Student Gives at Animal Shelter and Gains Much More

This month, we asked students to share ways they give back in their communities using #flvsgiving on social media. This post was written by one of our students who volunteers at her local animal shelter.

Hi, I’m Alexis Lamphere.

I’m a senior at FLVS and I currently volunteer with the Osceola County Animals Services in Saint Cloud.

In addition to volunteering my time, I foster kittens that are underweight or too young to be adopted and don’t have a mother cat to take care of them.

Working at the shelter is honestly a life-changing experience. I’m given the chance to help improve and change many lives every day. It teaches you to be selfless and you start to have an endless love for each animal. You start to care about the animal’s happiness more than your own and he/she becomes more than “just some dog” or “just some cat.” The animal becomes a loved one, a friend, and part of your heart.

Every day animals are dropped off due to neglect, owner surrender, or being a stray. It becomes my goal to make sure that every dog and cat gets their forever home and a new chance at life.

FLVS has really benefited me. By having a flexible schedule, I am able to come in at all hours to help out.

The flexibility at FLVS has also benefited me by making it easy to foster kittens. I’m able to give them my full attention at all hours and still get my schoolwork done.

At the shelter, I work in the cat department. I play with cats of all ages, clean up after them, feed them, and help them find forever homes. I do play-group which is when we take the dogs out in a gated area and let them run around and play with each other. During that time, we get to see each dog’s personality. You get to know the dogs on a deeper level than just looking at them from their cage.

I take photos of our dogs for the website so people who are interested can see them interact with each other. It’s a messy job, but honestly worth it. I also help families fill out the adoption paper work for cats and kittens making sure that everything is up to date and they will be taken into a loving home.

The shelter isn’t a pet store. We never know what animals are coming, but every animal we rescue is just looking for “a new leash on life.”

Without me being in FLVS, I wouldn’t be able to give so much of my time to help place animals in homes or take care of them. Our shelter relies on donations.

Everyone that works or volunteers at the shelter is here for the same reason: to help give animals a better life.

Thanks to FLVS, I’m able to do that. If I wasn’t in FLVS, I don’t know how I could accomplish as many things that I have by being at the shelter. FLVS is giving me the chance to save lives every day and that is an amazing feeling!

For more information about Osceola County Animal Services, like them on Facebook or go to www.osceolacountypets.com.