This past semester, I volunteered weekly at a cat shelter called Ollie’s Place in the East Village. Over the past few months, I have grown to love and know the personalities of all 26 cats at Ollie’s. I’m the one who helps to feed and clean up after them, as well as talking to everyone who walks in about the animals and the adoption process. I also clean the cat crates, fill their water, mop and sweep the facility area, clean the litter boxes, and more.
I get to meet people who come into the shelter and introduce them to the cats before helping to find a cat best suited for their family to adopt. Generally, the cats’ personalities are hard to read for new people, but I tell the prospective adopters all about the animals and their personalities. I now know each cat by name and their personalities like the back of my hand. I love talking about the cats to prospective adopters and trying to encourage people to adopt specific ones that I believe are suited for them. I have learned a lot about cats and how to take care of them over the past few months. I have also learned how to communicate with strangers, and now, I am great at anticipating unpredictable cats.
Because Ollie’s is all donation-based and volunteer-run, I decided to promote Ollie’s by making a fundraiser on Instagram. I set up a donation link in the bio and am trying to post often to get attention for Ollie’s. I am hoping more people will hear about the shelter, visit, and get to know the cats there. I also hope more people will donate to the shelter to help buy supplies and food for the cats. Maybe these posts will encourage more people to sign up to volunteer at Ollie’s Place because we need more volunteers to help out.
You can help promote the cats at Ollie’s Place by sharing their information with your friends, donating, promoting it on your social media, and by submitting an application to volunteer at Ollie’s Place in this link: https://www.mightymutts.org/volunteerapplication
You can come into Ollie’s Place today in the East Village.
The address is: 430 E 9th St, New York, NY 10009
You can find the hours on Google maps.
The donation link to Ollie’s and the Mighty Mutts (father nonprofit organization of Ollie’s Place) is: https://www.mightymutts.org/donate
The Instagram link to the account is https://www.instagram.com/olliesplacedonate/