Not Quite Finished

In conclusion, for my 20 time project, i tried to think of as many ways that i could have to contribute to the cause of shelter animals, while talking about animal abuse as well. These two topics have taught me a lot and made me realize that even the littlest things can have a large impact. I volunteered, donated, looked into fostering an animal, and did tons of research. I think my Ted Talk went pretty well. I feel like i could have inserted more statistics and pictures but it was hard to know when to limit myself. My time barely hit the requirement so i could have been a lot more slower and descriptive. Im defiantly not done with my project. I had so much fun volunteering that i will definitely do it again over the summer along with hopefully fostering a dog.

Result

In my 20 time project, I tried to look into the statistics of homeless animals and animal abuse, mainly, dogs, and see what i could have done to help. I heard a quote one time that said, "If you don't do something, no one will." Ever since i was young, dogs played a huge part in my life. As i grew older, I started to become curious about animal abuse and where dogs with no homes go. I chose this challenge because after my research, i realized that this topic does not get as much awareness that i believe it should. My main goal was to spread awareness for both myself and the rest of the community and do everything that i could have done to help out. When i was looking into animal shelters, i found out that animals that can't find a home are most of the time put to rest. After thinking of ways i could help out, i decided that i wanted to help out at adoption fairs and look out animals without homes find homes. As for animal abuse, i did a lot of research to find out some of the facts. I definately did not get as much done as i hoped but i did learn a lot from my journey. I am not done just yet because i decided that over the summer, i would volunteer at more adoption fairs and when i turn 17, i hope that my opportunities to volunteer at more shelters will open up. This topic is something that i am actually really passionate about and i don't think i am anywhere close to finished.

Week 4: Research

This past week, i focused more on my research for my topic. In the past year, South Korea has contained over 8000 dogs for meat slaughter. The Humane society shut down 4 of these dog meat farms and rescued almost all of the dogs. I found this fact very interesting and i hope to get in contact with the humane society to help with this problem around the world because i feel like it is a major cause of abuse. Because my last adoption fair turned out so well, i decided to sign up for another one. This week i have been looking for other shelters to work with. Like last time, I did have a few struggles. Age limit was still a major problem for me. Many shelters, such as the San Jose animal shelter requires you to be 18 so i couldn't volunteer there. I will still continue to look into shelters to volunteer at, but if i can't find a different shelter, i will definitely volunteer at the past shelter again. As i continued to do research on ways to help animal shelters, i found the topic of fostering an animal to be very repeated. By the end of summer, my goal is to be able to do so because this is a topic i am very passionate about and i believe even one animals life will make a large difference. As i start reaching towards the end of the semester, I did not exactly do as much as i hoped but my journey so far has been so much fun and i will continue to do this over summer.

Week 3: Trying Something New

So far, i have ran into a few obstacles but i think that i have progressed a lot in the past few weeks. Last week, I volunteered at an adoption fair that i have been emailing for a while now. When i first arrived they checked me in and got all my information. Because i was still under 18, the process of getting all my information was a bit long. One of my struggles was that i am allergic to animals such as cats and rabbits so i was a little nervous about what would happen if i had a reaction. Fortunately, the only animals they were helping out that day were dogs, which was great because i have 4 myself. I helped set up cages and also helped foster families get their dogs to the center and also helped with putting water inside the cages. While people were taking a look at the dogs, I took pictures for the adoption center to have and also answered questions from the families who were interested. Since this was the first adoption fair i have ever volunteered at, i was very nervous but overall, it was a great experience. I really enjoyed working with the dogs and helping out for the organization. During this fair, I saw about three dogs find a forever home and it was really exciting. Because this was such a fun day for me, I have signed up to help out at another adoption fair in two weeks with a different organization. Now that i am more comfortable with how these fairs work, I will try to be less shy and more welcoming to the families interested. I really encourage those who are looking for dogs to adopt one because  I learned that by doing so, you will be saving a life. Very few people adopt and way too many pets come into the shelter which is not all a good thing. The next step i want to take is to try something new to help out and also to volunteer at more shelters.

Week 2

So far, I have visited a couple more shelters to look for different volunteer opportunities. I have also emailed some shelters asking the same thing. Next week, I have scheduled to help out at an adoption fair volunteering to help walk dogs, take pictures, and clean up for three hours. I have encountered one setback which was that the age requirement to volunteer is 18 at some adoption centers and shelters. This should not be a major problem because i have found many other shelters to help out at. I have done some new research on how else to help out with animals i need and learned that just donating money and toys to a shelter is a lot of help. What i want to do next is set up a fundraiser to help raise money for the organization i plan on helping out at first. I will start making a plan this weekend and hopefully get it to happen within the next two weeks. I have learned so much from this project so far and i cant wait to see what happens next and the end result.

Blog Post 1

There are animals and animals in shelters all over the world that are in need of help, including animals in your very own community.
20 time is spending 20 percent of class time researching about a project you are passionate about. This gives students a chance to look at topics they would like to further understand and maybe find a passion out of doing it.
My essential question is how can all of us help animals in need including animals at shelters?
For my 20 time project, I would like to try different ways to help animals and different shelters that need help and volunteer to help them raise money for their animals. I chose this because i love working with animals and it makes me sad to see animals in pain. I want to do whatever i can to help out.
My main goal is to raise money for shelters and help out in any way that i can. I would like to try more than one way in trying to help out such as fostering, raising money, and volunteering directly at different shelters in the bay area.
I will measure my progress through blog posts. Every time i go to an event or or volunteer at a shelter, i will vlog what i do and also post a blog.
My plan moving forward is to get started right away so that i have a lot of time to try different and new things.