Short term volunteering and theme continuity

[Mopsd]

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I am home from college this semester and my summer school plans just fell through so I am left with finding something to do at the last minute.

Decided to embark on my first non-clinical volunteering experience. With the amount of free time I have, I'll probably be able to put in about 75 to 100 hours over the course of two months. I have two main options: humane society volunteer (cat/dog/small animal socializer) and food bank volunteer (food organizer in a large warehouse).

I have equal passions for the missions at each organization and I am wondering if I could get some guidance on which one to choose. When considering the opportunities individually, I think I'll have more fun with the animals. Stacking food in a warehouse sounds really dull and boring (even though it's for a good cause!) so the shelter volunteering sounds better to me in this respect.

Should a volunteering theme be taken into consideration? When I return to college in the fall, there will be no animal rescues/humane societies anywhere near me and I will likely be volunteering at a place where I'll be serving food to those less fortunate. In this case, would volunteering at the food bank be a better choice? Should I split my time and volunteer at both?

 

[a5ie5lavida]

Humane society. Or split your time and do both if it will make you feel better I guess. But I personally wouldn’t worry about how these two options would be differentially perceived by adcoms or whatever the concern is.

 

[LizzyM]

Which one will give you more experience with people? Does the warehouse have full-time employees? An experience that gives you the opportunity to meet people and or work as a team member with, and/ or to be of service to, people different than yourself (different with regard to age, education, culture, etc) is very valuable.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

You want to have experiences you can talk about, for the reasons LizzyM listed above. If you’re just alone in a warehouse with food packages you aren’t going to have great interactions with other beings. It’ll be blah and boring like you said, and if it doesn’t give you something to discuss in your app it won’t add a lot.

 

[Mopsd]

From what I understand, a good majority of my time will be spent working alone at the food bank...so I guess that's out. As a humane society volunteer, I think I will have a higher chance of meeting more people (potential adoptive parents)... looking forward to it!