BARC Animal Shelter Volunteer Opportunities

If one of your resolutions was to get more involved with the community and volunteer, BARC is a good place to start. It is the City of Houston municipal animal shelter and because it is publicly funded, they are required to take responsibility for every animal that comes through the doors; they cannot turn an animal away for any reason. They intake between 18,000 – 20,000 animals every year at a single facility, which is almost always at capacity.

You can sign up for orientation here or download the My Impact app. Signing up for just one shift a month will equal almost 50 volunteer hours a year – a completely attainable goal for 2024!

There are several different types of activities regularly available:

• Dog Walking
• Dog Adoption Guide
• Dog Photography
• Medical Volunteer
• Poop Fairy
• Lobby Attendant
• Cat Adoption Guide
• Cattery Photography
• Adoption Events (both on and offsite)
• Jack and Jill of all trades – help wherever!

Taking photos, short videos, and interactive notes to help animals get adopted or noticed by rescue partners is super important and it's my favorite activity because it has wider-reaching and more meaningful long-term impact than others. You can see the difference a good photo makes when potential adopters are browsing online. It's also a lot of fun, good for you, and really good for the dogs. (I suggest volunteering with a partner – one of you takes the photos, the other brings the dogs in and out!)

If you can't or don't want to volunteer, I encourage you to adopt, foster, donate, or even just share posts on social media when you see them. Most importantly, please spay and neuter your pets.