Overview

If you love animals and want to make a difference, join us at the Florida Keys SPCA as a volunteer. Volunteering at an animal shelter can be a very rewarding experience as you enrich the lives of animals waiting for a new home. Volunteers are critical in helping us complete our life-saving mission every day.

If you would like to volunteer at the Key West Campus, we are accepting volunteers ages 18 & up starting in March 2019 and Youth/Teen Volunteers starting in April 2019.  Please look for those orientation dates below that you can attend if you are interested in becoming a volunteer.  Seating is limited but all are welcome!  Please note that for volunteers ages 10-15 parents will be required to be on property at all times while children are volunteering.

If you are looking to Volunteer at the Marathon Campus for all volunteers ages 18 & up, please look below for our upcoming orientation dates that you can attend at 10550 Aviation Blvd, Marathon.

We ask you to make a three month commitment of at least 8 hours a month. The animals need your help and we respect your time and commitment, therefore we make every effort to make your time with us rewarding for both you and the animals.

We require a background check of all volunteers ages 18 & up after orientation, before training starts to ensure the safety of our animals, staff and other volunteers. 

There is a one-time $30 fee that is paid at orientation that provides you with a Volunteer T-shirt, handbook and other necessary materials to become a volunteer.

 

Orientation Dates

Key West Campus Upcoming Orientation Dates:

  • 18 & Up Volunteer Orientation:
    • Monday June 3rd from 5:30-7pm
    • Thursday June 6th from 6-7:30pm
  • Teen/High School Volunteer Program Orientation, Ages 16-18:
    • Monday June 10th from 4-5pm
    • Thursday June 13th from 4-5pm
  • Youth Volunteer Program Orientation, Ages 10-15 (Parents Must Attend with Youth Volunteers):
    • Monday June 17th from 4-5pm
    • Thursday June 20th from 4-5pm

Marathon Campus Orientation Date: Please contact our Marathon Campus directly for their orientation dates at (305) 743-4800!

Training

After new volunteers have completed an orientation class, depending on their where their interests lie with the shelter, we have training sessions dedicated to each type of volunteering.

Dogs

For working with Dogs, we start you with an educational training session with our Animal Behavior Manager Cathy Baier.  She discusses in detail about shelter dog behaviors, the expectations volunteers should have for training with dogs and limited demonstrations. From there volunteers can attend dog behavior training sessions to further themselves in our dog program to the point where they can walk dogs or take them to outreach events.

Cats 

When training with Cats, we have you train with a mentor volunteer to learn the ins and outs of taking care of all of our cat adoption rooms. This typically takes about an hour and after your training we can set new volunteers up with times to start volunteering!

Small Animals

For small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, the volunteer coordinator or a mentor volunteer can train new volunteers on the procedures on how to care for them, which is also needed on a daily basis.

Shelter 101

In our Shelter 101 course we give you a tour & overview of the entire shelter where we will show you how and where you can assist staff wherever it is needed. We will provide you with the knowledge and tools you will need to successfully walk into the shelter and know exactly what tasks you can get started on to make a real difference in our day to day needs.

 

Youth/Teen Program

For our Key West Campus:

For our Teen Program, volunteers ages 16-18 and still enrolled in a high school, will be given the opportunity to complete community service hours for school or scholarship requirements through socialization of our animals, donation drives and light duty work at the shelter.  Signed parental consent is required

For our Youth Program, volunteers ages 10-15 will have the opportunity to enrich our animals’ lives with toy & treat making classes as well as supervised socialization with our animals.  Classes will have structured times & days, and parents must be on property at all times their child is volunteer.

For our Marathon Campus please contact our shelter directly for ways 10-17 year olds can impact the homeless animals of the lower keys.

 

Group Program

Groups can assist the shelter in many ways such as having Wish List drives, holding your own fundraisers in the community, grounds work and shelter cleaning projects, doing group craft projects like making dog and cats toys or bandanas and assisting at our fundraisers where we always need lots of helping hands.  If your group would like to get involved please contact the Volunteer Coordinator.

 

If you have any questions on our volunteer program, please don’t hesitate to contact the Volunteer Coordinator directly at the shelter.