Service Project Ideas for Youths

•   Supply drive from our wish list (food drive, towel drive, art supply drive for education department, grooming supply drive, office supply drive)
•   Make pet toys or start a pet toy drive
•   Make homemade pet treats
•   Hold a bake sale (for pets and people) and donate proceeds to VBSPCA
•   Aluminum Can recycling drive
•   Hold a car wash with proceeds coming to VBSPCA
•   Have your class or troop buy a dog bed for our kennel
•   Have your class or troop buy humane traps to help us with wildlife and stray animals
•   Participate in our Walk for the Animals every October. Raise pledges and help publicize the event.
•   Organize a penny war at your school with proceeds to benefit the VBSPCA
•   Get your family involved in fostering needy pets or transporting wildlife. (Parental involvement required.)
•   Have your class or troop raise money to sponsor a pet pages ad in the newspaper

The Educational Volunteering Program This program is designed to help young people become meaningfully involved in animal welfare and in environmental protection. Celebrate your educational journey by stepping on the Educational Program path and creating your own purposeful actions in the animal welfare world!

Visual and Industrial Arts-painting, sculpture, photography, film, woodworking

•   Create school bulletin boards with photos and descriptions of animals up for adoption
•   Help with graphic design of brochures and promotional flyers
•   Photograph animals available for adoption for your newsletter
•   Create posters for special events and adoption fairs
•   Sew dog sweaters, bandanas, tapestries, quilts, and pillow covers with animal themes to sell at special events.
•   Build benches and picnic tables for the VBSPCA
•   Create jewelry to sell at fundraisers
•   Sculpt dog and cat figurines to sell at shelter fundraisers
•   Build bird houses for sale or use on shelter grounds
•   Kids art sale

Business/Marketing

•   Design and implement a promotional strategy for special events and public awareness campaigns centered on such widely know national events as Spay Day USA, Tag Day, Adopt a Shelter Dog/Cat Month, Be Kind to Animals Week, National Dog Bite Prevention Month, or National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week
•   Create and promote public awareness campaigns on such issues as coping with pet allergies, renting with pets, caring for pets when traveling, the dangers of leaving pets in hot cars, the problems with keeping wild animals as pets, spay/neuter, or the importance of properly training pets
•   Assist with community events and fundraisers

Drama/Theater

•   Create animal-related puppet shows and skits for younger children
•   Produce informational pet care videos and films: assign various roles to other students-that of a vet, the child, the pet, etc.
•   Perform a play with proceeds going to the shelter
•   Work with the humane educator to help create interactive humane education programs for classroom presentations
•   Videotape "A Day in the Life of…" or create a video diary of a typical week/month/summer at the shelter for visitors and community members
•   Write a developmentally appropriate humane education play for each grade level your humane educator visits using animals as the main character

English/Reading/Literature/Writing/Speaking

•   Help younger children by celebrating the joy of reading during National Children's Book Week and Reading Month (January) by reading aloud classic humane favorites
•   Write and design informational brochures on the importance of spaying/neutering, keeping a pet for life, responsible pet ownership, safety around animals, caring for a senior dog/cat, etc.
•   Research educational grants for shelters
•   Write reviews of contemporary humane literature, poetry, and short stories for students and teachers
•   Write and present a persuasive speech or paper for school on a humane topic

Health/Physical Education

•   Organize walkathons or benefit sporting events, like student-teacher basketball, football, or softball games
•   Create an informational display on the mental, emotional, social, and physical health of shelter animals
•   Create a promotional brochure/bookmarker on the importance of veterinary care throughout a pet's lifetime, including ages for shots/boosters
•   Research various shampoos, flea and tick medication for the healthiest brand by consulting vets, shelters, and Consumer Reports magazines
•   Analyze the cost and accessibility of veterinary care over the course of a pet's life

Living Skills

•   Perform landscaping tasks around the shelter

Mathematics/Statistics

•   Create math-based humane education lesson plans for the humane educator to use with classroom presentations or school groups
•   Track numbers of pet adoptions, incoming dogs and cats in Excel workbook pages on weekly, monthly, and yearly basis
•   Use statistics from your community and work with staff members to create a problem-solving approach to the three biggest areas of concern found in your area, such as pet overpopulation or local feral cat population, dispense information on responsible pet ownership, or keeping pets in their homes once they leave your shelter

Music/Choir/Marching Band/Jazz Band/Orchestra

•   Stage a Battle of the Bands competition for local high school or teenage bands with all the entry fees benefiting the shelter
•   Coordinate a benefit concert or talent show for your shelter featuring fellow students and/or their school chorus or band
•   Host a dance for the community members with proceeds going to the shelter
•   Charge admission to an outdoor Pet Rock festival where local bands play and community members can bring their dogs

Science Biology Chemistry Physics Earth Science Ecology Zoology

•   Create a brochure for visitors explaining why keeping wild animals, as a pet is unfair and unnatural for that species
•   Design a display to explain why keeping cats indoors is important to songbird populations and other wildlife
•   Create a take-home brochure for visitors on pet-safe companies/manufacturers that don't test their products on animals
•   Create a wildlife-friendly landscape or refuge
•   Write a column in a newsletter for the summer months discussing the importance of "braking for wildlife;" i.e., newly fledged birds learning to fly, turtles crossing to lay eggs, etc.
•   Create materials for students to use as an alternative to dissection

Social Studies/History/Government/Psychology/Sociology

•   Serve on special events committees to help plan events and solicit help from businesses
•   Lobby/make calls to government officials regarding animal-related bills and issues
•   Research and write a history of your shelter and submit it to local newspapers or the school newspaper
•   Research the history of companion animals/domestication and post in the main lobby for visitors
•   Research the shelter's current humane education program and create a survey for teachers to fill out after classroom presentations

Technology Education/Computer Science

•   Design creative signs for cat cages and dog kennels listing the animals' name, age, and temperament, owner's reason for relinquishment, etc
•   Design, develop or update Web sites and newsletters
•   Write and post a monthly column for your Web site/Blog called "Pet of the Month" and include a photo and description of the animal
•   Assist humane educator with educational files at the SPCA

World Languages or English as a Second Language

•   Translate humane education materials, including brochures and pamphlets into other languages
•   Find copies of popular humane education children's books in Spanish and other languages to read aloud to visiting school groups or during classroom presentations
•   Create a bulletin board display at a local cultural club or school in the members'/attendants' language, including photos and descriptions of animals up for adoption.