Volunteer with Critteraid

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The cheering squad that surrounds you while you volunteer will truly inspire you.

Our need for volunteers is the heartbeat of our organization.  We have so many options to choose from and time frames to work with anyone’s schedule.  Every facet of care is needed and we wish for you to gravitate towards an area that you are passionate about.

We know the benefits from the reward of volunteering and would enjoy the opportunity to welcome you to the sanctuary.  If any of these areas are of interest, please fill out a form and we will thrilled to set up an orientation tour. 

For all of our Volunteers, your personal safety is always our primary concern. You will never be requested to work in an area that you feel vulnerable or unprotected. We want your Volunteer experience to be a happy one – one that will give you joy, pride, compassion and respect.

Thank you in advance for choosing us to volunteer with.

Volunteer Opportunities
Cat Sanctuary

Spend as little or as much time as you like with our darling cats at our Cat Sanctuary in Summerland. All of them need love and cuddles, and we can always do with a hand with daily care as well!

Below is a standard day of activities our cats.

Animal Care

TimeActivity
7:30amRounds for medical
7:30amBreakfast
8:30amCleaning litterboxes
8:30amDishes
9:00amCleaning cages
9:00amLaundry
10:00amWashing floors, doors & walls
10:00amOutdoor catios cleaning
10:30amFilling pellets
5:00pmEvening Feed, fresh waters
5:30pmDishes, fresh blankets
6:00pmGeneral tidy & restock for morning shifts

Animal Wellness

TimeActivity
12:00-4:00pmCuddlers
Reading program for scared cats
Matching program with special needs permanent resident cats
Foster program

Medical Team

Activity
Mani/pedi responsibilities for house guests
Assist with scheduled deworming
Transportation of animals for vet appointments
Updating of medical files
Updating of intake and cage instructions

 

Pasture Sanctuary

Our very special organization has a beautiful 10-acre farm in the South Okanagan providing sanctuary and rescue for a wide variety of abandoned and abused animals in the Okanagan (horses, cows, pigs, ducks, alpacas, donkeys, goats, and even a rooster).

There are many ways to volunteer your time on our 10-acre sanctuary amongst the vineyards! Feeding, cleaning, stocking, washing, cuddling, fixing, etc! The more hands and hearts the merrier.

Anybody can be trained to muck out stalls, paddocks and pastures. In fact, it’s a great gig for one-on-one time with our pigs, cows, alpacas, ducks and horses. It allows one to reflect on the day with meditation, allows for fitness and provides amazing inspiration. We request that Volunteers commit to one day a week minimum for 1-2 hour shifts.

Even the pasture animals need spa time! For more experienced Volunteers, hooves need attention, coats need brushing, tack needs organizing, teeth need checking.

The connection between animals and children can be a unique shortcut to everlasting friendship. For people who love teaching and sharing the company of donkeys, alpacas, cow and horses, this is a platform that showcases joy, compassion, unity and respect.

We have a number of projects at Critteraid Farm that can be started and completed and some that just require maintenance.

From carpentry, plumbing and electrical to moving manure around for composting, there are oodles of things that need doing around Critteraid Farm.

Animal Care

TimeActivity
7:00amFeeding / Milking / Meds
8:30amCleaning, Mucking
9:30amTopping Feed & Supplies
10:00amA rotation of everything that it takes to maintain a fully functioning farm. (a few examples would be:  trough cleaning, pools for ducks, de-icing, etc)
5:30pmAfternoon Chores, feeding, cleaning, mucking. Tucking in all animals into their barns, stalls, coops and singing night night lullaby’s.

Animal Wellness Program

Our Pasture animals require as much love and attention as our domestics do. We have developed a program to ensure they feel the love on a daily basis. If you are interested in seeing what Movie Monday is, or Tuck In Tuesday, please fill out the application for the Wellness and we can get your started.

We are always interested in the fun side for the animals. If you have a game, an idea for a play structure or item that a specific group or animal might like, we want to hear your ideas and see if we can make them come to life.

Helping Hands: Annual Projects

As expected, there are projects that are easier with many hands helping and we try and have lists that we can contact to see who’s available.

Please sign up for one of the following if you would consider being on our call list:

TimeActivity
Late August / Early SeptemberHay Palooza: we move 700 bales to the farm and need 8 people.
SpringPooh Palooza: thaw brings all the tours to the farm, which means company is coming kind of cleaning.
 SpringRock Palooza: We go around our 10 acres and harvest all the huge rocks that grow over winter so that we can keep our grazing animals safe.

