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There are many animals in shelters eager to find a loving family, and forever home. It may not be in everyone’s ability to adopt a pet but there are other ways that the community can contribute to this cause.
The SEK Humane Society is offering volunteering and fostering classes this upcoming November and December. The classes are free to join, and they will be hosted via Zoom. During these sessions, people will be able to gain more knowledge about what the volunteering and fostering classes consist of, and information on the process to join in helping with the Humane Society. There are four different sessions, limited to 20 people per session: Nov. 7 at 2 p.m., Nov. 14 at 11 a.m., Dec. 5 at 2 p.m., and Dec 12 at 11a.m.
“This all started earlier in the year when we won a grant from The Dylan Meier Get Busy Livin’ Foundation (GBL),” said Jasmine Kyle, director of the SEK Humane Society. “These free online volunteering and fostering sessions were made possible by them.”
GBL is a foundation that has been very involved in helping around the community, according to Kyle.
“We didn’t want to give this opportunity up to help improve the community’s education on pet fostering and volunteering at our shelter,” Kyle said.
Meier was an American football quarterback from Pittsburg that played at Kansas State University. He died in 2010 from injuries sustained in a hiking accident.
According to Getbusylivin.com, the foundation was founded in 2011, to “provide support for individuals and groups that embody the values Dylan pursued.”
The Humane Society planned on hosting the fostering and volunteering classes differently, but due to the pandemic they had to make changes to their plan.
“Our original plan was to host a large volunteering day event at the shelter to provided hand on hand training, practice sessions, demonstrations for the public, and much more however the pandemic has made this impossible.” Kyle said.
Each Zoom session will cover different topics, on how to get involved with the Humane Society on volunteering and fostering opportunities. On Nov. 7 and Dec. 5, Good Boy Professional Dog Training will join Kyle to inform participants on what volunteers can expect from the shelter dogs. On Nov. 14, Kyle will speak about information regarding fostering cats. The last session on Dec. 12 will inform individuals on the process of fostering a dog.
“We are huge fans of Good Boy Professional Dog Training,” said Kyle. “We actually have their team come out and re-train our staff throughout the year as well has assist in assessing dog cases and creating regiments for dogs that are needing a little extra help.”
Each Zoom session will last 45 minutes, and if they are successful, the Humane Society has plans to broaden this training opportunity.
“If our Zoom sessions are popular than we will absolutely consider hosting some more free education sessions for the public,” said Kyle. “As for in person, that depends in 2021 with the pandemic situation.”
The Humane Society has an upcoming adopting event on Saturday, Oct. 24, called “Food and Trucks Fur Babies.” This event will take place from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Riggs Chiropractic.