Service Learning Journal - Week One

I started my volunteer work on Tuesday at the Joplin Humane Society. I found it quite interesting what happened when I was introduced to the staff. My supervisor would say, "This is Jennifer; she’s a volunteer." Normal enough, right? Yes, until the response of "phew" or "Oh, good!" came. Then later while I was helping one of the ladies with the puppies, she said that it was up to me what I did next, she wasn’t going to make me do anything - I could either clean puppy cages (which I did a little later that afternoon) or I could take a puppy outside to play with (which I did first, before cleaning the cages). She said that they don’t really like to make volunteers do real work, that’s reserved for the community service people. I got the very strong impression that they had not had very good experiences with people that the courts sent over. Though for the most part everyone that works there seemed like really nice, fun people. And it may prove to be more interesting since another girl started there the same day I did as a volunteer, so I have a peer with whom to compare insights. I had a lot of fun helping out there this week. I look forward to going back next Tuesday. Maybe then I’ll have more insight into the culture of the organization.