Volunteering at Morris
• As you've come to our Volunteer page, we want to immediately thank you for your interest in the Refuge, and our animals. The Morris Animal Refuge is always interested in volunteers to work and help us carry out the mission of the Refuge. Volunteers are needed to participate in all manner of jobs (shelter, fundraising, special events, humane education, development, etc.), and provide us with the special skills they might have attained through their education, work and life experience.
• Due to insurance limitations, all animal volunteers must be at least 18 years of age, or at least a high school senior. If you're too young now we hope you will think of us when you're old enough to qualify as a Morris animal volunteer.
• The match between the volunteer's available time slots and the needs of the Refuge is very important. Many volunteers wishing to work directly with our animals simply aren't available during those times for which the Refuge needs assistance.
• Many volunteers wish to work directly with our animals. These volunteer positions are few in number, and especially sought after. These jobs are intensive and include difficult and literally dirty work. For example, volunteers clean and disinfect the animal rooms and cages and dispose of the wastes. Getting to have direct contact with our animals is an occasional fringe benefit of the animal volunteer's work, not the core of it.
• Volunteering at Morris can be hazardous, and our volunteers need to be mindful of this at all times. The animals which come to Morris just don't come from nice homes - very often they come from the street, where many have lived their entire lives. Animals surrendered to us may claw, scratch or literally bite and wound our volunteers. Hence we invest the time necessary with our animal volunteers to train them in our animal handling procedures for their safety and the animal's as well.
• We don't accept applications emailed to us or sent via postal mail. We do request that prospective volunteers fill in our Volunteer Application and submit it in person at the Refuge in center-city Philadelphia. When you come in we'll take your application, talk with you about volunteering at Morris, then give you a tour of the Refuge so you can see firsthand what animal volunteering at the Refuge is all about.
• You can download the Volunteer Application in Adobe Acrobat® format so you can print it out and fill it in to save you time, before you personally bring it in to us. You can download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader® here. You will need Adobe Acrobat®, version 5.x to view and print the Volunteer Application. Go to our Contact Page for our address and hours of operation so you can come in to volunteer.
