June 20th to June 26th marks Volunteering NZ’s ‘Volunteer Awareness Week’ and this year’s theme highlights the opportunities for volunteering across all generations.

Here at Wellington SPCA we rely heavily on our great team of volunteers who give us their time and effort helping to care for the hundreds and thousands of animals that come into our care each year. Although you need to be over 16 years old to volunteer for us, we don’t have an upper-age limit!

We need volunteers in all areas of our work – from cleaning and feeding all the animals in our centres on a daily basis, to raising vital funds, to walking our dogs. We also have very active animal therapy and education programmes where volunteers visit retirement homes and schools with some of our specially chosen animals.

So, if you’ve ever thought about volunteering and would love to spend time helping needy animals, even if it’s just for a few hours a week, then Volunteer Awareness Week is your purrfect incentive!

You can download a Wellington SPCA volunteer application form here and you can find out more about Volunteer Awareness Week here.

Wellington SPCA staff lend a hand for Arbor Day

To celebrate Arbor Day and World Environment Day on June 5, Wellington SPCA staff showed their support in spades, helping to plant 3,000 native trees in the town belt.

The event was organised by Wellington City Council and The Project Crimson Trust and involved SPCA staff, as well as children from a number of local schools, Council staff, a team from our neighbours at Wellington Zoo and lots of other individuals and groups.

The day was a double win for us. Not only was it a great opportunity to be active in our local community, but the trees were planted near the site of the old Chest Hospital – the proposed new location for our Newtown animal centre.

It was fantastic to be asked to get involved with the project and we were all pleased to have been part of a group of individuals, especially children, who were helping to protect our biodiversity for generations to come.

Not only did the Council organize a fantastic event, but they also provided a superb lunch so everyone could regain some energy for the afternoon’s planting!

Special guest Mayor Kerry Prendergast came along and thanked everyone for taking the time to participate, especially the children, who will be able to return to the site and admire the amazing results they achieved on the day.