"As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness."
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Inspiration of my Project
I believe everyone from children to adults can do good in the world and it is never too early to take action. As a highschooler, I was inspired to do a project on improving safety in animal shelters because almost every shelter I have spoken to either has no plan or has a very limited idea of what to do. Additionally, I have seen some local shelters trying to recover from the devastating effects of not having a plan. Everyone, including animals, deserves to have a loving, safe, and positive environment to live in. I know that the staff and volunteers in animal shelters are often far too busy with tasks that must be completed immediately to consider anything beyond the current moment, so I set out to do the important, often overlooked work that they may not have time for. Now, I am encouraging everyone to share my work with their local shelter and to modify the document to fit their needs.
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I began this project during the end of my Sophomore year in high school, as I knew I would need at least 2 years to do a quality job. In completion, this project took 100 hours, excluding the time creating this website, writing reflections, and doing other paperwork. I started by planning a general idea of what I desired to accomplish. Next, I made a more specific plan and finally, I decided to divide the projects into two main sections, with many subsections to each. I kept extremely detailed notes of everything throughout the project, but I summarized the steps I completed in the following sections.
Main Section 1: Writing and Implementing the Safety Plan
Main Section 2: Gathering/Creating Necessary Supplies for the Shelter and Teaching the Community
About the Animal Welfare League
The Animal Welfare League is an amazing animal shelter in Pierceton, Indiana that works diligently to ensure quality care of the animals they have and to find them loving homes. The staff and volunteers perform under very difficult conditions but have such a great passion for helping every animal that comes through the doors. Please check out their website for more information or view their promotional video, using the links below. Additionally, consider adopting a pet if you are looking for a furry companion!
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I developed my connection to this shelter through a service club at my high school, where we participated in a variety of service work. Though many of the situations we encountered through this club inspired me to "do better", the trip to this shelter really struck me. For days I kept wondering what we could do to support the staff and volunteers that were continuously working under such difficult conditions. After a bit over a month passed by, I decided to start a group that visits the shelter on a regular basis to do a deep clean and help the staff & volunteers catch up on areas that are often overlooked. However, after three visits I knew there was still more I could be doing. I sat down with the Executive Director of the shelter and we bounced ideas off each other of everything that I could help with, but nothing seemed to stick. Toward the end of the meeting, it hit me - a safety plan is often forgotten, nobody has a free moment to work on it, and it is not something that just anybody could complete! We made a plan to move forward and I have had a special connection to AWL ever since.
Writing and Implementing the Safety Plan
I dedicated over 100 hours (see the detailed chart below) to my project. It took persistence, dedication, creativity, and of course the support of my friends and family.
The Safety Plan
Click Below to Download
Animal Welfare League Disaster Response Plan
This document was developed for the use of the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County. It is a working document that will be updated regularly by the shelter staff. I hope that this will inspire you to create your own plan and encourage nearby animal shelters to do the same. Click the link to download!
Activities Time Log Part 1
Total of 64 hours 30 minutes
5/26/18 ; 2hr
Made plans for next steps/future
I met with Katey Zemen, Executive Director of the Animal Welfare League, to discuss plans and goals for the project
6/24/18 ; 40min
Setting up future events and plans
I contacted Katey and Joe Vogel, Master Fireman, to set up a safety evaluation walkthrough of the shelter
7/20/18 ; 4hr
Walk through of shelter with Mr. Vogel
Mr. Vogel did a walk-through of the shelter to suggest immediate and long term safety suggestions
11/5/18 ; 45min
Setting up next shelter visit
Contacted Katey and discussed current achievements and future hopes; contacted friends to get a group together to clean the shelter
12/6/18 ; 30min
Contacted other shelters for safety plan ideas
Reached out to 3 other shelters to see if they had safety plans and if I could review them (none had plans)
12/8/18 ; 7hr
Visited AWL for deep clean of the shelter
Visited AWL with two other friends to do a deep clean of the shelter in areas where the otherwise very busy staff and volunteers may not have time for
12/18/19 ; 2hr 30min
Researched other safety plans
Completed online preliminary research on safety plans for businesses and/or for pets
1/7/19 ; 30min
Wrote questions to ask other shelters during interview about their safety plans
I wrote questions to ask other shelters about their plans, before hearing back that they did not have plans. I had hoped to gain some knowledge from their experiences.
