LIBBY — In Lincoln County, volunteers of all ages help run the Kootenai Pets for Life shelter, caring for around 30 cats and seven dogs that call the facility home.
"You know that everyone wants to be here because they choose to be here," said Jordan Carlson, board president.
Kootenai Pets for Life was established in 2001 by citizens who were concerned about stray animals in Lincoln County.
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"The original site was in Troy and then several years later, moved here into Libby into a new building and has been volunteer-run and supported," said shelter manager Sydney Davis.
Whether it's an owner turn-in or a stray brought to the shelter, the volunteers, relying on community donations, make sure animals are vaccinated, spayed and neutered before being adopted.
"Hopefully curb some of the population growth that's happening. We have a lot of feral colonies around Libby," Davis said.
All of that work is accomplished with nearly 30 volunteers who help walk dogs, clean the shelter, or interact with the animals.
"Our animals need the socialization, they need that interaction with different people because they're coming from situations where they're not socialized and they're really timid and shy and scared. There's so many different aspects that people can help with if they're willing to donate our time to us," Davis said.
One of those volunteers is shelter board president Jordan Carlson, who says volunteering has helped her find herself.
"Just kind of fell in love with this place, fell in love with purpose. Moving to Libby, it was hard to find purpose and I found purpose here," Carlson said.
Carlson is also a teacher at the Libby Central Charter School and helped formulate a way for her students could volunteer at the shelter.
"Right now, students come on Fridays and when they come here, they're here for around 3 and a half to 4 hours, and they will get credit. This is actually an elective," Carlson said.
One of those students is Alissa Leaznby, who says volunteering has had a positive impact.
"It means a lot to me because coming here every Friday makes me actually want to come to school," Leaznby said.
The shelter is always looking for more people who want to enrich animals' lives.
"If you're interested in looking for some animal companionship, we'd love to have you volunteer with us," Davis said.
