Facilitating Fostering

Chances are you know someone whose life has been impacted by a pet from a rescue organization and if you don’t you are most likely familiar with these organizations from their vast impact on culture. From everything from fundraisers to videos showing a dog’s heartwarming second chance the allure of these charity organizations can’t be understated.

However, behind these cute videos of rescue animals, there is a vast network of volunteers, foster families, and adoptive homes who help ensure these large organizations continue running in order to assist these vulnerable animals. It’s mind-boggling to imagine the impact these organizations have on both the animals and the communities they help. However, you can get a good idea when you look at the story of Pawsitive Match.

Based in Calgary, Pawsitive Match has impacted the lives of an unload number of Canadians. The organization started from a simple act of kindness when two friends decided to rescue 50 dogs from Mexico and place them in permanent homes across Canada. Since then the organization has grown to an officially recognized charity that since 2018 has placed 1753 dogs and 1746 cats in permanent homes. Pawsitive Match often rescues these animals from high-kill shelters in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Thailand, in addition to many other national and international sources.

Pawsitive Match is a volunteer-based charity organization and due to the pandemic, the turnover rate is high at the shelter. Pawsitive Match has opportunities for interested students. To give an example a student looking to help could be an animal flight escort! This program matches people going on vacation with animals given a second chance with Pawsitive Match. As crates are expensive and often rare in Mexico all you need in addition to your regular luggage is an animal crate! As you enjoy your vacation Pawsitive Match takes care of all the paperwork and then on your return flight, you pick up and escort the animal back to its new home!

This unique and fulfilling opportunity isn’t even the tip of the iceberg for volunteer positions with the shelter. Increased dog adoptions and volunteer turnover has led to a bigger need for assistance than ever before!

Here are some additional ways for students to volunteer:

• Students with a driver’s license can transport dogs from risky areas to a matched shelter or vet appointments.
• Help with the care of housed animals at the shelter
• Assist with administrative work and social media
• Assist in matching foster and adoptive families with each other

Even with the scope of this organization and its undertaking in providing second chances for dogs and cats across North and South America. The wide array of changes the pandemic is bringing has kept the organization on its toes. Pawsitive Match however is still ever intent on providing both the animals they assist and the volunteers that assist them with meaningful connections to both the animals and the communities they touch every day. Especially now when we are all desperate to tune out from the constant cycle of bad news and reconnect with a community with a newfound hesitancy for social interaction.

Authors note: Often our pets tend to fade into the background of our lives. We tend to underestimate the impact of having a companion that loves you unconditionally since the whole concept of unconditional love seems foreign to many of us. Collaborating with Pawsitive Match helped me understand how big a role pets, and the organizations that help connect us with them, play in both personal and communal wellbeing. I hope that you took away a similar perspective from my project