Tazewell Animal Protective Society (TAPS) is a non-profit animal shelter working to save homeless dogs and cats in need. A large part of our work to save animals is accomplished through a team of dedicated volunteers working hand in hand with staff to save lives. We are always in need of new volunteers to help us achieve our mission. We utilize volunteers with a wide skillset to accomplish our goals. Whether you want to walk dogs, socialize cats, or help in an administrative fashion, we need your help. Please see below for a description of just some of our volunteer duties.
We ask that volunteers be at least 16 years of age and commit to volunteering a minimum of 4 hours per month. Volunteers age 8-15 may volunteer with a parent's direct supervision.
Ready to volunteer?
The first step in the process is to submit a volunteer application and from there, you'll be asked to complete some paperwork and successfully complete our online orientation training in order to become better acquainted with our shelter, our policies, and the work we do.
To fill out an application to volunteer using your mobile device, click here.
On your home computer, click here to apply.
Each week, TAPS partners with Tazewell Bingo Center to supply volunteers for Wednesday night bingo. In return, TAPS receives a portion of the evening's proceeds to support our shelter dogs and cats. This is an important fundraiser and we can't do it without volunteers. It is not necessary to undergo volunteer orientation to volunteer for Bingo.
Bingo volunteers should be available from 4:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. Whether you can volunteer every Wednesday, every other week or one Wednesday a month, we need your help. Volunteers help to fill out menus, pass out Bingo papers, run a cash register, run side pull tab games which is handling money, counting cards to refill games, and going out into the crowd and verifying Bingos.
Over 90% of the dogs and cats that we take in at TAPS still need to undergo spay/neuter surgery. By law, they cannot be adopted out until they are spayed/neutered. We have great partnerships with community vets to help with these surgeries but it is our responsibility to transport the animals to our partner vet's offices located in both Bartonville and Peoria. Vet transporters are needed several mornings a week for approximately 2 hours beginning at 7:00 a.m. Transporters are also needed several afternoons a week in the 3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. range for approximately 2 hours. Vet transporters utilize the TAPS vans. Whether you can dedicate one morning or afternoon a week, or whether you have an open schedule, we could use you on our vet run team.
Vet run volunteers should have a valid drivers license, be available for at least one morning or afternoon shift a week, and be able to communicate basic messages from the vet's office to the shelter staff. For example, 'dog A is not coming back tonight because he had a reaction to anesthesia and the vet's office wants to watch him'. Vet run volunteers should be able to minimally handle dogs and cats as well.
Shelter cleaning is a must to keep our animals happy and healthy as well as presentable for our shelter guests. No matter the time of day, there is always something you can do to help out to maintain our shelter cleanliness. Our biggest need is in the morning between the hours of 7:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. You don't have to come for the full shift, you are welcome to come in and help out where you can. We need help doing dishes, cleaning litter boxes, vacuuming and mopping front offices, cleaning our bathrooms, and a variety of other cleaning responsibilities to help open for the day. In the afternoon, there may be donations to help put away, laundry to fold, or cat litter boxes to scoop clean. In the evening, we always need help folding laundry, cleaning dishes, scooping litter boxes and dog kennels and a host of other cleaning responsibilities. It's not glamorous but it is at the heart of our work here at TAPS.
TAPS utilizes volunteers to help walk dogs to give them additional time outside of their kennels. Dogs are color coded to easily notify volunteers what level of experience they need to walk a dog. For example, a dog with a red sticker can be easily walked by any volunteer. While we allow volunteers to walk dogs at any time of day, we particularly need dog walkers at 7:00 a.m. to help give dogs a morning walk and between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. for their last walk of the day. Kennels are cleaned between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. every day and floors are wet with disinfectant so dog walking during this time is discouraged.
TAPS often takes dogs to locations within the community as an opportunity to socialize the animals and bring visibility to adoptable pets. Volunteers can be assigned a variety of tasks during off-site events from helping to set up the events to cleaning up from the events after they are over. We need volunteers to work at our informational tables, collect donations, or help handle a dog. When handling dogs at our off-site events, responsible handling is always our focus. Dog handlers are asked to keep dogs a minimum of 6 feet away from each other, monitor their body language for comfort of situation, and interact with the public to answer questions about the dog you are handling. At off-site events, our volunteers are the face of TAPS, and are serving as a representative of our organization. We ask that you conduct yourself professionally and always keep the safety of our animals as your first priority at off-site events.
We are always in need of foster home for our animals especially for our puppies, kittens, seniors,and special needs dogs and cats (undersocialized animals, animals needing medical care, etc.). Please consider fostering to help change a life. If you are interested, please fill out a foster application. For more information, please contact Amy Mobeck, Volunteer Coordinator: Phone (309) 353-8277 or e-mail: tapsamy@yahoo.com
Assist the shelter staff in tasks necessary to keep our kennels clean and safe for our animals
Help keep TAPS running smoothly by sorting and reorganizing supplies, a room, files, etc.
Activities held away from the shelter (Adoption Events, Bingo, Walmart Donation Drives, etc. )
| Activity | Shifts | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spook Hollow Marquette Heights | 2 | 10/25/2024 | 10/25/2024 | |
| Yoga classes | 1 | |||
Volunteer Orientation, Software Training, etc.
| Activity | Shifts | Start | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer Orientation | 1 | 10/11/2024 | 10/11/2024 | |
TAPS is a shelter of hope for homeless animals. We provide a temporary sanctuary and an opportunity for life by bringing companion animals and loving people together.
