After years of helping shelter animals find homes, a dedicated volunteer explains why the shelter isn't a place of heartbreak, but of hope: 'Sadness is the last thing you feel.'

There's a special place in our hearts for the specific appreciation of animal shelter volunteers. These are people who take their love for animals to the next level, and actually help care for animals in need of a home until they find one. It's true that a lot of pets usually find their forever homes in heartwarming adoption stories, such as in the Cat Distribution System way, which we love telling you about. But some pets take more time to reach their destined loving family - and this is where animal shelter volunteers come in.

No one understands this better than the shelter volunteers themselves, so us telling you about them and how important their work is, isn't going to make the same impact as them addressing you directly. So this is why we felt such happiness when we read this open letter from a long-time shelter volunteer, who also adopted their own cat from the shelter, addressing the animal-loving community online and trying to encourage them to volunteer themselves. They tell about their experiences, and try to alleviate some of the fears people might have about starting to volunteer at their local shelter.
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Before we officially let the open letter start, we wanted to add our own experience to the mix:
A few months ago, right before winter, our entire team did a one-day volunteering event at the local shelter next to our office. We met with absolutely amazing human beings who are so dedicated to saving animals, and helping them find their forever home. There were a few dogs in need of a family, so we did a whole social media campaign to get them adopted. And believe us when we say - this wasn't just a happy day of volunteering, it was a heart-bursting happiness experience knowing we helped animals in need to find their fitting family. Knowing they were safe and sound before winter came along.
We're so very proud of this experience, and we're sure any animal lover who volunteers with cats, dogs, and other pets at their local shelter will feel the same.
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We're very touched by this volunteer's letter. And we're very happy to share these thoughts - because if we helped their words reach further, to more people who needed to hear them, we feel like we did our part. At least for now. Because help is always needed at these animal shelters, and we're sure to return and volunteer in our local one for many more days.
If you were sitting and just looking for a sign to go and volunteer your time to animals in need - look at this as what you've been waiting for. Go and contact your local shelter. Love the animals who need some extra love. We're so proud of you.