4 Ways to Help Homeless Animals

Numerous research studies show that when you do good, you feel good. The very best gift you can give to yourself is to give of oneself.  If you’re looking for ways to help homeless animals but can’t adopt, there are lots of ways to provide help beyond adoption or writing a check. Here are four ways to provide help for homeless pets this holiday season, even if you can’t take another furry friend home with you.

1. Give the gift of your time by volunteering at the Humane Society or other shelters, rescues, and animal sanctuaries. These organizations rely on volunteers to lend a hand to help care for homeless pets. You can pitch in to help your local shelter or rescue groom the animals, clean kennels and cages, do laundry, socialize, walk or read to the animals. If you have a special business skill you could volunteer to perform administrative tasks, help with marketing or fundraising, or assist with maintenance—all you have to do is ask, “how can I help?”
2. Support the Love Pup Foundation – adopt, foster, volunteer, partner, or give to help support the mission to help keep homeless pets off the street and place them into loving homes. Established in 2014 by Johnjay and Blake Van Es, #LovePup sprang from their family’s deep love for dogs, growing into a vibrant organization specializing in providing help for homeless pets through fostering and carefully matching dogs with the right home for them. Every dog becomes part of the #LovePup family until they are ready for their forever home. Each dog is vaccinated, microchipped, and spay/neutered before they’re eligible to be adopted. Our AZPetVet family happily donates time, money, and veterinary services to support the Love Pup Foundation and community outreach programs like It’s Hip to Chip and the #LovePup Family Fest.
3. Want to help as many animals as you can? Make a New Year’s resolution to sponsor or foster a pet like the Van Es family by becoming a part of #LovePup. Fostering homeless pets helps with socialization, wellness care, and training to prepare them for being adopted into forever homes. If you’re really good at working with dogs and enjoy fostering, why not combine the two? Train a homeless pet to become a service dog or therapy animal, and the circle of love you create can change lives. For instance, research shows that pet therapy has a positive impact on people of all ages, but especially children. Gabriel’s Angels’ mission is to inspire confidence, compassion, and best behaviors in at-risk children through pet therapy. Volunteer a few hours a week or month to be a helping hand that’s partnered with a matched therapy team on designated visits to a variety of organizations serving at-risk children. Working together, Gabriel’s Angels delivers pet therapy to more than 12,500 at-risk children around the state every year. Tickets to a local event to help fund new therapy teams could make great holiday gifts, too, and they’re so easy to wrap!
4. Many hands make lighter work, so you can get creative when finding ways to help homeless animals this holiday season. Collecting donations of food, treats, toys, leashes, feeding bowls, old towels, and blankets can all help keep homeless animals well cared for until they find their forever home. Create a holiday donation drive among friends on your street or in your neighborhood and post it to NextDoor, Facebook or other social media channels. Dream up a competitive workplace challenge, sponsorship drive, or create a new holiday tradition among family and friends by funding a new therapy team. Throw a party or event and ask your guests to bring a donation or pet supplies to gain entry to the festivities.

See? There are lots of ways to create a little holiday magic for homeless pets while doing something nice for yourself. Happy holidays from the AZPetVet family!

Learn more about volunteering at the Humane Society. 

See how you can help Love Pup Foundation pups find the right forever home.

Go ahead and do it and share the love—see how you can help Gabriel’s Angels and at-risk children.