Local teens volunteer with animals in need

One day more than three years ago, Kelsey Stoneham was watching an episode of Animal Planet when she decided she wanted to help animals in some way.

The Carpentersville girl was only 10 years old, but she was determined to find an animal shelter that would allow kids to volunteer, so she got on the computer and started Googling.

“I couldn’t find anything for people my age, and most of the shelters were in Chicago, but then I found out about Anderson (Animal Shelter),” she says.

Kelsey, now 13, has volunteered at the South Elgin shelter for the last three years, and she says she has loved every minute of the experience, which now includes feeding the nearly 200 cats at the shelter, cleaning their cages, washing and folding supplies, and, of course, playing with the animals.

“They need so much more attention because they are in a cage all day,” she says. Anderson also houses dogs, but only volunteers ages 16 and up can work with them.

Anderson is among shelters who embrace the idea that youth can be an integral part of caring for animals who need homes, says Jeff Pal, Anderson’s volunteer coordinator.

Kids ages 9 to 12 can get involved in the “Kids ’n Kritters” program, where the kids can interact and socialize with the animals, and participate in activities like crafts and teaching sessions on topics such as spaying and neutering, and how to safely bring stray animals to the shelter.

At age 13, the young volunteers can join the shelter’s Youth Club, which allows them to take on more duties and responsibilities like the ones Kelsey has now. The club asks that volunteers spend at least four hours a month at the shelter.

Anderson is a “low-kill” shelter, which means that animals are euthanized only when they are terminally ill and all medical treatment has been exhausted, Pal says. Parents need to be aware of this, and discuss the topic with their children if needed, he says. The subject is also discussed during volunteer training, he adds.

Parent Beth Hemmer, whose 13-year-old daughter, Lena, volunteers at Anderson, says as sad as it may be, the death of an animal is unavoidable.

“(Animals dying) is just part of the cycle of life,” says Hemmer of East Dundee. In fact, Lena already experienced that at age 4 when the family dog was put down after he lost his ability to walk, her mother says.

Hemmer has seen her daughter grow more confident and self-assured since she started volunteering at Anderson three years ago. “The biggest effect it has had is on her self-esteem,” she says.

When Lena was younger, her aversion to being in the spotlight caused her to freeze up to the point that it became impossible for her to advance in karate, because getting a higher-degree belt meant having to perform karate moves before an audience, her mother says.

But last year, Lena was able to comfortably give a speech after accepting the shelter’s “Friend of the Animals” award, her mother says.

As for Lena, who tries to go to the shelter every week and wants to be a marine biologist, she says that volunteering at the shelter “is really, really, fun, and really rewarding.”

Youth can also volunteer at shelters that don’t have an actual facility but instead place pets in foster homes throughout the area.

One such shelter is Animal Education and Rescue (AER), based in Libertyville, where 15-year-old Mariah Sebring of Round Lake Heights has volunteered for a little over two years. Young volunteers like Mariah help during “adoption events,” where AER sets up booths at community events like the summertime Libertyville Days and Dog Days of Summer, also in Libertyville, or at the Petco store in Vernon Hills.

In fact, it was at Libertyville Days two summers ago that Mariah found out about AER’s Youth Club. “I thought it was a really cool idea,” she said.

The group meets every first Saturday of the month, and discusses animal-related topics on which the volunteers research and give presentations. Mariah and her grandmother, Debbie Perez, for example, gave a joint presentation on pit bulls. “We talked about all the stereotypes that people have about pit bulls. They aren’t the scary, mean dogs that everyone thinks they are,” Mariah says.

Mariah says that the main thing she has learned from volunteering is the importance of giving animals a voice. “You have to speak out against people neglecting and abusing animals, because it’s terrible what people do to them. Animals have souls and they have personalities,” she says.

Perez of Mundelein became involved with the shelter as a result of her granddaughter’s enthusiasm, first by hosting foster pets in her home, and then by becoming involved with the shelter’s board of directors.

Volunteering for the shelter does the kids a world of good, Perez says.

“Some of them start off shy or awkward, some of them even a little hyperactive,” she says. “By fostering or just working with them, you just see the maturity level that comes with it. It makes them more self-aware.”

Caring for animals is also an inherently selfless act that teaches the kids compassion, she says.

“Animals don’t ask you for anything,” she says. “In life, when you do something for someone, it’s expected back, but there is no give and take with animals — it’s all give.”