Rescue Village celebrated National Volunteer Appreciation Week in April, honoring our volunteers for their contributions and impact.
Since March of 2020, the majority of our volunteer activity has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, we have relied heavily on over two hundred foster families and several dozen shelter and barn volunteers. We wanted these volunteers to know how truly special they are, so we decorated the lawn in front of Rescue Village and made them special “Shining Star Rescue Jars” full of candy and love notes from staff. To highlight the impact of our foster volunteers, who have been key to our continued operation during the pandemic, we had special foster volunteer t-shirts made just for them.
We are so proud of our volunteers who collectively, despite reduced hours in 2020, still donated over 68,000 hours of service. That amounts to a budget offset of $1.9 million! From housekeeping to dog walking, event planning, and office assistance, we rely on hundreds of volunteers each year to provide assistance where needed and provide enrichment and TLC for our shelter and barn animals.
We simply couldn’t do our life-saving work without them and look forward to a time when we can all be together in the building again!