Holding a Wish List Drive

Wish list drives help to provide necessary items for your local animal shelter, and they can be a fun, learning experience too!

Many animal welfare organizations have wish lists, which are items that they need to help care for the animals living at the shelter. It is necessary to contact the agency beforehand to see what items they actually need — it would  be a loss and also ineffective to do a canned food drive and discover that the food you collected isn’t what the shelter uses to feed their animals.  Also, they may not only need food. They can also use old (but clean) towels and bedding, as well as toys, beds, and more. They may need items like paper supplies to help with a mailing, or cleaning supplies ranging from paper towels to detergent to a dryer. 

Asking an animal shelter what they need can also provide educational opportunities for anyone who is involved in the drive or anyone who would like to donate items. By learning about how animal shelters are funded and where the majority of funds are allocated, you can help educate the public on why shelters are important institutions in your community.

Getting Started

Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to service learning stardom!

1.   Contact an animal shelter.

Contact animal shelters in your area, and find out which ones will most benefit from a donation. Many animal shelters may already have a wish list of items needed. It’s very important to find out what specific type of food they accept as donations, as many dogs and cats at the shelter may have specific dietary needs. 

You can find shelters in your area at www.aspca.org/findashelter. 

2.   Ask for help.

You will need help with organizing the event, collecting donations, and delivering them to the shelters. You can ask your friends and classmates to help, and you’ll also need the help of an adult, such as a teacher, guardian, parent, or community group leader. 

3.   Assign a task to each person in your group.

These jobs may include:

• Calling shelters in your area
• Finding a location to hold the event
• Creating posters to publicize the effort
• Distributing posters
• Collecting and boxing items
• Taking pictures during the event and when the donations are delivered. You can display the photographs after the event. 

4. Determine the date and location of the event.

Once you have decided on a location for the event, such as a school or community center, decide on a date well in advance. The date could be in connection with an animal event, such as Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month in June or Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month in October. Visit our animal-related events calendar to find out about specific animal celebration dates. 

5. Publicize your event.

Create posters asking people for donations and announcing the drive. Hang them up in schools, community groups, and clubs to which you may belong. Please remember to ask permission before putting up a poster in any location. 

Make sure to include the following information in your publicity materials:

• Date and location of the event
• Theme — if the day of the event is in connection with an animal event, such as Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month in April, make sure to include that in the poster.
• Brief description of the event and the shelter(s) to which you’ll be donating the items.
• Indicate types of items and how they should be packaged. 

Day of the Event

1.   Prepare your location.

Make sure your location for collection is clearly marked and visible. Put up several posters around the location, and be sure to display something colorful, such as balloons, to bring attention to the location. Use your imagination!

2.  Set up your materials.

Set up a table with chairs for those greeting donors as they arrive, and to display any information you would like to give away about pets or about the shelters to which you are donating the items. 

3. Keep records.

Get a special notebook to record the name, address, and description of the donation for each of the donors. You can ask them to sign in themselves, or assign someone to record the information. This information will be used to send donors receipts, information on future events, updates on the success of the drive, and thank-you notes for their donations. 

4. Set up collection bins. 

Set up boxes in an area to place donated items. The boxes should be clearly marked. This will make it much easier when it is time to sort the donated items.

After the Event

1.   Deliver the fruits of your labor. 

Once you collected the items, sort and package them neatly in small and medium boxes. This will make it easier to transport. Contact the shelter or shelters that are accepting the donations, and confirm a date to deliver the items. 
Under the supervision of an adult or if you are already of driving age, deliver the items to the shelter(s) waiting for the donations. 

2. Say thank you.

It’s important to thank the donors for their contributions. Also, it’s nice to include a brief description of the organizations that will receive their donations, and information on any upcoming events you will have. 

3. Reflect on your experience.

Meet with the members of your group to summarize your experiences. Ask yourselves the following questions:

• What was your experience?
• What did you like or dislike of the project?
• Why did you participate in this project?
• Why did you choose to help this organization? What did you learn?  What issues are important to this organization?
• What can others do about these issues?
• What can you do about these issues?
• What did you learn from participating in this project?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• Would you do this again? Why?

4.  Acknowledge your good work. 

Give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done.  Ask your supervisor or project leader if you can have a lunch or dessert to thank the volunteers for their good deeds. 

5.   Smile! 

Time to show off!  Ask permission to display any pictures taken at the event at your school, community organization, or after-school program. Consider posting them along with project information on a website like DoSomething.org. Offer your images to the organization to use on their web site.

If you are part of a club, this is a great way to let people know what you do, and is a great way to recruit new members!