MAS Field Trips

I was able to benefit members of the broader community by giving a dog in the shelter a great day outside of the shelter, as well as helping promote the dog to potential adopters. My service was people-facing, as I was volunteering for MAS. The employees there seemed very happy about the high turnout for the event.

Did your service align with your personal values and beliefs?

Yes! I absolutely adore dogs and love treating them to a great day.

What impact do you think your service had on you personally?
It is incredibly fulfilling to give a dog that may be scared in a new environment a time to be a dog again and do they things they love. My favorite part of the entire day was watching the dog I was assigned slowly come out of his shell.

Do you plan to keep volunteering with this organization? Why?

Yes, I plan to keep volunteering with this organization. It was an amazing experience and I loved giving a dog a great day.

The service that I participated in was able to serve the animal shelter community. It was able to provide dogs with the opportunity if spending time with volunteers for a couple hours. The volunteers would then take pictures and give a note on their time with the dogs. In turn, Memphis Animal Services will post the bios and picture to possible get the dogs adopted. This was a people facing service that involved going to the shelter to pick out of dogs for the day. The staff there is really appreciative of any volunteers they are able to get for the field trips. This service aligns with my beliefs and it helps me to advertise the dogs in a way that best showcases their personalities. I learned the importance of showcasing their personalities as most people may not take the time to learn more about them. My service contributes to their mission of finding homes for the animals within the shelter.

My service impacted not a person but a dog. I got the opportunity to take a dog out on a field trip. This benefited the dog because he probably is used to not being out and about. By taking him out, could have boosted his chance of getting adopted.
1. What skills did you develop or improve through your direct service?
- I learned to take care of a dog alone and navigate around with a dog at hand. It definitely helped me improve my skills of taking a dog out.
2. Did you work individually or as part of a team during your service? How did that impact your experience?
- I worked alone. It definitely was difficult to do it all alone and I think it would have been so much more fun and enjoyable if I had someone there to help me. I think if I had someone there, I could have given the dog an even better day.
3. What impact do you think your service had in you personally?
- Going here definitely made me want to continue to serve at MAS. It is such a good organization and I’d love to help dogs get adopted. It made me more open to even adopting a dog myself one day.

I LOVED doing this field trip today! I took a sweet puppy named Blu to Chick-fil-A and got him a pup cup and some chicken nuggets. Then we went to Shelby Farms and had a short picnic then went on a long walk. Blu was the sweetest pup!