Chore duties at the main facility

[shekaberry]

Weekday help has appeared spotty at best and since I come out Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Saturdays, I've been doing what I can with what little daylight is left when I get there. Which isn't much.

Chores aren't a walk in the park. It is HARD work, but I find it rewarding and cheaper than a gym membership. When I do it alone, which has been more frequent than usual, it will take a good two hours. I get the horses taken care of before I pick one to play with. I don't want them standing in dirty paddocks, with little water, while I ride or groom. I hope others feel the same. Chores aren't easy, but you get back what you put in; watching the skinny, scared horse blossom, like Amber; or Honeycutt trusting you enough to let you kiss his nose. It isn't for everyone, and don't feel bad if it isn't for you, just let SAFE know so everyone gets taken care of.

That said, I hope all the volunteers are on the same page. We pick up their manure and clean their water buckets because they can't do it themselves. Seeing firsthand the awful conditions some of them came from make it all the more important to make their stay with SAFE on par with the Ritz.

Do feed them cookies and carrots. Love them like they were your own horse. I know I do. But our jobs as volunteers with this organization is to make sure their needs are met in the way of a clean place to live, fresh water to drink and a loving hand to show them the kindness of humans.

Jaime, Bonnie and Jenny rely on us Volunteers to help get the basic needs of the delightful creatures met and the more help we have, the more horses we can help.

Rant over.

[Sara]

I will see you in the morning Chica!

[coconut]

To support what Allison said, I would like to add that many of our volunteers have been on the schedule for many months, if not years. We seem to have more issues again lately where some (even long term) folks have dropped off the schedule for various reasons, some without warning, we just stopped seeing them on their regular days.

We announced an orientation on the last Sunday of July through our facebook page and no one showed up.

It's unpredictable...we tried requesting RSVPs with limited numbers of volunteers on two days a month and that didn't always work, even with an RSVP folks still did not show up.

Then, on the recommendation of other successful rescues, we tried an OPEN Orientation which I invited all new applicants to, and one month we got a LOT of response and then July...no one.

Everyone who sent in an application via the SAFE Website was invited to come to the July Orientation &, as I said, it was announced on the Volunteer page on facebook.

If anyone has any ideas, I could use a few. We obviously need a constant stream of new volunteers as we seem to rotate though them fairly regularly. I don't get the sense that we ask too much or are unfair to our volunteers, I think that situations change or people realize that chores are not the easiest thing to do on a regular basis.

That said, we have many dedicated volunteers who show up rain or shine and I would like to thank those of you who do so because we can't do all this good work without you helping to care for our precious horses.

I recently wrote a blog entry about Volunteering & building a volunteer resume: hoofprintsacrossmyheart.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-say-yes-creating-volunteer-resume.html

I like to find ways that we can give back to our volunteers and if being a reference for your work with SAFE, I'm happy to do so as thanks for all you do. Look at it like a job...only you're not getting paid in money. I think it speaks volumes, however, if you're out there looking for a new professional opportunity to show that you go above and beyond.