Most of the volunteers at West Suburban Humane Society volunteer every week or every other weekend on a regular shift.

While these volunteers provide essential care and socialization for our animals, day in and day out, WSHS also relies on volunteers to promote our organization, to provide humane education to the community, and to work behind the scenes to keep our adoption center in great shape.

Danny Hatlestad is our newest animal care student.  While volunteering on Tuesday evenings with his mom Bridget in our cattery, Danny discovered his passion for animal care.  Spending time with the cats and kittens, helping them become comfortable while at the adoption center, has been the highlight of his week. Danny’s experiences with WSHS have led him to his goal of a career in veterinary science.  To gain more experience, Danny now shadows with our animal care team every Thursday.  On these afternoons, he helps feed the dogs and cats; he performs weekly wellness checks on the animals, including trimming nails, cleaning ears, and monitoring weights, and he facilitates appointments with potential adopters.  Danny is headed to the University of Missouri next year to study animal science.  His dream is to become a veterinarian and he will most likely specialize in small animals.  We are thankful for Danny’s compassion and happy to be a part of his journey.

WSHS recently had the pleasure of hosting three groups of volunteers from Giant Steps in Lisle.  Giant Steps is a therapeutic day school that serves students and families affected by autism spectrum disorders.  On three different weeks, adult students and their teachers spent the morning with our cats, dogs, and shift volunteers.  The students cleaned litterboxes, filled water bowls, mopped floors, stocked food in the prep room, filled litter storage bins, removed the snowflake decals from the lobby windows, and stuffed doggie Easter eggs for our upcoming event at Two Bostons.  And, of course, the students spent lots of time with the animals, playing with the kittens, loving the adult cats, and throwing a ball for dogs Ginger and Beignet.  Each student had a different skill set and all of them enjoyed their time at the adoption center.  We enjoyed having them as well and loved hearing about the animals that are a part of their lives at home.