We have always said that a person could be anywhere and still be a volunteer for the Hotline. We have had local Hotline volunteers do their shift from vacation spots as far away as Alaska. And, now we have an out of state volunteer who is living proof that this is true.
Megan from New Jersey loves animals. She also is driven to help them in some way. As a student at Temple University working towards an MS in accounting and financial management, she decided to “put her money where her mouth is” and give action to her words. Seeking opportunities she went on line and found www.volunteermatch.com and eventually ended up at Liberty Wildlife’s web page. After reading about what we do she decided that this would be a good way for her to use her skills to help.
Our volunteers usually go through an Orientation at the facility, sign up for areas that they are interested in, and then begin a training period on the job. As luck would have it our Volunteer Coordinator, Carol Suits, was planning a vacation to visit with family and friends on the east coast and kindly set up an off facility orientation and training so that Megan wouldn’t miss out on too much. It was like it was meant to be!
Since much of the Hotliners’ materials are conveniently on line and our new electronic Rescue and Transport program could be electronically sent to Megan, she was only lacking an intimate knowledge of the layout of the state. Maps work wonderfully to get the visual that she needed to know proximities to aid in rescue dispatches. She must be really bright as she quickly picked up the knack of things and is willing to use fresh eyes to help get the manual in tip top shape.
She related a story of a family hiking trip to the Smokey Mountains where a mother black bear with her three cubs in tow began to stalk her family along the trail. If they paused, so did the bears….rather unnerving I would think. It appears that they agreed and eventually sacrificed one of their bags to the curious, hungry, or just plain mischievous bears who couldn’t resist investigating their find and abandoned the stalking behavior. Megan’s take away was, “When being stalked by a bear, throw them some bags.”
Our take away from this is to always stay listed with www.volunteermatch.com and hope that another like Megan decides to “put her money where her mouth is”! Welcome to Liberty Wildlife, Megan, and thanks.
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