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Homeward Trails has rescued nearly 35,000 animals through an amazing network of dedicated volunteers who perform a variety of tasks that help save the lives of dogs and cats in need. Volunteers are critical to our success and perform many vital functions at Homeward Trails. We could not do what we do without our wonderful volunteers!

You will find a number of opportunities that allow you to participate in a meaningful way with the flexibility to participate as your schedule allows.  Please note that most of our volunteer opportunities require volunteers to be over 18 years of age.  If you are under 18 and looking to help out please refer to our Youth Volunteers page.

Here are some of our most rewarding volunteer opportunities:

Fostering

Provide a temporary home for a rescued animal until an adoptive home is secured. If you’re interested in fostering, please check out our Foster Program.

Application Screening

Join our dynamic cat and dog adoption teams and help us save more animals by screening adoption applications or assisting our Adoption Coordinators by doing vet and rental reference checks!

Adoption Counseling

Spend time on the weekends at the Adoption Center helping match adopters with their new furry friends.  Adoption Counselors screen adopters and finalize adoptions – a fun and rewarding job!

Transportation

Drive animals from our shelters partners, to and from adoption events, and take our animals to medical appointments.

Events

Provide support for adoption events and/or special fundraising events throughout the year. To check out some of our upcoming events, visit our Events Page.  We also need Event Coordinators to help run our cat and dog adoption events.

Volunteer at Meow Palace

Help care for, socialize and clean up after our resident adoptable cats.  We always need more volunteers and we have morning and evening shifts available 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Contact kelseym@homewardtrails.org.

Group Volunteers

We love large groups of volunteers who can help us accomplish big projects at the Homeward Trails Adoption Center located in Fairfax Station, VA.  If you would like to schedule a volunteer project for your office of civic organization please  contact rebeccag@homewardtrails.org.

Help Staff at the Adoption Center

Help our staff care for, socialize and clean up after our resident dogs.  We always need more volunteers and we have hours available 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Contact centervolunteers@homewardtrails.org.

Assist Prospective Adopters at the Adoption Center

Assist adopters  during our weekend adoption hours by showing them around and helping the meet dogs. 

Give a Dog a Break from the Shelter – Give a pup some much needed R&R through our Tails Out and Peace Out Room Programs. Whether you come to come to snuggle a dog for an hour or take them for a hike, or a three day sleepover, you can get your dog fix and give them a break from shelter life. 

Fundraising

Help us raise needed funds to keep going! Consider an office donation drive; accept donations in lieu of gifts for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries; hold an event at your home, at your favorite bar, at your church…anywhere you enjoy spending time; hold a bake sale; create an online giving page; set up a giving page on Facebook; and more! Ask us about all the different ways you can help raise needed funds for our animals. Contact donate@homewardtrails.org.

Other

If you have an idea for volunteering, share it with us! We love new ideas. Contact volunteer@homewardtrails.org

You can become an HT volunteer by completing our Volunteer Questionnaire below. After you fill it out, our volunteer coordinator will follow up with you within 72 hours.

Completing court ordered community service? Contact communityservice@homewardtrails.org

More News from the Trail!

  • Clear the Shelters Adoption Weekend – August 31 and September 1

    Reduced and Waived Adoption Fees! Join Homeward Trails as we participate in NBCUniversal Local’s 10th annual Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption event.  Help us clear the Adoption Center and our foster homes August 31 and September 1 – many of our adoptable cats and dogs will have reduced fee and fee waived adoptions.  Homeward Trails Manny Law Adoption Center 11116 Fairfax Station Rd. Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Saturday, August 31 10 AM – 4 PM  Sunday, September 1 10 AM – 4 PM Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes! Since its 2015 inception, Clear The Shelters has led to more than one million pet adoptions and raised more than $4.5 million. The 2023 campaign resulted in more than 158,000 adoptions – lifting the all-time adoption total past one million – and raised over $575,000.

  • Helping Happy Hounds – Fee Waived Hound Adoptions

    As you may or may not know, Virginia animal shelters are filled with Hounds. These amazing dogs are most often discarded by callous hunters, found starving wandering the countryside. Many never make it as hunters and are then tied up to chains or left along the side of the road like old furniture. A good number of them do not make it out of shelters alive.But these dogs – like all dogs – are amazing and worthy of families. We just cannot get them families fast enough to stop them from dying in our shelters when there is no more space.And so we are trying something new here. ALL HOUND DOGS ADOPTED FROM HOMEWARD TRAILS WILL BE FREE. Yes, we are WAIVING ADOPTION FEES for Hounds for the foreseeable future.We hope that will entice well-matched applicants to consider a Hound now. Use the money you save on training, treats, toys.We think all dogs are worthy. But the reality is that some take extra incentives. Some have more barriers to getting adopted. And the result is well, more end up dying. And no – this does NOT mean we are just giving dogs away. All applicants will still go through our application/screening process to ensure good homes. This is just us trying to save more dogs by eliminating one more barrier to adoption. And hey, Hound lovers can use all the extra money they can get to buy treats, right?Help us help these Hounds. Our program Helping Happy Hounds is live NOW. Let’s save some lives!

  • Our Current Supply Needs – Can You Help?

    Each year Homeward Trail spends thousands and thousands of dollars on supplies to care for our animals and support the general operations of our organization. We always strive to keep our costs as low as possible so that we can spend every extra dollar saving more lives.  One simple way you can help is by donating these supplies – everything from postage stamps, to cleaning supplies, to ink cartridges and paper, to dog and cat food and litter. Our wish lists are updated regularly so you can always find our most current needs. Please consider donating supplies to help us cover the cost of these items. The more we are able to get donated, the more animals we can help. Thank you! Adoption Center Wishlist Meow Palace Wishlist Dog Enrichment Wishlist Trails Home Farm Wishlist Farmhouse Wishlist Trails UP Wishlist  Puerto Rico Wishlist

More News from the Trail!

  • Clear the Shelters Adoption Weekend – August 31 and September 1

    Reduced and Waived Adoption Fees! Join Homeward Trails as we participate in NBCUniversal Local’s 10th annual Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption event.  Help us clear the Adoption Center and our foster homes August 31 and September 1 – many of our adoptable cats and dogs will have reduced fee and fee waived adoptions.  Homeward Trails Manny Law Adoption Center 11116 Fairfax Station Rd. Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Saturday, August 31 10 AM – 4 PM  Sunday, September 1 10 AM – 4 PM Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes! Since its 2015 inception, Clear The Shelters has led to more than one million pet adoptions and raised more than $4.5 million. The 2023 campaign resulted in more than 158,000 adoptions – lifting the all-time adoption total past one million – and raised over $575,000.