Are you ready to make a profound and immeasurable difference in and around our community?

Gwinnett Humane Society was established in 1979 to serve the needs of Gwinnett County animals and citizens and to educate the public about the needs and welfare of its animal population. Always growing and reaching to the future, GHS continues to develop programs to service our rapidly expanding community. Along with placing homeless animals, Gwinnett Humane Society offers education programs, visits nursing homes, and is involved in planning exciting special events and participating in local festivals.

Since its inception, GHS has been organized and run completely by volunteers. Our programs and services are managed by volunteers who offer their tireless efforts to help make a difference in and around our community. Whether you are prepared to offer a great deal of your time or can only spare a few hours a month, we can certainly use your help.

We hold monthly New Volunteer orientations and welcome you to join us. All new volunteers must attend an orientation prior to actively volunteering.

Beginning January, 2008, our orientations will now be held at Precious Pets in downtown Norcross.
(9 South Peachtree Street, Norcross, GA 30071, 770-416-7387, www.preciouspetsga.com)
Orientations begin at 11:00 am and run approximately 1 hour.

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP AND DIRECTIONS

If you would like to attend one of these orientations, please email and let us know.
RSVP is not required, but gives us a good idea how many people to expect.

You can also find our New Volunteer Application here.
Please fill this out and bring it with you to the next orientation!

We are in need of help in the following areas:

Phone Lines:
Because we are volunteers who have full-time jobs, our phone lines are answered by voice mail until a volunteer can respond. We need people to help us with these lines to answer various types of questions for the public on behalf of the animals in our county. This can be done from your own home.

Placement Committe:
Not sure where to start? Placement is a great way to learn about animals and their care in addition to finding great "forever homes" for homeless pets. Foster homes are always needed but there are many other facets to our Placement Committee including phones lines, adoption days, planning and scheduling, and transportation. Help our dogs and cats find great, loving homes by participating in our adoption days at our Adoption Center. You can volunteer for all or part of a day, every week, or just occasionally.

Foster Homes:
We need volunteers to take dogs and/or cats into their homes to provide a safe, nurturing, indoor environment while they are awaiting a new home. We need people who can make the animal(s) a temporary member of their family to aid them in the transition time between homes. This might be for a few days or several weeks depending on the animal's needs. This can be a very rewarding experience for the animal as well as the person or family with whom they stay. To read more about our foster home program, click here.

Education:
Whether visiting children in schools to talk about responsible pet ownership, walking in parades to educate the community about GHS, or manning tables at festivals and other sites to promote the importance of spaying and neutering, the education committee is the future of our organization. Really striving to make a difference through education and awareness, these special people need volunteers just like you to help their committee grow to its fullest potential.

Fundraising:
Since GHS is a non-profit organization supported solely by donations and receives no government funding, the fundraising committee is the backbone of the organization. Hoping to carry on the fun and education, we are always looking for ways to combine fundraising and awareness. We need bright, outgoing people with fresh ideas to keep this committee exciting and constantly moving.

Special Events:
GHS is very active in and around our community -- whether it's hosting our annual Hogs For Dogs motorcycle ride, planning our popular PAWfest festival each Spring, setting up our Holiday Open House each year, managing our Rummage Sale, setting up an information/education booth at local area festivals, or joining in parades for local organizations or special events. We always need people to help represent GHS around town, to help educate, raise donations, or just promote our mission.

Pat-A-Pet:
Do you have a special dog, cat, rabbit etc. that loves being around people? Come and share this special bond with your pet at local nursing homes and hospitals. "Scientific research has shown that interaction with animals can significantly improve humans' physical and emotional health. Put as simply as possible, pets make people feel good and they help healing happen."

Publications:
In addition to our quarterly newsletter, we also submit articles for local print and online outlets. With so much writing to do, we need volunteers with fresh ideas and the gift of gab to help us develop and enhance our catalogue.

Junior volunteers (ages 14-18) are welcome if their parents wish to volunteer also! Please see the guidelines below:

* Junior volunteers cannot perform interviews with potential adopters or owners releasing animals for adoption on their own and are not authorized to approve an adoption.  A volunteer application and signed "Covenant Not To Sue" signed by the parent must be on file before the junior can volunteer.

Ages 14-15:
Parent must be involved with GHS and be on the premises the first six times the junior is volunteering.
No handling of any animals until 25 hours of volunteer service has been performed and only after proper training and approval by Placement Chair/Co-Chair.

Ages 16-18:
Parent must be involved with GHS and be on the premises the first two times the junior is volunteering.
No handling of any animals until 10 hours of volunteer service has been performed and only after proper training and approval by Placement Chair/Co-Chair.

Age 19 (legal age to sign a contract in the state of Georgia) :
No handling of any animals until 10 hours of volunteer service has been performed and only after proper training and approval by Placement Chair/Co-Chair.