Volunteer Activity

Our volunteer base is growing and has enhanced the working of our sterilization units. The following activities have been undertaken by them:

The Prahladpur garden
This is the fruit of the labour of Deepti, Shikha and Shashank Sharma. This was a huge piece of land in front of our kennels which was lying unkempt and uncared for. Our three volunteers came very faithfully every weekend and holidays and toiled in the hot sun for long hours, tending to it. They planted small saplings, flowers and transformed it into a tidy and beautiful area. On another occasion, we brought about 15 big saplings during the monsoon season and planted them in the front garden and in the back yard. All of them survived and are now tall, willowy things. We hope someday, they give a lot of shade and comfort to our canine friends. You can enhance our efforts by planting a tree.

Free Anti Rabies Vaccination (ARV) Camps
We organized a free Anti-Rabies Vaccination Camp in December 2004 at the Prahladpur center. We worked in collaboration with the officials of the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to make it a huge success. Our volunteers, Vikas, Maneesh and Sujatha and staff distributed fliers and made posters announcing the ARV camp. We vaccinated over 100 dogs at the camp, pet and street dogs who were brought in by their owners or people looking after them on the streets. You can volunteer to help with an ARV camp, when being organized.

Dog Coats
To combat the difficult winter months, Maneesh Bakshi, another volunteer, offered to have dog coats made from blankets. He and his mum set to work and very soon had made about 12 coats. As if to prove a point, the first coat, when put on a dog, was promptly torn to bits but the others somehow survived. They have now seen two winters and are in a very disheveled shape. This year, we would need to procure or make more coats so you could donate dog coats, sacks and old newspapers. We hope this can be taken up again as a volunteer activity!!!

Chics
To protect the shelter animals from the scorching sun or the bitter cold winds, Mrs. Neeru Mehta, Vasudha and Vivek Mehta got chics put up at the center. Vivek very meticulously measured the window size and ordered chics to be made. The supplier, along with Vasudha, came to the center and installed the chics in the windows. This was done during the winter months and the dogs greatly benefited from them this winter, which was the severest in Delhi in 70 years. We hope to use them to screen the windows during the summer.

Visit by an American Embassy Student
Karoline Walter, a student at the American Embassy school, visited the Prahladpur center on April 2, 2005. Karoline is working on a school project on 'Street Dogs and Rabies' and wanted to document our work. We took her dog catching, after which she observed two spay and neuter operations. Karoline felt she is very well equipped now to produce a good presentation.

Students can benefit from a day at the center by accompanying the staff for a dog catching exercise, help in feeding the dogs at the center and spend time walking the dogs or playing with our resident dogs.

Operation ‘Cleanup’
We had planned an operation ‘CleanUp’ at the Prahladpur center in order to remove the thick undergrowth, weeds and shrubbery that had cropped up during the monsoon season. Volunteers showed up in numbers to help with the cleanup at the Prahladpur center on Sunday, November 5th, 2005. Many, many thanks to Dipti, Vasudha, Shikha, Shashank, Vikas, Arjun, Dheeraj, Ravi, Vijay and our staff members, Praveen and Joginder who picked up shovels and got to work. Vasudha also followed up on this clean up and brought a couple of gardeners on the next weekend to reinforce the work done.

An outing for our staff members
Animal care attendants spend extensive hours working at the center from the early morning hours, beginning with cleaning of the kennels and ending the day after sundown with the final dog being fed. A few volunteers decided to give them a much deserved break and in December 2005, Sujatha and Vikas took the boys to Appu Ghar for the entire day.

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