1/14/19-1/16/19
1/20/19
1/25/19 ; 16hr 15min
1/26/19
1/30/19
Further research and writing the first draft of the plan
Did more in-depth research on animal shelter safety and wrote my first draft of the disaster response plan
1/14/19
1/25/19 ; 30min
Contacted AWL Executive Director to set up next shelter visit
Contacted Katey and the community at my school to get volunteers to do another deep clean of the shelter
1/26/19 ; 5hr 30min
Visited shelter for a deep clean
Completed another deep clean of the shelter with a small group of students in areas that might otherwise be overlooked
2/2/19 ; 4hr 20min
Meeting with Executive Director to review the first disaster response draft
I met with Katey to go over my first draft of the disaster response plan and make a plan for what to add/remove/clean up
12/6/18
2/2/19
1/30/19 ; 3hr
2/12/19
Bought AWL paver to support their new facility
AWL was selling pavers to gain funding for their new facility, so I got together a group to combine our donations and purchase a paver
2/15/19
4/25/19 ; 6hr 30min
6/22/19
Work on 2nd Draft
Completed more research and writing for the second draft, adjusting based on the previous meeting with Katey
4/21/19 ; 1hr
Making flyer asking for pillowcase donations and advertising project
Created a colorful flyer to place around the community asking for gently used pillowcase donations. This can be found under the "Resources" tab.
6/19/19 ; 5hr
Meeting with Executive Director for Planning and Reviewing
Held a meeting with Katey to review accomplishments thus far and specify plan going forward
7/20/19-7/22/19
9/14/19 ; 4hr 30min
Working on 3rd Draft
Cleaned up disaster response plan, working toward a final draft
Staff Training Video
Gathering/Creating Necessary Supplies for the Shelter and Teaching the Community
In the second stage of my project, I put all of my research to use. I collected supplies, created cat evacuation plans, and taught both the shelter staff and the community about the importance of having and executing a plan.
Activities Time Log Part 2
Total of 35Â hours 30min
7/26/19-7/30/19
8/3/19
8/5/19 ; 12hr 30min
8/12/19-8/14/19
Work on gathering & prepping materials for cat evacuation bags
Collected pillowcases and researched and ordered the best nylon rope for the project based on cost efficiency and quality
8/16/19 ; 2hr
Present to Board of Directors
Presented disaster response plan to the AWL board of directors and gained approval to continue
9/23/19
9/26/19 ; 5hr
Knotting pillowcase strings
Learned to tie a bowline knot and knotted all 300 knots (2 per pillowcase) with some help from our school librarians
10/28/19 ; 4hr
Making Community Resources
I created flyers & packets for the community on basic evacuation principals, tips for making their own plan, and basic pet safety information. I intend for the shelter to hand them out with each dog adopted, but this is their decision.
10/29/19 ; 3hr
Filming at AWL
Planned shots and filmed at AWL for the staff training video
10/30/19 ; 5hr
Creating Staff Training Video
Edited all film and text together into a video for the future staff trainings at AWL. It showcases why planning is important, as well as how to evacuate both cats and dogs.
11/9/19 ; 30min
Final Interview with Katey
During this converstation, I discussed with Katey items that went well, could have been imporved, and that I might want to continue working on for the future.
11/9/19 ; 3hr 30min
Dropping off the hard copies of the finalized paperwork and complete cat evacuation bags
I drove to the shelter to drop off the cat evacuation bags, answer any remaining questions, and review the paperwork. I plan to set up future dates to speak with those at the shelter to contune safety initiatives.
