Next week is an exciting one for Marin Humane — it’s National Volunteer Week. This special week is an opportunity to recognize the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing communities. Volunteers are the lifeblood of many nonprofit organizations, including Marin Humane.

Almost 800 dedicated people donate their time, energy, creativity and skills to ensure Marin Humane can achieve its mission on behalf of animals and the people who love them.

Many Marin Humane volunteers serve in highly visible areas. Visitors to our Novato campus are greeted by a volunteer who answers questions and directs them to where they need to go. You can almost always see volunteers walking dogs, playing with them in one of our dog parks or giving them love and affection. They’re also caring for and spending time with our adorable kitties, as well as our small animals such as rabbits, birds and guinea pigs.

Volunteers assist our adoptions team as matchmakers between people and pets at both our brick-and-mortar locations and mobile adoption events. They make post-adoption phone calls to make sure newly adopted pets are settling into their new homes, and they help coach pet parents and their dogs in our training classes as well as assist our behaviorists in private consultations.

With a dramatic increase over the past few years in requests from struggling pet parents for help, a team of volunteers delivers pet food, cat litter and other supplies throughout the community to those in need through our pet safety net program. Others arrive at dawn or dusk to feed the animals and clean their housing, including our barn.

Some volunteers greet and settle animals in that have made the long journey to Marin Humane from overcrowded shelters across the state. Some help our tiny but mighty veterinary clinic staff, ensuring animals are safe and comfortable before and after surgeries and other treatments.

Volunteers also perform important administrative work, which means fewer opportunities for cuddling critters but less pet hair on one’s clothes at the end of the day. These volunteers assist with data entry, sorting through donations or taking and processing beautiful photos of adoption animals for our website.

At our Kitty Corner location in San Anselmo, volunteers care for the resident felines and help find loving forever homes for them.

A few blocks from there, our amazing thrift shop in San Anselmo is completely run by volunteers, whose hard work and dedication supports the veterinary clinic at Marin Humane. Volunteers have been running the Marin Humane Thrift Shop for more than 60 years.

And, in Oakland, our Hopalong team of volunteers ferries animals to and from foster care, cares for animals during their brief stay at that location and also plays matchmaker between pets and people.

Out in the community, our animal assisted program volunteers and their pets educate children and bring the love and companionship of animals to care facilities, libraries and schools.

And, of course, our foster parent volunteers are critical to our work, too. Whether they’re opening their home to a new momma cat and her kittens, a stressed-out pup that needs a break from the shelter or an extremely shy dog that’s learning to trust again, these volunteers are so important.

We’re beyond grateful to our many volunteers and celebrate their generous spirit every day. To learn more about volunteering, go to marinhumane.org/volunteer">marinhumane.org/volunteer.

Lisa Bloch is the marketing and communications director for Marin Humane, which contributes Tails of Marin articles and welcomes animal-related questions and stories about the people and animals in our community. Visit marinhumane.org, find us on social media @marinhumane or email lbloch@marinhumane.org.