Volunteering…
Thank you for wanting to help with a rescue transport!
Here is the information I will need from you in order to accept your help…
Please email this information to me confidentially at mdgrrrl@msn.com. Please do NOT leave your personal information in a comment on this website!
First, when volunteering to drive, please provide me with the following basic information:
Name or Number of Leg Offered:
First & Last Name:
Location (city/state):
Please provide full street address if volunteering for overnight.
Email:
Is email available from home or only at work? (Updates are sent throughout the weekend, so it’s important I know how to reach you. If you don’t have access to email on the weekends, I need to know this.)
Home phone:
Cell phone:
Vehicle make, model, color & license plate:
Additionally, if you have never driven for me before, I will be checking references. Don’t let this dissuade you if you’ve never done this before – I love having newbies on board!!
Name of coordinators or groups for whom you’ve driven before:
If you are OTRA verified, please indicate this. No further references needed.
If you have never driven a rescue transport before, please provide a vet reference.
If you have driven before, please recommend a meeting place on either or both ends of the leg for which you are volunteering.
Please provide the name and phone number of an emergency vet in your area. This is in case anything happens that requires immediate medical attention. It may not be on your leg, it may be the driver coming into town to meet you, who is unfamiliar with the area, so please provide contact info.
Finally, for the larger transports,
How many of these dogs are you able to carry?
This is very important so I can adequately plan the number of drivers and/or overnighters I need.
Thank you for your interest in helping!! I love coordinating transports, but it doesn’t mean a thing if I can’t find local volunteers to help drive!









6 responses to “Volunteering…”
Fontius Mendenhall
March 23rd, 2009 at 05:54
How do you become OTRA verified? I have seen this before but never quite understood it. Please advise.
Foni
Kelly Gibson
March 23rd, 2009 at 13:06
Hi Foni,
OTRA stands for On The Road Again. It is a Yahoo Group of transport coordinators and volunteers. In order to be a member, you go through a verification process whereby they make sure you are who you say you are, you are a responsible person, and you are more than likely in this for the right reasons. If someone has been OTRA-verified, I don’t need to check their references because I know they have already been checked.
You can find OTRA here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OnTheRoadAgain/
Thanks for asking!
Kelly
Judy
November 7th, 2009 at 09:05
What types of vehicles are required to help out with this? I see pictures of cars taking 1, 2, 12, 13 dogs. Are you only looking for those with larger vans/suvs?
Kelly Gibson
November 8th, 2009 at 00:05
Hi Judy,
You can have any kind of vehicle, as long as it’s reliable! If I’m doing a transport of more than 1 or 2 dogs I ask for the drivers to tell me how many dogs they’re comfortable carrying. I keep putting drivers in that leg until I know all of the dogs are covered. If that means I need 10 drivers who can carry 2 dogs each, I’d rather do that than see 20 dogs not make a transport because people were afraid their vehicles weren’t the “right” kind for transports.
Great question – thanks for asking!
Kelly
Rita Wilde
November 16th, 2009 at 17:25
Do you need volunteer drivers for the NH, VT or MA areas?
Kelly Gibson
November 18th, 2009 at 14:28
Hi Rita,
We can always use more volunteers! If you’d like me to email you when transports are scheduled in your area, please send your contact details to me at mdgrrrl@msn.com
Thank you!
Kelly