Griffin Pond Animal Shelter - Katelyn Molinaro

Every semester, I do my outside hours at home at the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter. Every since the first day I volunteered, I have felt such a strong sense of compassion for the animals there. They were all underdogs with no voice, and I was always rooting for them. My entire world feels right when I free a dog from its cage and take it away from the noisy, stressful kennel. I know that every walk could be the difference between a dog being adopted or being put to sleep. The kennel environment in the shelter is very stressful, and animals can sometime become aggressive as a result. These aggressive animals are deemed unadoptable and are put down.  I know it really does sound silly, but walks save lives.

When I went back to the shelter this break, I ran into a volunteer I used to see when I was at the shelter all the time. I don’t know his name and he doesn’t know mine—but he remembers me because I used to be there all the time.  And I remembered him too.  I never realized that people noticed the work I did there. I just saw the usual volunteers dedicating themselves to a cause and I was inspired to do the same. I never thought that what I did would be remembered by anyone.

The good things you do really mean something to others—whether you have helped them directly, pushed them to do more, or helped a cause that was near and dear to somebody’s heart Keep doing good, APO.