Sydney K.
From my career onset, I want to immediately start giving back to animals. My passion for animal advocacy provokes a desire within to ‘give back’ by supporting animal shelters and assisting in the rehoming of retired military working dogs. Dogs have always been a big part of my life. My family’s dogs protected me at home and gave me peace of mind, and the military working dogs provide my father protection while deployed at war. I feel a strong duty to give back to other dogs and provide them what they have given to me and my family: safety, love, and loyalty.
Currently, I volunteer at the Humane Society of Central Texas in Waco, Texas. My favorite part about volunteering at the animal shelter is treating the dogs to “doggie dates” and giving them love and attention they deserve. “Doggie dates” include taking them on a car ride or taking them on a walk in the community park. When I take them out of the shelter, I place an “Adopt Me” bandana around the dog’s neck and introduce them to as many people as possible in hopes of finding the dog a loving home. Since volunteering, I have learned many things about shelters and the animals in these institutions. The shelter where I volunteer, as well as many other shelters, struggles to find people to adopt animals, lacks enough space and resources for the number of animals they receive and in turn have to euthanize many animals. Further, shelters struggle to receive enough donations to provide the animals with adequate food, proper vaccinations, and neuter and spay each animal. My goal is to “give back” by helping change some of these issues in my local shelter by volunteering my time and donating money I earn throughout my career.
From my research, I discovered that some retired military dogs are euthanized, unless they are adopted by their handler because these specialized dogs require an owner who understands the training these dogs have been through. Placing military dogs can be harder due to their high levels of training and in many cases, they have been taught aggressive behaviors that not all dog owners are trained to properly handle. However, programs exist throughout the United States that provide therapy and permanent housing for retired military dogs. These programs rehabilitate dogs to live with a family and to understand they no longer need to be on constant high alert and “work”. Not all dogs can be rehabilitated. Fortunately, rather than euthanizing them, the programs provide retired military dogs with housing food, water, and toys in an environment where they can’t cause harm. Despite retired military dog programs and the Department of Defense offering funding to help the transition of military working dogs, additional funding is still required. I will make charitable donations to programs that support this cause.
No matter where my career takes me or how successful I become I will work to support and impact the foundations and charities that I love, which includes helping animals. I believe all animals deserve love and a chance at life. Throughout my career and lifetime, I will help to fight for better outcomes for animals in shelters and continue to donate my time and money on these programs and specialty organizations such as The Warrior Dog Foundation. All shelter dogs and retired military working digs deserve to live a happy, healthy life full of love. Until then, I will continue volunteering at my local shelter and help one dog at a time.
From my career onset, I want to immediately start giving back to animals. My passion for animal advocacy provokes a desire within to ‘give back’ by supporting animal shelters and assisting in the rehoming of retired military working dogs. Dogs have always been a big part of my life. My family’s dogs protected me at home and gave me peace of mind, and the military working dogs provide my father protection while deployed at war. I feel a strong duty to give back to other dogs and provide them what they have given to me and my family: safety, love, and loyalty.
Currently, I volunteer at the Humane Society of Central Texas in Waco, Texas. My favorite part about volunteering at the animal shelter is treating the dogs to “doggie dates” and giving them love and attention they deserve. “Doggie dates” include taking them on a car ride or taking them on a walk in the community park. When I take them out of the shelter, I place an “Adopt Me” bandana around the dog’s neck and introduce them to as many people as possible in hopes of finding the dog a loving home. Since volunteering, I have learned many things about shelters and the animals in these institutions. The shelter where I volunteer, as well as many other shelters, struggles to find people to adopt animals, lacks enough space and resources for the number of animals they receive and in turn have to euthanize many animals. Further, shelters struggle to receive enough donations to provide the animals with adequate food, proper vaccinations, and neuter and spay each animal. My goal is to “give back” by helping change some of these issues in my local shelter by volunteering my time and donating money I earn throughout my career.
