BERLIN – It was a love for animals that inspired Ethan Scheiber to volunteer at the Worcester County Humane Society.
Since the age of 13, Scheiber has played an active role in helping the shelter with daily chores, annual fundraisers and the like.
Recently, Scheiber, an aspiring veterinarian, has taken on more responsibility at the shelter by shadowing a veterinary technician and helping to administer vaccines.
“I can draw vaccines and hold animals to give them their vaccines,” he said. “I can dose the medicines and determine how much each animal gets.”
Now an 11th grade student at Worcester Preparatory School, Scheiber has racked up more than 500 hours of volunteer service at the Humane Society.
While most of his school year is spent volunteering for fundraising events to benefit the Humane Society, Scheiber spends between two and three days a week during the summer at the shelter.
“It’s not really for me,” he said. “It’s helping the animals because they don’t have a voice.”
For officials at the Worcester County Humane Society, individuals like Scheiber are a prime example of what a volunteer does for the organization.
Jessica Summers, the Humane Society’s shelter manager, said the nonprofit is looking for volunteers that can donate time on a weekly basis to walk dogs, clean cat areas, transport animals, provide animal enrichment and perform administrative duties.
While the shelter needs between three and 10 volunteers each day, Summers said an individual only needs to commit to volunteering once a week.
“One issue is people want to help, but we perhaps don’t have the best fit for them,” she said.
For example, Summers said individuals often want to help walk dogs, but the shelter doesn’t always have enough dogs at the appropriate skill level.
While the shelter has nearly 100 volunteers, Summers said 20-30 come on a consistent basis.
Summers explained that volunteers play an important role in the shelter’s daily operations.
“We are a no kill, nonprofit organization,” she said. “We’re basically one of the few no kill shelters in the area, so unless they are adopted, everybody stays. Budgets do not increase with an increase in animals.”
Summers said the shelter also offers volunteers an opportunity to develop their interests and learn skills.
“If you have goals and interests, we’ll help you,” she said. “As you become more interested in doing more things, you expand and grow here.”
For Scheiber, his role at the Humane Society led him to a two-week internship at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in July.
“We had three hospital rotations …” he said. “I was assigned small animal surgery, small animal medicine and anesthesia. Each day we had a rotation I got to shadow somebody who worked in that area.”
While he has plans to pursue other internships, Scheiber said he will continue to volunteer at the Humane Society until he graduates high school.
“It’s not a super difficult thing to do,” he said. “It helps a lot even though it’s not super straining or time consuming. People that take the dogs out or clean make it easier for everyone else there. It’s a really good learning experience.”
