Volunteer

​Volunteer Services​

The animals and staff at AC&C need you!  We are a very busy shelter with many animals and people entering through our doors. We strive to provide the best possible service and always need additional volunteers!

There are three ways you can volunteer:

Become a full Volunteer- Requires a minimum 4 hours a month, application, background check, and drug test.

Become a Foster Parent- Requires an application.

By scrolling down the page, you'll find each section in a drop down menu along with the applications to get you started on joining the volunteer team.

Before you join, remember that the hours are a minimum of 4 hours a month.

Volunteer Jobs:​​

  • Lobby Attendant & Animal Interaction – Volunteers assist front counter staff by retrieving animals from the adoption kennels for citizen introduction and adoption consideration. Pet owner education also is relayed through conversations with the adopters. Plus, pet owners often search for lost animals at our shelter and need direction from volunteers.

  • Exercising/Socializing Animals – The shelter's dogs, cats and rodents spend a lot of time in their cages and kennel runs. Volunteer attention given to the animals through walks, petting, side yard runs and toy play provide the physical release and trust building interaction needed.

  • Laundry – The staff needs help with

  • Off-site Adoption Events – Adoption saves animal lives and the opportunity to adopt is given not only within the shelter but also at various off-site locations throughout the county. Volunteers are needed to assist with adoption event preparation including animal social skill assessment, animal bathing and supply gathering. Adoption events are managed through volunteer shifts and the jobs include animal showcases, public education, adoption agent paperwork duties and mascot costume wear!

  • Spay/Neuter & Rabies Vaccination/Microchip Clinics – Volunteer support to the vet staff within clinics is needed on the second Saturday of each month. Animal patient check-in, surgery recovery monitoring, instrument pack assembly and crowd control are some of the jobs assisted by the volunteers.

  • Pictures, videos, bios – Animals are made adoptable every day. New pictures, videos, and bios need to be created for marketing them in order to help them find new homes.

When you successfully complete volunteer orientation you will be partnered with a volunteer mentor for training, and receive your On-Site Activity shirt for $5.

The volunteer process can take some time since we are part of the police department. We ask that you be patient while your application and background checks are processed. Once complete, you'll be contacted for a drug test, and then contacted to attend a volunteer orientation.

Ready to join the volunteer team? Great! Fill out the volunteer application.

If you are already a volunteer, be sure to enter your hours at myimpact.com.

Fostering a pet is not a lifetime commitment; it’s a commitment to save a life.

We are always looking for foster parents who are willing to open their home and hearts to take animals home to help with various health, behavior, or medical needs.

Why foster?

  • Fostering provides a safe and healthy environment for animals who need to heal, grow or get some extra TLC while they look for homes. This includes important socialization.

  • Fostering animals creates more space in shelters for other animals in need.

  • Your life becomes a lot more interesting (and adorable)!

  • Fostering introduces cats and kittens to new pools of prospective adopters.

  • It's so rewarding to watch them learn and grow.

  • Fostering animals saves lives. Period!

Things to note before becoming a foster parent:

  1. You do not need to be a full CMPD Volunteer to be a foster parent.
  2. Being a foster parent includes actively looking for a new home which means that the animal could be listed as available and your contact information will be listed on the website.
  3. Potential adopters will contact you directly via your email. First email has first dibs to meet and adopt. We do not do home/vet/reference checks.
  4. Some foster animals need to be separated from the rest of the pets in your household.
  5. Pictures are bios are required to be sent to our foster coordinator within the first week they are in your home.
  6. Fosters can keep certain fosters pets for up to 6 months, but, if they are not adopted, they will be required to come back to the shelter. Or you can adopt them yourself.
  7. Our greatest foster needs are:
    1. Small and large dogs who need socialization
    2. Large dogs who need a break from the kennels
    3. Pets who had to undergo surgery or need medical recovery
    4. Bottle baby/neonate orphaned kittens
    5. Weaned kittens that need socialization and weight gain
    6. Momma cats with nursing babies

You must be at least 18 years of age before applying but you do not have to be a Mecklenburg County resident.

Find the guidelines and application online.

Once approved you'll be contacted by our foster coordinator, Amy Yeager. She'll send you a "congratulations" email, along with your foster packet that has further instructions and rules to follow.

*Please note that this foster program is only for our shelter animals in need of foster care. If you own a pet that you need to find a foster home for, you need to contact rescues groups to see if they can assist.*

​If you are looking to volunteer due to a court order, please contact Supervisor Todd at lori.todd@cmpd.org

This is a completely separate program from the full volunteer program.

​​​ATTENTION ALL HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS: If you have chosen animal fields or animal cruelty/abuse for your projects, please read carefully.

If your project includes a qu​estionnaire, please email our Officer Shrewsbury at dshrewsbury@cmpd.org and he will be happy to answer them.​​ One on one interviews are possible but by appointment only.

We know that your projects may require volunteer hours. Unfortunetly, due to the volunteer unit being under CMPD, anyone under 18 years of age is not allowed to volunteer. If you are 18 we can set you up with our volunteer coordinator to sign a waiver and be assigned to some projects around the shelter but it will not include animal interactions.

As an alternative, we always need money and supplies to help our shelter animals. If your project allows, you can hold a fundraiser and/or donation drive for us. Head to the donation page to find out what supplies we need, and which funds you'd like to finance.

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