Opportunities From: Connect2Community

The Bird Center of Michigan is one of the only songbird rehabilitation facilities that serves the southeastern area of Michigan. Each year, hundreds of both baby birds and injured adults come through the doors of the clinic requiring assistance. Did you know that most baby birds need to be fed every 30 minutes from dawn to dusk? Between feeding, cleaning, and monitoring every bird’s condition, there’s always something that needs to be done! Not only do volunteers get the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of our feathered patients, but they get to learn and work alongside skilled staff and interns.

Volunteer shifts are typically 3 hours long, 1-2 times per week. How much time you are willing to spend volunteering with the Bird Center is up to you! Let our Volunteer Coordinator know your availability, and we will swiftly set up a training shift with an experienced mentor to get you started.

There are many jobs that go into wildlife rehabilitation – and it’s not just feeding birds! Here are some of the many important duties volunteers perform at the Bird Center:

Ensuring clean and safe enclosures for the birds. Preparing species-specific diets and creating enrichment. Helping staff and volunteers monitor critical patients and babies. Helping with special Bird Center projects. Helping staff with laundry. Running errands, such as transferring birds to other rehab facilities, or picking up fruit or insects at the store. General gardening and other outdoor maintenance at the clinic. Experienced volunteers can be trained to answer calls and enter data into our system.

We'd love to have you on our team!

Barn Sanctuary is always looking for volunteers to help us at the shelter. We rely on passionate, dedicated, and talented people for so much of what we do. Volunteering at Barn Sanctuary is a truly rewarding experience; you will have the rare and unique opportunity to get to know our resident animals and participate in work that makes a difference. Volunteering at Barn Sanctuary also provides valuable experience for those pursuing careers or passions in the animal care and protection arena.

 

Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities

The bulk of volunteer responsibilities consist of physical chores. Volunteers will be responsible for mucking out stalls/pens, yards, and pastures; laying clean bedding in living areas; scrubbing and refilling water buckets; restocking hay, straw, and wood shavings; and keeping each building generally clean and well-maintained. Occasionally the Animal Care team may require help with other tasks, including feeding and animal handling, from volunteers who are comfortable assisting (though this will largely fall to Lead Volunteers when possible). Volunteers are also welcome to brush and groom some of the larger animals once regular cleaning tasks have been completed. The animals require care every day of the year, regardless of the weather and they rely on committed volunteers to be there for them. Similarly, the Shelter team is reliant upon committed volunteers to assist with tackling chores around the property rain or shine.

Click here to learn more about becoming a Shelter Volunteer

We put on a story time program for children ages 2-5 and their caregivers once a week.  During story time we provide sensory play, do read-alouds, go on a tour of the shelter, and meet an animal.  We know that there are many members of our community who do not speak English as a first language, so we are looking to offer a bilingual story time to include more people in our community.  

We are looking for volunteers who are fluent in a language other than English who can help us run a bilingual story time!  HSHV staff would plan the activities and take care of registration.  The volunteer would need to:

Do some basic translations for activities and advertising Read two stories out loud to story time participants Do some interpretation during the program

We are open to offering bilingual story time in any language, but we are particularly interested in finding volunteers who are fluent in:

Spanish Korean Arabic Hindi

Part of this volunteer role would include working on translations independently on your own time.  The other part would require being present on the day of the program to read stories and interpret.  We typically hold bilingual story time on a Saturday morning from 10:30-11:30 a.m.  Volunteers should be fluent in a language other than English, be comfortable around animals, and, of course, like children!  

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Director of Humane Education and Community Engagement, Jessie Hitt at jessieh@hshv.org.

We are a foster based rescue always looking for new fosters who are willing to provide a temporary home to dogs and cats. You provide the love, snuggles and place to lay their head until adoption. We provide supplies including food, vaccinations, and any other medical care needed for the foster animal. If you are interested, please fill out a foster application here: https://petstablished.com/foster_form/23657/generic