Volunteer
Volunteers are a very important resource for small rescues, such as Wayward Ranch. Our volunteer program is continuing to grow and diversify as more volunteers become part of our wayward family. If you are interested in volunteering with us, check out some of the volunteer opportunities we offer (listed below), and complete our application. Once we have received your application, give us a few days to get in touch with you to set up a day/time for you to come to the ranch, tour the facility, meet the staff, and get started!
Thank you in advance for wanting to join us in providing a quality life to the animals who need it the most!
Our animals call Wayward Ranch home, sometimes for a week, sometimes for the rest of their lives. It is our goal, no matter how long an animal lives with us, to make every day fun and full of love and our volunteers play a huge role in this!
Socializing with our small animals, farm animals, dogs, cats, and equines brightens their days and keeps them enriched and happy! Take a dog for a walk, groom a horse, pamper a pig; they love it all!
Available for all ages depending on the animal.
It's a dirty job, but we all have to do our part to keep the animal areas clean, sanitary and comfortable! Volunteers are always a welcome relief then they are willing to assist with the daily cleaning.
Small animal cages, farm yards, horse stalls, dog cages, cat litter boxes, etc all need to be cleaned regularly so our animals can be comfortable and happy in their home with us.
Available for all ages.
Do you want to commit to saving an animal without making a lifelong commitment to keeping them? Well, then fostering would be perfect for you! Our foster families house our animals prior to them finding adoptive homes. This allows them to maintain all of their house manners or to be better socialized prior to adoption.
We provide all of the supplies for our foster families so this process is free, all we ask of you is to love the animals as much as you can until they find homes!
Volunteer age restrictions will vary depending on the animal to be fostered.
A photo is worth 1000 words, especially if it features an adorable animal! Photos are usually an adopter or donor's first introduction to an animal and the work we do. Having beautiful photos goes a long way to conveying the work we do to give our animals the best quality of life we can.
Adopters often tell us the first photo they saw of an animal is what made them sure they were meant to be their new furry best friend! We always need help planning and executing new and interesting photo shoots with our critters!
Available for all ages.
Social media posts, answering the phones, adopter reference checks, making kennel cards or educational materials, all of this is involved in assisting us with our office tasks!
If you love animals and want to help us but don't enjoy getting dirty on the farm, helping in our office may be the perfect compromise for you!
Available for Ages 16+
If you feel passionate about helping animals but can't come to the ranch regularly, consider starting a donation drive in honor of our rescue! We always need cleaning supplies, animal feed, toys, treats, produce, and bedding and we rely heavily on private donations!
Rally your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors into donating a few items each and pretty soon, you can make any day Christmas for our critters!
Available for all ages.
Adoption and open house events are a very important way we get to connect with our local community! It helps get the word out about the work we do, the animals we save, and how people can get involved in our mission to provide a quality life to the animals who need it the most.
Selling merchandise and promoting our animals for adoption are also very important parts of our event attendance and we can always use more volunteers to help handle animals and talk to members of the community who have questions!
Available for all ages.
Do you love horses? Well once a month, as long as we have enough adoptable horses in our care, we host a trail ride around our beautiful 60 acre property! This is great enrichment for our horses so they can be exposed to new people and new situations as we prepare them for adoption.
Available for ages 13+
Maintaining a barn is no easy task, and sometimes it feels like every day there is a new repair to do! Having handy volunteers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty power washing, weed whacking, lawn mowing, painting barn doors, repairing fencing, or repairing horse stalls is more valuable than we can explain!
If you think these activities sound like a fun way to spend your day, let us know and we can get started on some of the regular repairs around the barn with your help!
Available for all ages.