 

Helping Hands: Ad Hoc Projects

We always have plenty of projects that require speciality skills!

  • Mechanics
  • Drainage
  • Irrigation
  • Shelters
  • Feeders
  • Animal Safety
Dog House

The Dog House Division of Critteraid is proud to announce the success of this program and the appointment of Arlene Dunstan-Adams as the director in charge. This division has come out of hiatus and is stronger than ever! Please contact Arlene at 250-809-8225 if interested in volunteering.

Charity Thrift Shoppe

Join our thrift shoppe crew in a variety of tasks, from cashier to displays to inventory. Our store is the lifeblood of our fundraising and a central part of the Summerland community.

Process

Once you fill out application, our volunteer coordinator will contact you and schedule an orientation tour. 

  • Tour the Charity shoppe
  • Decide what area that fits you and your time frame
  • Organize your start date for training
  • Have fun

Most of our opportunities have times that can be either morning, afternoons or evenings.  We can accommodate. 

We have many options for people who have time available early mornings or late afternoons.  Anything helps, but we seem to be very short at the moment for those time frames.

Duties & Times

We have opportunities to volunteer starting at 7:30 am until 10:00 pm depending on your wishes.  Options could be to:

  • Organize stock
  • Design displays
  • Floor shift with public
  • Cashier
  • Accept donations at back
  • Unbox donations
  • Sort clothes
  • Cleaning
  • Inventory control and flow
  • Seasonal help (we ALWAYS need extra hands during Christmas season & garage sale season!)

Hard to Fill Areas

  • Electronics: if there is anyone interested, we have a designated area to test out electronics to make sure we only put working items on the floor for sale.
  • Books: we have an ocean of books that need to be sorted and displayed in proper genre.
  • Pricing: We are looking for a lead person to oversee pricing using Google Lens (easy to learn!).

      Administrative

      • Store Director: We are looking for a volunteer that might be interested in being the Store Director. Joining our Board is available!
      • Online Sales: looking for someone to oversee this area, including creating and managing products on the website.
      • Social Media: we are looking for an amazing person to help with creating posts on Instagram & Facebook, and managing our thrift shoppe’s online presence.
      • Graphic Design: General design of posters for the store and keeping our “adoption wall” up to date.
          Fundraising & Events

          COVID has decimated our fundraising capabilities. Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

          1. Please DONATE your unwanted items to our Charity Thrift Shoppe.
          2. WE ARE ALSO WANTING TO LOOK INTO GRANT WRITING. If you have any experience or can provide us with some expertise, PLEASE EMAIL info@critteraid.org.
          3. For anyone wishing to third party fundraise, we are so very appreciative.  Please fill out this form to make arrangements. A gesture of our gratitude is to invite you and your group for a tour of the sanctuary. We would be so grateful to introduce you to the recipients of your kindness.
          Marketing, Operations & Administration

          Every year we have evolved and grown.  We adapt to the technology that is available to us (free versions mostly) and then look for volunteers and their expertise to assist for fine tuning.

          This year, May 1 2021 – April 30 2022, we have a the following key areas that we were looking to “fine tune”:

            1. Graphic Artist to assist who would be interested in designing of a few on line campaigns.
            2. Social Media: We need assistance with creating a social media presence that would provide useful information in a pawsitive manner. If you have a creative side, a bit of graphic artist history, please let us know on your application form!
            3. Grant Writer: Someone able to assist the board
            4. Volunteer Coordinator
            5. Administration Coordinator
            6. Communications Coordinator
            7. Website updates & social media content
            Bottle Recycling

            We collect Bottles and return them to recyling depots as part of our fundraising efforts. Bottles can be dropped off at the charity shoppe or if it is a large number, we can pick up. Email: info@critteraid.org to arrange collection.

            You can also participate in our organized charity bottle drives as they happen within the community. We are always searching for volunteers to help us out with trucks, sorting and organizing.

            *WE ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF A PLACE TO SORT OUR BOTTLES IN. A GARAGE, A LARGE SHED…….. Summerland or Penticton. Please email info@critteraid.org if you have any open space.

            Volunteer Photo Gallery

            Moments of love and joy.