If your company offers you paid VTO, use it! Paid volunteer time off is a special benefit in some corporate roles. I get 16 hours a year and I chose to use all of mine walking dogs at my local animal shelter.
This was one of the best parts of 2025 and I wish I had started sooner. In fact, I went on the weekends as well and racked up over 70 hours, and earned an intermediate dog handling certification from the shelter.
Why should you volunteer:
- Volunteering makes a difference: The dogs I spent time with were overjoyed to be out of their kennel in the sunshine, rain or shine. For that half hour, you are the best thing in the whole world, because our dogs only get walked once every 5-6 days.
- Volunteering is a source of free exercise: I walked 234 miles this year taking dogs out at the shelter. WOW.
- Companies won’t offer this perk if you don’t take advantage: Companies offer VTO for their own reasons like brand reputation and impact reports, but if employees don’t use the program, there’s no incentive to continue.
- Volunteering builds resilience and awareness: I learned so much about the shelter/rescue system, dog breeding, court case dogs, and am now more educated and able to advocate for animals via community outreach.
- Volunteering introduces you to your community: I met so many new people this year who mentored me, attended volunteer socials, helped handle dogs, and taught my volunteer orientation classes. I was inspired by everyone I crossed paths with at the shelter.
A final shoutout: if you are in Atlanta, walking dogs at any of the three Lifeline shelters (the Dekalb and Fulton county shelters as well as their Lifeline Community Animal Center) is an easy commitment. They have well-established training programs to get you ready and you make your own schedule.
I can’t end this post without mentioning my girl Sugarloaf. Yes, I play favorites. I bonded with Sugarloaf the first time I walked her and when I looked up her profile I was heartbroken. She was on the euthanasia list because she was at the Fulton county shelter so long, but luckily she got moved over to the CAC location back in July which saved her. Since then, she has sat patiently in her kennel watching potential families pass her by. She has been in the very back row of the shelter this entire time and completely overlooked. She even successfully survived heartworm treatment and is so ready for her forever home.
I took Sugarloaf home for a weekend to help her decompress, and other than one day trip, that was the only time she has left the system this year. Sugarloaf was an angel of a houseguest. She is quiet (I’ve never heard her bark), house-trained, not destructive, and puts herself to bed in her crate at night. Someone trained her well because she knows every command I’ve tried. I think Sugarloaf is still waiting for the right fit because she needs to be an only animal in the home, and that makes her harder to place. She LOVES humans though, adults and kids alike.
This will be the final LinkedIn post of 2025 for me as I take the last few weeks of the year to spend time with family. Happy holidays, everyone!
View original post on LinkedIn.
Day Learning Design 