About 3 ½ years ago I left my full-time job in the media to pursue other interests and freelance from home. With more time on my hands it didn’t take long for me to make my way to the Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter to see what I could do to help. I began volunteering by simply taking one picture of a dog or cat each week to be featured as an adoptable pet in the Weatherford Democrat.

While there I befriended another volunteer at the shelter named Barb Pursley. She had been volunteering there for more than nine years and her efforts were tireless. Together we decided to form a non-profit to help support the shelter and soon after Parker Paws was born.

Parker Paws is an all-volunteer group. Our mission is simple and humane. We work to increase pet adoptions and improve the quality of life for the animals in the shelter. Volunteering to help the lost and abandoned animals at the shelter can be a daunting task at first, but Parker Paws is there to help make it easy. If you are interested in volunteering you have to be at least 18 years old and will need to complete a volunteer application to be approved by the city. You can either do this at the shelter office at 403 Hickory Lane just off Bankhead in Weatherford, or you can download one from our web site (www.parkerpaws.org) under the How You Can Help tab.

Volunteering is a lot of fun and there are a lot of ways to contribute. Activities include walking and socializing the dogs, bathing and grooming the dogs, assisting in the office, fostering special needs pets, and helping to photograph the pets for Petfinder.com.

If you want to volunteer but are not comfortable going to the shelter, you can donate your time by working off-site adoption events or other money raising activities and events that benefit the shelter. Off-site adoptions are scheduled monthly, usually on Saturdays, and can only be conducted with the help of volunteers. You may have seen us at PetSmart or other local businesses. With our big, beautiful mobile adoption unit donated to the shelter in 2006, we generate a lot of interest.

Parker Paws is a 501c3 non-profit group. All donations are tax-deductible and we rely solely on the generosity of donors and volunteers. We keep our operating expenses low so that we can focus all donations on purchasing flea and tick medicines, kitty litter and other items as needed.

It is hard for me to believe that Parker Paws is less than a year old! In just seven short months we have already placed 116 animals into loving homes through our off-site adoption events, had a float in the Christmas and the Sheriff Posse Rodeo parades, raised money to regularly buy medicine and supplies for the animals at the shelter, consistently kept the www.weatherford.petfinder.com web site up to date and created our own web site! We have more than 20 active volunteers and many others who help out when their time allows, and our organization is a proud member of the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce.

We are also excited about exhibiting at the Peach Festival next Saturday. Come by our booth to meet us. If you bring your canine friend we’ll have plenty of water for him to drink, a puppy pool and water mister! We’re located by the stage in the children’s section just north west of the courthouse.

Often I am asked how I can volunteer for the shelter without wanting to bring all the animals home with me. Yes, it breaks my heart and can break my spirit if I let it. It is sad at times and I will always carry memories in my heart of the many dogs and cats that did not make it out of the shelter and into good homes. But I can’t indulge myself in that kind of sadness. I have to do something to help and something that I know is making a difference in the problem.

You can make a difference too. For more information visit our website at www.parkerpaws.org. You can email us through the site of if cyberspace is not your thing and snail mail is, write us at Parker Paws, P.O. Box 781, Weatherford, TX 76086-0781. But most of all, visit the shelter before getting your next pet. They are waiting there for you.