Here’s a great offer for anyone who volunteers for any 501c3 organization. Sage Hospitality is giving away a free night or 50% off at one of their hotels for anyone who volunteers 8 hours or more between July 1 and Dec. 20. Their selection of hotels is a little limited, but if you are already putting in the volunteer hours, there’s a slim chance you may be visiting one of these locations and can use the discount. Here’s a list of the hotels by state and here’s the page with all the details.

As disheartening as volunteering for LA Animal Services can sometimes be, it’s more critical now than ever to put aside those feelings and step up and help. FOX 11 news (a.k.a. FoxLA) did a short piece which you can view below about the extreme overcrowding currently happening at LA Shelters.

And remember, if you don’t have time to personally volunteer, donating funds to rescue organizations that pull animals from the shelters is also extremely helpful.

A few weeks ago LA Animal Services launched a new bulletin board aimed at connecting with their volunteers. So far postings on the board have been very sporadic (I haven’t seen one message yet from the North Central shelter where I generally volunteer). One complaint (among a whole host of others) that I have about LA Animal Services is that they do a pretty poor job coordinating their volunteers and if they use this tool properly, it looks like this might be a step in the right direction. Unfortunately I am still unable to find any info on upcoming LAAS volunteer orientations, but if you’re interested in reading the bulletin board, you can find it here.

One of the organizations that The Vegan Collection donates a portion of our profits from sales to is Animal Acres. We feel very strongly about supporting the fantastic work that they do and in their latest newsletter they put the call out for volunteers to work at L.A. festivals to recruit other members and volunteers. They are looking for volunteers to help educate people about the plight of farmed animals and let our community know that L.A. has, and needs, a farmed animal sanctuary. If you are at all interested, contact Katie Arth at membership@animalacres.org.