OC is Recruiting New Volunteers!

We are very happy to announce that our volunteer programs are back to being fully operational and we are now recruiting new volunteers!

With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, Our Companions made the difficult decision to halt our volunteer programs for the time being. With the growing concerns and spread of Covid, it was in the best interest of our volunteer’s health, as well as our staff that needed to take care of our Sanctuary guests. Without the amazing help of our volunteers, our incredible staff stepped up to the plate to ensure our animals were cared for and our community was supported during those couple months. Our staff became a true symbol of compassion and dedication during such a dire time.

As the months rolled on and cases were decreasing, Our Companions started to slowly reintroduce our existing volunteers back into our Sanctuary and community programs. Along with integrating established volunteers came new procedures to ensure the safety of volunteers and staff. This included masks, social distancing, sanitizing/hand-washing upon arrival of every cottage, curbside pick-up/drop-off for dog walks, routine disinfection of surfaces throughout the day, and much more! Though volunteers were slowly coming back, sign ups were still spaced out to allow time to disinfect the cottages before the arrival of the next person. After many months of quarantining, it was such a pleasure to have a few familiar faces back with us! Our Sanctuary guests were certainly grateful too to have their friends back!

Now, our volunteer programs are fully functioning and we’re ready to welcome some new faces to our OC community! Though this time around, things are a bit different! To allow an opportunity for those to help volunteer their time from the safety of their home, we have quite a few options you can consider that will greatly help the organization! We are also still offering volunteer roles at our Ashford Sanctuary, as well as our community programs that may require volunteer time at home or at our Valerie Friedman Program Center in Manchester.

Given the crucial training to these important, life-saving programs, we do ask for a 1 year commitment in these more active volunteer roles. You can read more about all of our unique volunteer opportunities on our website here! Programs like our Canine College Training Program, Helpline Volunteers, and Feline and Canine Socialization Programs are all looking for new volunteers! After reading through our volunteer programs, you can submit an application online and someone will reach out to you with more information on getting started! For any questions, please contact our Helpline at 860-242-9999 or email [email protected]. We can’t wait to welcome you to our OC family!