Volunteering in local animal shelters helps not only you but the community as a whole
Join us at one of our many volunteer trips!
Who We Are
Paws UChicago is a community service RSO geared towards getting students to volunteer hands-on at local animal shelters. We also work with community animal welfare groups to raise awareness on campus about their various programs and ways in which students can help. Paws UChicago was founded in 2008, and since then has grown to include about 20 active members, as well as a much wider network of students and community members who share our goals. We seek to promote the humane treatment of animals in local shelters and in the community at large.
Our primary activities include fundraising and volunteering at animal shelters, helping local feline rescues cope with the outdoor cat problem, and continuing to raise awareness in the campus community about the issues faced by animals locally and globally. It doesn't take much to help an animal in need and Paws UChicago offers many ways that you can help. From small commitments to the larger ones, they all make a difference in at least one animal's life. Bring a smile to their face
Benefits
Our hope is to provide students with opportunities to engage in community service, as well as opportunities to spend time with animals; many of our members join the organization simply because they miss their loving companion pets at home. In so doing, we believe we can foster important relationships amongst the various animal-loving members of our local community, have a positive impact on a part of civic life which is often stretched for resources, and most importantly, make a difference in the lives of pets and their people.
Participation
Participation is very important to our RSO, since volunteering is one of our main focuses. The more people participate the more help shelters receive, we ask that members try and commit at least once a quarter to volunteer on one of our trips and attend at least one meeting. We work with the Animal Shelters in the area to help give the animals housed there a happier experience. Dogs and cats do not have the ability to help themselves, they can't find a happy and loving home alone, we help them.
Every time you take the time to pet or play with a cat or dog you can see the impact it makes. You get a friend for life and the knowledge that you made an animal inexplicably happy for a little while. Whether you miss your animals back home, or whether you want to help the animals roaming the streets looking for food, the experience is still rewarding. There is also another way to help. Raising awareness about animal rights helps the pets on the street and lost from home. Even just letting a shelter know that there is an animal out there can save an animals life.
