Thank you for inquiring about Animals for Awareness' volunteer opportunities. We are a very small, modest 501(c)(3) non-profit organization currently run out of Palos Park. We are a no-kill educational facility and have 2 vets on our staff for 24-hour care. We are licensed and inspected by the USDA and also hold several Illinois Department of Conservation permits. We are also state and federally licensed to rehabilitate native wild animals for release. Most exotic animals are housed permanently. Others (domestic only) are awaiting an adoptive home. While we do a lot of rescue work, rescues are limited due to space and cage availability. Our mission: Protection through Education! We are more of an educational facility than a sanctuary.

Animals accompany us to schools, scouting functions and other events to help teach the importance of thinking before buying, responsibility and commitment. We do not believe in the blanket banning of exotic animal ownership. Our goal is to educate - to talk most people out of getting exotics and to further educate the few who are willing and capable of housing an exotic properly, safely, legally and responsibly.

We house both domestic and exotic animals (including snakes!). Some of these animals have a higher potential for being aggressive. Only experienced volunteers are allowed to work with these animals or animals with a history of being aggressive. Also, there are certain animals, which no volunteers are allowed to work with. Anything with a mouth can bite. Anything with claws can scratch. The safety of volunteers comes first, then the safety of the animals. Our volunteers can do many things (listed in order of importance): 1. Clean cages - the #1 task!!! ( a very dirty job sometimes!) 2. Feed and water animals (usually done with #1) 3. General cleaning of animal areas (no direct contact with animals at all) 4. Help with cage construction 5. Assist at educational programs and adoption days 6. Grocery/pet food donation pick-ups 7. Rescue pick-ups 8. Collection can placements and pick-ups (being made now) 9. Posting flyers for educational programs 10. Running a critter to the vet or picking one up 11. Fostering a sick animal that needs extra care until it's recovered 12. Assisting with educational programs - offsite, usually 13. Website and graphics design 14. Fundraising 15. Grounds maintenance and upkeep 16. Handyman work ie, plumbing, electrical, carpentry 17. Anything else that comes up :-)

Volunteers are essential to our organization (and our sanity). I call our volunteers angels!! They allow us to take much needed breaks and take care of the things that get left by the wayside when we're consumed with animals 24/7 - you know, like answering e-mails, paying our bills and doing our own laundry :-). Volunteering can be extremely rewarding!! It can be fun!! It can also be frustrating, boring and downright disgusting. Because we put a lot of time into training volunteers and we rely on your support, we request that you take the time to really think about volunteering. Training a volunteer can be tedious. It sometimes takes a little away from the animals until you're up and going. When we get a good consistent volunteer, our effort has paid off! We get many people in who are gung ho until they realize how much work it is to clean cages. It's also boring and monotonous at times! Then they stop coming and the work we put into training them was for nothing. Everything backs up. Please take a moment to think about the time you have to volunteer and see if you're really ready to make a commitment.

Currently our regular volunteers are here on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. New volunteers are required to come at this time. Consistent, reliable and trained volunteers can then begin coming at other times as long as someone's home. If you can commit to a flexible, but basic "schedule" of some sort, such as weekly, monthly (third Sunday of the month, every full moon, or whatever), then keep reading. For the non-routine volunteer work, a schedule is less critical.

In order to be considered for volunteer work: 1. You must be at least 18. 2. All potential volunteers must fill out an application for review. 3. All volunteers/guardians are required to read and sign a "Hold Harmless" release form before beginning volunteer work. 4. You must be current on your tetanus shot. 5. You must not be allergic to animals/pet bedding or have severe asthma. Those of you who are (such as ourselves), you must be able to safely control it with medication, i.e. inhaler, allergy pills, etc... 6. You must not be severely phobic of any type of animals, particularly snakes....not liking them is ok, but not being able to walk past the cage is not :-0 7. NO drugs or drinking EVER allowed on the premises. If you show up under the influence you will not be permitted to return. 8. You must attend a mandatory orientation meeting.

Finally .............we are an animal welfare organization, not an animal rights organization. If the thought of an animal in a cage (healthy, happy and well-fed) makes your stomach turn, you probably won't like volunteer work. Let us know up front! Again, thank you for inquiring about Animals for Awareness. Take care!

• We will help you build your skills to work with and around the animals. The most important qualities include: A deep love for animals, being reasonably physically fit, responsible, committed, reliable, trustworthy, possessing common sense, and the ability to retain mass amounts of information :-) Must also work well with other people and be able to follow instructions, as well as work independently and use common sense judgement. If you have those qualities, we'll put a lot of effort into teaching you the rest. Good work/volunteer ethics are a must. Since it takes quite a bit of our precious and limited time to meet with and train volunteers, please be relatively certain that you have the desire and ability to stick with it through thick and thin. This is not an opportunity for someone who simply wants to view and play with the animals a few times before quitting. Our greatest need is for volunteers who demonstrate consistency and reliability.