Opportunities From: Humane Society of Charlotte

Love animal welfare and want to help inspire a passion for advocacy in high schoolers? This is the volunteer opportunity for you!

Join us for Animal Advocacy Club, designed for children ages 14-18. Participants will discuss animal welfare as it relates to a variety of topics (such as ethical adoption) and how it relates to animal ownership while spending time with an animal.  **Must be a qualified Animal Ambassador Handler with a current background check.**

Youth Advocacy Club helps empower high school aged youth to make compassionate, informed choices through meaningful discussions about animal welfare, sustainability, and ethical living. Sessions may include conversations, guest speakers, projects and more. As a volunteer, you’ll help facilitate respectful discussions, model empathy and open-mindedness, and encourage young advocates to reflect on how their choices impact the world around them.

Little Paws Storytime introduces children ages 1–5 to the world of animals, reading, and creativity through engaging read-alouds, meet-and-greets with animal ambassadors, and hands-on crafts. As a volunteer, you'll assist with event setup and takedown and guide children and their caregivers through each portion of the event by reading stories aloud, assisting with craft setup, and supporting interactions with animal ambassadors to ensure a safe and enriching experience for all. This is a rewarding opportunity to inspire curiosity, kindness, and a love for animals in our youngest learners.

Student Service Days offer children a chance to volunteer at HSC, as traditional volunteers need to be at least 16 years old. Help them learn about cats, dogs, and HSC while volunteering in various activities including cleaning, cat socialization, making enrichment items, putting together adoption bags, etc. As a volunteer you will be guiding them in various activities and monitoring to make sure they are doing their tasks well. We get hands on and often work with various HSC employees helping them out so you may learn a bit more about HSC as well! The service activities will be dependent upon the needs at that time. We have put together adoption packets, cleaned cat colony rooms, washed vans, filled kongs, organized the food bank, and more! It's a good time! 

"This is an opportunity available to students ages 8-15 that will include learning about the various needs of cats and dogs and how they can advocate for the animals through hands-on service opportunities. Students will earn service hours while learning about the interconnectedness of our world and how they can influence change for the better."

Love Animals AND kids, want to help educate our youth in animal welfare and more?! Then this is the volunteer opportunity for you!

Join us for a field trip here at HSC! We are hosting different ages (K-12th grade) and schools. Each field trip has a theme and specific activities involved in the program. We also take the group on a tour of the facility.

You'd be helping with the program as well as helping tour the students. 

Love Animals AND kids, want to help educate our youth in animal welfare and more?! Then this is the volunteer opportunity for you!

Join us for a field trip here at HSC! We are hosting different ages and schools depending on the day. The students will get a chance to practice their "Pat, Pet, Pause".

**Must be a qualified Animal Ambassador Handler with a current background check**

Love animals and little ones, and want to help inspire kindness and curiosity in young children?

This is the volunteer opportunity for you!

Join us for Little Paws Storytime designed for children ages 1–5. Participants will practice being gentle with pets and treating them with respect through observations and appropriate interactions. 

**Must be a qualified Animal Ambassador Handler with a current background check.**

Love animals AND kids, want to help educate our youth in animal welfare and more?! Than this is the volunteer opportunity for you! 

Help the Youth Programs Manager in facilitating school visits, shelter tours, field trips, scout presentations and other education related programs. Attend events with your HSC evaluated Animal Ambassador to engage children of all ages in a variety of topics relating to animal welfare. This role will vary depending on the content of the topic being taught and the location of the programming (shelter setting, school setting, etc.) 

To become a Qualified YP Animal Ambassador Handler you must successfully complete the following steps: 

The evaluation team will come to an agreement on if the applicant is accepted to be an AAH and will notify the applicant of their decision within 72 hours Background checking may be required

Below is a general overview of HSC’s Youth Animal Ambassador Evaluation Process. This process should take an estimated 20-30 minutes.

At any point, the animal cannot show signs of aggression, fearfulness, extreme stress or anxiety or else they are considered unqualified for the position. Aversive equipment such as shock collars (a.k.a. e-collars); pinch/prong collars; and choke collars are not permitted at any time.

In addition, the use of inhumane and forceful training methods, including but not limited to shocking, hitting, alpha rolling (pinning a dog down using force), and hanging from the collar are absolutely not permitted.

 The handler may have a treat pouch and give the dog treats during the process; however, the handler cannot use treats to lure or distract the dog in any way. Treats can only be given after a part has been completed and must be out of sight at all times. Any sound producing items (such as clickers or beepers) are prohibited.

Head halters, slip leads and retractable leashes are prohibited. Harnesses are allowed as long as they do not restrict the dog’s movement in any way.

The animal must be at least 6 months old, up to date on all vaccinations, house-trained and have known history of socialization with people. There are no breed, gender, or age limit restrictions. Any animal with a bite history is not eligible for the program; however, exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis dependent on the reported injuries, details of the incident, and steps made to prevent future incidents.

If the animal does not pass the evaluation process, they are permitted to try again after a period of two-four weeks, depending on the reason(s) the animal was not qualified.

Evaluation is completed at The Humane Society of Charlotte by The Behavior and Training Team. Parts of the tests are done both indoors and outdoors, weather permitting. The handler is not permitted to have a helper during the evaluation and must complete it on their own. During some parts of the evaluation, the evaluator will require the assistance of a helper/helpers. These helpers can be HSC staff members and/or HSC volunteers.