As part of my project, I reached out to some shelters to get their take on how the community can help. Below are some good responses that help to get a better picture of what they need.
Loudon County Animal Shelter - Thank you Henry for answering my questions!
"Grade school children can help the shelter in a lot of ways! Our volunteer program starts at 10 years old, but kids under 10 can help at one-time events like our reading to pets program or our frozen fun Friday series. They can also be shelter advocates by talking about how adoption helps animals, and suggesting adoption if people are looking for a family pet."
"Our needed supplies change depending on what types of animals we have at the shelter, and how many we have. The items we need most frequently are soft, jerky-style dog treats, canned kitten food, and spray cheese. We have a donation wish list on our website, which can be found here: Support Homeless Pets | Loudoun County, VA - Official Website."
Animal Welfare League of Arlington - Thank you Faith for answering my questions!
"There are a few ways grade school kids can get involved, one of which is completing some of our listed At-Home projects found on our website! Some of these projects are cutting up hot dogs, making blankets, or making cat wands, but there are several more to choose from! Once you make these at home, you can drop them off at the shelter! Grade school kids can also collect items and donate them to us! One item that we always use and is easy to collect are empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls which we use for enrichment for our animals."
"Some items we can always use at the shelter include smooth peanut butter, size Large, xLarge and xxLarge kongs which are used for enrichment. We can also always use any kitten toys or pipe cleaners, which they love, and any kind of rabbit or guinea pig toys!"