From my research, I discovered that some retired military dogs are euthanized, unless they are adopted by their handler because these specialized dogs require an owner who understands the training these dogs have been through. Placing military dogs can be harder due to their high levels of training and in many cases, they have been taught aggressive behaviors that not all dog owners are trained to properly handle. However, programs exist throughout the United States that provide therapy and permanent housing for retired military dogs. These programs rehabilitate dogs to live with a family and to understand they no longer need to be on constant high alert and “work”. Not all dogs can be rehabilitated. Fortunately, rather than euthanizing them, the programs provide retired military dogs with housing food, water, and toys in an environment where they can’t cause harm. Despite retired military dog programs and the Department of Defense offering funding to help the transition of military working dogs, additional funding is still required. I will make charitable donations to programs that support this cause.
No matter where my career takes me or how successful I become I will work to support and impact the foundations and charities that I love, which includes helping animals. I believe all animals deserve love and a chance at life. Throughout my career and lifetime, I will help to fight for better outcomes for animals in shelters and continue to donate my time and money on these programs and specialty organizations such as The Warrior Dog Foundation. All shelter dogs and retired military working digs deserve to live a happy, healthy life full of love. Until then, I will continue volunteering at my local shelter and help one dog at a time.
Landen D.
If I as an individual have a successful career and decide I want to give back, there are so many meaningful causes or options to choose from as there are so many, I need in our community right now. Considering this, the cause I think I would give back to would be the special needs community. I have a younger cousin with down Syndrome named Evan, and over the years, I have grown very close to him and have had the opportunity to build a very special bond with him. This relationship opened my eyes to the special needs community and the accommodations they sometimes need to help them get through life. The connection I fostered with Evan also encouraged me to get involved with the special needs community in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I go to school.
For the past semester I have been volunteering as a coach for The Miracle League of Tuscaloosa where I get the privilege of coaching a special needs baseball team every Saturday at noon. Our mission is to give every child the chance to play baseball no matter what the circumstances are. Doing this, I have been able to build and grow relationships with a group of special needs children for over a semester now, and it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had at college so far. I have learned so much about an entirely different community of people and it’s really grown my passion towards wanting to help and give back to them.
The company that I work for, Fitts Agency Insurance, is a major sponsor for the Miracle League and I can see the impact that their support has. I think this would be the first step I would take as a successful individual; sponsoring an organization similar to Miracle League and making sure they have a solid financial backbone to ensure their success. I would also attempt to be on the Board of Directors for an organization like this to see if my leadership and organizational skills could be utilized. To that end, even as a current student, I have already been in contact with Miracle League’s Board of Directors to see if I can do anything else to have a larger impact. Supporting an organization like Miracle League is something I am very passionate about right now and I would love to continue contributing to it throughout my future.
If I as an individual have a successful career and decide I want to give back, there are so many meaningful causes or options to choose from as there are so many, I need in our community right now. Considering this, the cause I think I would give back to would be the special needs community. I have a younger cousin with down Syndrome named Evan, and over the years, I have grown very close to him and have had the opportunity to build a very special bond with him. This relationship opened my eyes to the special needs community and the accommodations they sometimes need to help them get through life. The connection I fostered with Evan also encouraged me to get involved with the special needs community in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I go to school.
For the past semester I have been volunteering as a coach for The Miracle League of Tuscaloosa where I get the privilege of coaching a special needs baseball team every Saturday at noon. Our mission is to give every child the chance to play baseball no matter what the circumstances are. Doing this, I have been able to build and grow relationships with a group of special needs children for over a semester now, and it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had at college so far. I have learned so much about an entirely different community of people and it’s really grown my passion towards wanting to help and give back to them.
The company that I work for, Fitts Agency Insurance, is a major sponsor for the Miracle League and I can see the impact that their support has. I think this would be the first step I would take as a successful individual; sponsoring an organization similar to Miracle League and making sure they have a solid financial backbone to ensure their success. I would also attempt to be on the Board of Directors for an organization like this to see if my leadership and organizational skills could be utilized. To that end, even as a current student, I have already been in contact with Miracle League’s Board of Directors to see if I can do anything else to have a larger impact. Supporting an organization like Miracle League is something I am very passionate about right now and I would love to continue contributing to it throughout my future.