Letter to the editor: How I Responded to a National Outcry

Adrienne Potter Yoe, CVA

and admirers to donate in her honor to a local animal shelter or rescue group. As a leader of volunteers in two shelters and co-founder of AL!VE’s Community of Practice for volunteer engagement professionals in animal welfare, I have had the privilege of seeing the impact that  volunteers have across the country. Fellow leaders of volunteers have shared the many ways that both official volunteers and unofficial supporters have increased shelter and rescue group’s lifesaving capacities. While shelters and rescue groups can always use financial support, honoring White’s legacy can go even further. Here are nine ways that individuals can honor Betty White’s legacy: 
Donate your time - Consider volunteering to help a local shelter, rescue group, or animal sanctuary. Most animal welfare groups welcome volunteers to assist with adoption or fundraising events, animal care, enrichment, administrative tasks, and more. While many organizations require a long-term commitment to work directly with pets, most will be happy to accommodate short-term volunteers for operational tasks. VolunteerMatch is a great place to discover opportunities and ways to help local groups. 
Donate a room in your home - Your home may not be large, but a basement, bathroom, or small study is more room than the average pet has in a shelter. Fostering pets in your home is a great way to relieve some of the burden on shelters. Being in a quiet home gives stressed, sick, recovering, and underaged pets in shelters a place to relax and be their true selves. Nearly all rescue groups are foster-based, and most shelters (municipal and private) have foster programs. While saying goodbye to foster pets definitely has its challenges, it saves both the lives of pets in the shelter (who now have more room) and the pets being fostered. 
A Helping Hand to Your Neighbors in Crisis Who Have Pets - Connect with a mutual aid network in your community to assist pet caregivers in need. Vulnerable people in our communities, particularly the elderly, often need assistance to keep beloved pets in their homes during personally challenging times. Whether the challenge stems from a pet caregiver’s injury, health challenge, weather, or eviction, connect with those in your community to keep pets out of shelters and in loving homes. Programs like JASA’s Pet Project are models for how volunteers can support senior citizens in keeping their beloved pets.   
Donate a piece of your heart - Few pets face as many hurdles in getting adopted as senior pets. According to PetFinder.com, senior pets often wait the longest to find homes. Yet, senior pets are often tremendously sweet, calm, and have some training in living in a home. Consider adopting a senior pet to give them a home for their glory days. 

Use individualized and positive language when discussing shelter pets - Shelter pets are resilient, funny, and loving. I so often hear individuals both inside and outside of shelters referring to shelter pets as damaged, traumatized, aggressive, or pitiful. None of these descriptions could be accurate for each of the millions of pets who enter shelters each year. The way that a pet behaves in a shelter environment is just how it will behave for that moment in time, and often isn’t the full picture of how they will behave once they’re in a calm home with a routine. Remove the stigma from shelter pets by using positive and individual language about each pet’s experience. 
Boost Your Knowledge About Sheltering - Many people use terms like “kill shelter” or “no kill shelter” without fully understanding the meanings behind these terms. What they often miss is that each shelter is different, and these terms unnecessarily stigmatize shelters and the individuals who work at these shelters. A government run shelter or shelter with a government contract is likely required to provide admission to any animal found or surrendered in its jurisdiction. When these shelters have no more room, they are legally unable to turn pets away - often resulting in euthanasia for space. Private shelters or limited admission shelters are able to turn away pets when their kennels are filled - meaning that pets are not euthanized for space or time. Few organizations could be described as “never kill,” because most will euthanize an animal who has a low quality of life due to medical or behavioral issues. 
What the public often misses is that “kill shelters” often need the most help - particularly because they have no control of when animals come in or leave their shelters. This pdf from sheltervet.org gives more information about shelter terminology. 
 Donate some time on the road - Some areas of the US have fewer adoptable shelter pets thanks to weather, leash laws, a culture of pets being kept indoors, and spay/neuter access. Other areas, particularly warmer locations, are overflowing with pets. Check out Doobert.com to see how you can assist with pet transports. According to their website, “It’s like a combination of Match.com specifically for animal shelters and rescues to find new partners, and then a volunteer Uber for getting the animals where they need to go. “  
You don’t have to be up for a multi-state trek, as many transports rely on multiple drivers to take different ‘legs’ of a transport. This article, ‘Homeward Bound,’ in DownEast magazine shares background about transport programs from the southern to northeastern states. 
Your social media presence and network - Consider sharing adoptable pets on your social media, and in your networks. If your organization, house of worship, company, or club has a newsletter or social media presence, consider sharing ‘pets of the week’ who are at local shelters and rescues. As the organization HeArt Speak often says, “Seen = Saved.”
Your Talent - If you’re an artist, professional or hobbyist, consider joining Artists Helping Animals. Artists Helping Animals is Heart Speak’s flagship program, and connects artists with animal shelters and rescues who want to help adoptable pets shine. https://heartsspeak.org/join-us/