Santa Pet Pics — HO, HO, HO-w nice of you! Thank you for helping make this year’s festive fundraiser such a success. Thanks to your time, we raised a record-breaking $12,000 to help the animals in our care!

Holiday Delivery Program — A very special thank you to the eight volunteer “elves” who helped make this year’s holiday delivery program a memorable experience for all! Thanks to you, eight families welcomed three cats and seven small animals into their homes on Christmas morning.

A special thank you is also extended to our volunteer team who represented the OHS at the Wedding Palace Bridal Show. Thank you for teaching brides-to-be all about our Wedding Celebration Program. Click here to learn more about this great program, which helps save more animals!

Ready to spend an enchanted evening raising funds to help the animals in our care?  The OHS is seeking volunteers for our 12th annual FurBall gala on April 9 at the Shaw Centre. This annual event is one of our biggest fundraisers, and we need your help to make it a success. We are looking for volunteers to fill a number of roles, including: silent auction team, registration crew, and more! Volunteers are asked to dress for the event, and the dress code is formal business attire. If you are interested in volunteering at this year’s FurBall, please contact the volunteer department for more information. Prefer to attend the event as a guest? Purchase your ticket online today!

We “mingled and jingled all the way” with our office and administration volunteers on Dec. 16 and happily celebrated all of their hard work and dedication over the last year. More than 30 office and administration volunteers donate close to 5,000 hours each year and support a variety of departments including, but not limited to: PAL, development, foster, central services, operations, and more...Thank you office and administration volunteers for your ongoing gift of time!

We hope that you’ve already signed up to support this year’s National Cupcake Day. If you haven’t had the chance yet, don’t worry—you’ve still got plenty of time to “bake” a change. Join us on Monday, Feb. 29 to make the sweetest difference for Ottawa’s animals; by registering, baking, and most importantly fundraising for National Cupcake Day for the OHS, you will change the lives of thousands of neglected, abused and abandoned animals. Does this event have you drooling? To sign up today, visit our website .

There is no “spring break” for the animals at the OHS! If you would like to get involved in any of the opportunities listed below, please contact the OHS’s volunteer department today!

BINGO: Volunteers are needed to support this unique fundraiser, at the Overbrook Bingo Hall at 1150 Lola St. on Sunday evenings from 6 - 9:30 p.m., where all proceeds raised go towards helping provide Ottawa’s animals with a second chance at a bright and healthy future. Volunteers help by selling BINGO sheets, assisting with registration, providing customer service to guests, processing payments and assisting with event logistics. All volunteers will receive training and a T-shirt before their first shift.

PAW stewardship: We need your help! We are still looking for volunteers to join our stewardship team, to help us call donors and thank them for their support. Please note: you will never have to ask a supporter for money; we just want to say thank you and share some cool stories about the work that we do in our community. If you enjoy conversing over the phone and doing basic data entry, sign up today!

Brightening Lives Animal Visits (BLAV): Do you have free time, an amazing companion animal, and want to bring joy and happiness to our community? If you answered yes to all three, consider joining our BLAV program today! To arrange for your animal’s temperament evaluation, contact the volunteer department for more information.

Last fiscal year, foster volunteers helped give almost 1,700 animals a second chance at a bright and healthy future. Foster volunteers play a vital role in our organization and community by taking animals into their homes and providing care for animals that are not yet ready for adoption due to medical and/or behavioural reasons. Foster volunteers:

• Provide nurturing, temporary homes for dogs, cats and small animals requiring short-term convalescence outside the shelter environment;
• Encourage the normal growth and development of very young, otherwise healthy animals;
• Encourage the recovery and rehabilitation of animals not yet ready for adoption;
• Protect animals, especially puppies and kittens, from the risk of disease that may be present in the shelter;
• Provide behaviour intervention, and more!

On March 5, 2016, we will be hosting a volunteer appreciation luncheon to thank OHS foster volunteers for helping make such a difference in the lives of homeless animals. If you are an active OHS foster volunteer, please join us for this fun-filled event and RSVP today.

Want to join this lifesaving volunteer program? Apply today!

Thank you OHS foster volunteers for your time and talents—we could not do it without you!

Please take a few minutes to participate in our annual volunteer satisfaction survey! We sincerely appreciate your gift of time and dedication to creating a brighter future for Ottawa’s animals. We look forward to your thoughts and comments regarding your volunteer experience; your feedback is a critical part of improving our volunteer-based programs, which help provide many animals with a brighter future.

Mark your calendars and get ready to celebrate all of your hard work and dedication! This year, National Volunteer Week is April 10-16, and the OHS has a bunch of fun and educational activities planned to show our appreciation for your time and talents, including snacks in the lounge on a daily basis, an educational workshop, an appreciation brunch, and more! Stay tuned for more information — we can`t wait to celebrate with you!