Shelter Scouts

The Shelter Scouts program explores different ways that youth can help pets in our community. Participants will explore the world of animal welfare through shelter tasks, educational activities, creating enrichment, and animal socialization. Some examples of potential projects include making dog treats, assisting with shelter laundry, creating adoption posters, preparing for upcoming East Bay SPCA programs or events, making cat toys, assisting with shelter clean-up, providing attention for the animals in our care, etc. This program is supervised by our Humane Education staff, so there is no need for parents/guardians to be present.

Shelter Scouts is open to youth ages 8-17. Sessions are held for 1.5-2 hours once per week, for three weeks. The fee for Shelter Scouts is $100/student/3-week session. This fee helps to cover the cost of staff supervision during the program as well as program supplies. Limited financial assistance through scholarships is available for qualified applicants.

Youth should enroll based on their age on the first day of the session they are registering for. All program hours are eligible to be signed off as service hours. Participants are welcome to sign up for multiple 3-week sessions, as each session has different content, activities, and animals.

While all activities will be centered around helping the shelter and the animals in our care, participants should not expect to spend the full session with the shelter animals. In order to make sure our animal-loving participants still get the dog and cat time we know they love, we will plan to include a minimum of one animal socialization session per day. As an animal shelter is a very dynamic environment, the planned daily tasks are always subject to change based on the needs of our staff and shelter animals.