If you want to assist your Maine animal shelter but feel like you don’t have time to volunteer, that shouldn’t discourage you from helping out.
Volunteering doesn’t always have to be a huge time commitment, said Matthew Blanchard, marketing and communications coordinator for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland.
Many shelters are flexible and able to work with people’s schedules.
But if volunteering really isn’t in the cards, here are some other ways you can support your local shelter:
Foster, foster, foster
Blanchard said there are four pillars for supporting animal shelters: adopting, volunteering, donating and fostering.
A major way to help your local shelter is to apply to be a foster for any of the animals.
Fostering can be a crucial part in finding many pets a home, and organizations like the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk and the Animal Refuge League often provide all necessary supplies, like food and medication, for people who foster animals.
Both organizations emphasized that the duration of time a foster will need varies depending on the animal. While some may only require an overnight or weekend stay, others may need more long-term care.
Donate items off their wish list
Animal shelters often have wish lists on their websites requesting donations of specific items they may be in need of, such as animal food or medicine.
Blanchard said the wish list on the Animal Refuge League’s website is a great resource for how to help to the shelter.
Many shelters also have lists of items they cannot accept. For the Animal Refuge League, that includes used grooming tools, pillows or cushions, and used cat trees.
“Supply donations are huge,” Blanchard said. “We’re entirely privately funded, so anything that we can get people to donate to us is something that we can take off of our plate.”
Some items are more desperately needed than others, and for many shelters, the specifics of certain items (especially food) are donated can be extremely important, so check your local shelter’s website before donating.
Set up a dog date
The Animal Welfare Society has something called a “Dog Date” program, which allows people to take dogs out of their kennels for the day.
The AWS said this is a wonderful way to help if even short-term fostering is too much of a time commitment and allows the dogs to get out community for fresh air and to stretch their legs.
Some dog dates can consist of taking dogs out for a drive, a walk or a trip to get a pup cup. Every dog date looks different for each dog.
It doesn’t end there
While these are just three major ways to help, be on the lookout for events and other ways to offer your support. Shelters often post events on their websites or social media pages, along with more information about fostering, donations, volunteering and adopting.
Ultimately, one of the best ways to support local shelters is by adopting an animal.
“That’s one of the best ways that people can get involved with us is to come to the shelter and adopt a dog, a cat, a critter,” Blanchard said. “That’s what we’re here for. That’s the end goal.”