dog biscuits
Follow-up phone calls – Volunteers are needed to call the new families when an animal is adopted at a P.A.W.S. mobile adoption. This is done to make sure that the animals is doing OK in it’s new home.
Assist with any of a number of P.A.W.S. committees and activities going on.

Your participation with our organization is important and we are very grateful that you are considering becoming a P.A.W.S. volunteer / member. The work we do is so important in improving the lives of our county’s homeless animals.We thank you, and so do they.

P.A.W.S.

MEMBERSHIP AND VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES

To become a member of our organization, you may either pay a membership fee of $15.00 or volunteer 15 hours of service to the organization each year. You may do both if you wish. The money obtained from the membership fees will be used to benefit the shelter animals.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOLUNTEERING

Foster a shelter dog, puppy, cat, or kitten until they can be placed in a loving home or there is room for them at the shelter.
Care for an injured or sick animal until it has recovered.
Provide transportation for shelter animals for vet check-ups, mobile adoptions, and rescue runs.
Make baked goods and dog biscuits to sell at various events listed above.
Crochet catnip mice to sell at various events listed above and at local businesses.
Winterize the shelter and help on clean-up & maintenance days.

P.A.W.S. ADOPT-A-FRIEND (mobile adoption) PROGRAM

P.A.W.S. holds Adopt-a-Friend events throughout the county – normally twice a month - on Saturdays. The time is from 10:00 – 4:00. Adoptions during the winter months are held indoors and during the summer months they are held outdoors. Many people are involved to make these events a success:

Transportation – animals coming to the adoption need to be picked up at the shelter and transported to the adoption site, then for those who are not adopted - returned to the shelter at the end of the adoption day.
Set Up – a small group of volunteers are needed to get things ready for the adoption. The site must be ready before the animals arrive. These people set up tents, tables, crates, and make preparations for the dogs and cats that are coming to the adoption.
Cat People – one or two people usually take care of the cats and kittens, talk to anyone interested in adopting, and get them in and out of the cages safely.
Dog People – other volunteers will be given a dog to handle for the day. They will receive a card with information about the dog to help in discussions with potential adopters. They will usually keep the same dog for the entire day (or until the dog is adopted), bonding with the dog and giving it love and attention. Even if the dog does not get adopted, it has had a wonderful day out!
Tear Down – at the end of the day, volunteers are needed to take down the tents, tables, crates, etc. and load them back into the vehicles for transport.

PAWS FOSTER CARE PROGRAM

The Dearborn County Animal Shelter is constantly filled to capacity and in need of foster homes to make room for otheranimals coming into the shelter. We will assist you in every way possible to make this a pleasant experience. Sometimes we also need a foster home to care for a sick or injured animal until it has recovered. If you have room in your home and heart to care for a shelter animal until it can get adopted, goes to rescue, or is returned to the shelter for adoption, your help would be greatly appreciated.

The ideal fostering situation would be to find foster families who can work with the animals to make them more easily adopted, who can give the animal up for adoption, and then take another animal into their homes to foster. Your foster animal will be listed on the shelter’s Petfinder.com site. You may bring your foster animal to mobile adoptions if you would like.

P.A.W.S. will supply you with a Foster Handbook to help in your experience, and we will try to answer any question and help with any situation that may arise as you foster.

AN OVERVIEW of P.A.W.S. EVENTS RUMMAGE SALE (fundraising)

P.A.W.S. Annual Rummage Sale is held each April at Agner Hall at the Lawrenceburg Fair Grounds. Many volunteers are needed to make this event successful.

Before the sale- Items need to be donated for the sale. Volunteers are needed to solicit, collect, possibly store and transport these items to the sale.
Set Up - volunteers are needed to transport items to Agner Hall from homes and storage facilities. Tables need to be set up at the hall, items carried in and priced.
During the sale - Two to four volunteers are needed to bag items purchased and to collect payment for the items. People are needed to keep rummage items straightened.
Tear Down – Items not sold need to be packed. Tables folded and stored, and the area needs to be cleaned and swept.

BOOTHS – FESTIVALS & FAIRS (information & fundraising)

Each year, P.A.W.S. staffs booths at the Bright Fireman’s Festival, the Dearborn County 4-H Fair, and Lawrenceburg’s Fall Fest. The purpose of these booths is to distribute information about our organization and the shelter.

Volunteers are needed to:

Set Up the booths
Distribute information, collect donations, answer questions about P.A.W.S. and the shelter
Tear Down and clean up
Fundraising ideas are needed and encouraged.

BUCKET BRIGADE (fundraising)

Volunteers are needed to:

Contact businesses or towns to gain approval of the event.
Collect money at businesses or roadblocks.
Make attractive buckets to use for the Bucket Brigade.