Seabird Sanctuary Looking for Committed Volunteers

Do you want to give back to your community, but aren't sure where or how to start?

To make it easy for you to connect with organizations in need, Patch is running a special end-of-year series, The 12 Days of Volunteering. Through Jan. 1, we will bring you one volunteer opportunity a day from a local nonprofit group. 

Day 2: Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary

Humans are not the only ones who need help and can benefit from the kindness and hard work of volunteers.

Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is dedicated to helping the native species of seabirds in Pinellas County and always accepts volunteers.

This amazing place is the largest wild bird hospital and sanctuary in the U.S., with more than 10,000 birds coming through every year.

Workers at the sanctuary has made it their mission to help rescue and rehabilitate wild birds from across Pinellas County, but they need help to do so.

There are many options for volunteers, with the greatest need for:

• Outside maintenance care
• Advanced inside hospital care
• Inside office/gift shop
• Advanced rescue volunteers

If these duties aren’t what you’d like to do, the sanctuary has a variety of jobs and roles for volunteers. If you want to help sick, injured and orphaned birds, there is a place for you with this organization.

Before anyone can start volunteering, they need to be trained in how to care for the incoming birds. Volunteers will generally start outside caring for the permanently injured birds at the sanctuary and then move into other areas as their skill and experience increases.

Volunteering at the sanctuary isn’t always a pretty job. It requires a lot of cleaning and getting dirty to make sure the birds have a healthy and happy environment. The payoff is being able to help out some of Florida's native wildlife.

Because the nature of volunteering with birds requires a great deal of attention and training, the sanctuary requests that people who volunteer do so for at least six months and commit to a schedule that is convenient for the volunteer.

In addition to the normal volunteer opportunities, the sanctuary also offers a college internship program, through which students studying the environment, ecology, conservation or wildlife may earn college credit for the time they spend volunteering.

For information on volunteering at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, email pam@pamdobyns.com, or fax the application (attached above) to 727-399-2923. You can also call 727-392-4291 to learn about the sanctuary and how you can help.

About this column: This special 12-day series looks at ways residents can volunteer and make a difference in their communities in 2012.