Volunteer Opportunities

Fostering Team
Our foster homes are the heart of our organization, where our dogs/cats get the love and comfort of being in a home while waiting for adoption. Our animals are typically from shelters and animal control facilities. The more foster homes we have, the more lives we can save!

 Click here to fill out a Foster Home Application.

PetSmart/ Other Outreach Events
Our foster families have a lot on their plates and sometimes they can’t always attend an adoption event, or need extra help at an event.

We need volunteers to act as handlers during an event, making sure they have positive interactions with prospective adopters who come in to meet the dog/cat. We also need people to help set up and tear down tables, chairs, and kennels.

Transport Team
 As a Transport Volunteer, you help us by transporting animals from shelters or animal control facilities to our facility for intake. This would be primarily during the week but, can sometimes occur on weekends, as well. Transports can come from, or near Chicago, southern Illinois, or even out of state. We will coordinate all the details and share them with you regarding the time and place. Using your vehicle or our van are the two primary ways we transport animals. Most often, the new foster home(s) will meet you at the building to pick up their animal. We do ask that a transport driver helps with the clean up of kennels, and possibly help with bathing the new arrivals.

If you are interested in being part of the transport team, you can apply below and ask to join the FPO Transport Group on Facebook.

Special Events/Fundraising 
 Foster Pet Outreach is a Non-Profit organization. We rely solely on donations through our supporters and fundraisers. Each year we have events where we need volunteers to help with every stage of the planning and execution of these events. Volunteers are needed to solicit businesses for raffle items or to be sponsors, set up/tear down events, and organize and create new events.  Some of our events include Pins for Pets, Easter Egg Hunt, Pawuctions, and Barktoberfest. 
We also look for opportunities to reach out to the community for donations or supplies from schools, or other organizations.

 Building Maintenance
We are pleased to have such a wonderful building located in Edwards, IL. Each year we do spring clean-up days. However, sometimes we need skilled workers at our building. We have small projects that need to be completed as well as larger projects.

Do you have a special skill or talent?
We NEED you. We are always in need of photographers to photograph fosters or events, groomers to groom foster animals for their big moments, and graphic artists to make posters or do marketing. We also need workers who can fix big or small issues at our building.

Here’s how becoming a volunteer at Foster Pet Outreach works;
You fill out the volunteer application at the bottom of the page, which then goes to our Volunteer Coordinator. Your application is reviewed, and you will be contacted by email. Then you will be sent information about joining our Facebook private group. At that point, you will also be added to our newsletter list.

We welcome all who want to give their time and talents to Foster Pet Outreach and strive to ensure all volunteers have a positive experience. Our volunteer positions vary in expectations and demands.

For liability reasons, we cannot accept court-appointed community service hour volunteers. We can only accept organizational and educational community service hours at this time.

Please note that we ask for our volunteers to be 18 years or older, or get a parent’s signature for someone between the ages of 15-17.  Any volunteers between the ages of 12-15 must be accompanied by a parent.

Questions? Please email at fpo_mail@fosterpetoutreach.org