Volunteering 100’s of Hours to Change Lives – Pet Haven’s Intake Team 05/23/2023 By Kerry S Intake is arguably one of the most emotional sides of rescue. We average 90 pets a month coming into Pet Haven. Each one personally impacts our intake team. At Pet Haven, we have three main intake sources, all local Minnesota pets. We do not import from out of state. Municipal Shelters Minnesota Reservations Crisis Owner Surrender. ALL of our intake coordinators are VOLUNTEERS who work tirelessly to bring animals into foster care which in turn allows our partners to help more animals too. Our intake coordinators are on the front lines seeing new animals in need on a weekly (if not daily) basis. Our volunteers are the ones advocating to get animals into foster homes, sharing their information, seeing the euthanasia lists, and often meeting the animals in person. If you think it’s hard to see a photo of an animal in need, imagine making a connection in person. Watching as some animals don’t get scooped up can be very difficult. But it can also be very rewarding to see the scared and neglected animals blossom when a foster is found. We are so grateful for these compassionate humans who dedicate their time and hearts to Pet Haven. Our shelter intake team consists of 11 coordinators who work directly with our shelter partners and 3 admins who notify the team and update our database when new animals come in. Some of our partners are not allowed to do public adoptions so finding fosters is the only way to help. Our reservation intake coordinator is a mighty team of one and she would love to see more reservation cats and dogs in foster care! These fur-kids are some of the best around – ask any of our fosters who have taken in a reservation animal! Have experience with puppies? We can find you puppies for days! Our owner surrender team has grown substantially from a couple of coordinators to several teams due to the heightened need in our communities. We have 5 initial application screeners, 8 reviewers, 6 intake coordinators, 2 admins, and a few meet-and-greet coordinators. All of these roles have a hand in making our surrender process move smoothly while keeping our volunteers’ compassion fatigue low. We have found over the years that animals in need from this group can end up waiting a long time to find a foster. If you are able to open your home, we have plenty of cats and dogs in need. And we must also tip our hats to our volunteer intake manager who is there to support our intake teams, keep our animals in need current, and update any processes for better flow. Our intake manager works a full-time job in the medical field and often puts in another 20+ hours a week to save pets’ lives! Our intake team makes a direct impact on saving lives. A big, big thank you to everyone! If you are interested in helping through volunteering please see our open positions HERE. If you have skills or resources that would help move our mission forward please email our Executive Director at director@pethavenmn.org.
