(application & background check required)
Status: WAITLIST
Description:
Assist our philanthropy team by making short, friendly phone calls to donors to thank them for their support and generosity.
Your Impact:
These calls help donors feel appreciated, valued, and connected to the mission they support. These personal touches strengthen relationships, build long-term trust, and encourage continued generosity – directly sustaining training, care, and deployment of our canine teams.
Schedule:
- Can be done remotely from anywhere
- Flexible timing on your own schedule
- Calls should be placed during a reasonable time in accordance with donors’ time zone.
Status: OPEN (Select Days)
Description:
Assist our canine care team by keeping our kennels fresh, clean, and safe. Because our dogs are working canines in training, rather than shelter pets, we ask that volunteers do not directly interact with them to help maintain focus and consistency in their training.
Your Impact:
Clean, well-maintained kennels are essential to canine health and training success. By supporting our kennel staff, you help create a safe, sanitary, and consistent environment where dogs can rest, recover, and stay focused on their training.
Shifts:
(recurring commitment preferred)
- Monday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am WAITLIST
- Tuesday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am WAITLIST
- Wednesday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am OPEN
- Thursday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am OPEN
- Friday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am WAITLIST
- Saturday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am WAITLIST
- Sunday mornings from 8:00am-11:00am OPEN
Status: OPEN (Select Days)
Description:
Assist our canine care team with tasks such as poop patrol, cleaning crates, sweeping, dishes, and laundry to help our team wrap up the day. As with all kennel roles, volunteers support the environment rather than interacting directly with the dogs, ensuring their training process remains uninterrupted.
Your Impact:
Ensures our dogs and facilities are fully prepared for the next day of training. Your support helps maintain cleanliness, organization, and efficiency in our kennel operations—allowing staff to focus their expertise on training highly skilled disaster search dogs.
Shifts:
(recurring commitment preferred)
- Monday evenings from 5:00pm-7:00pm OPEN
- Tuesday evenings from 5:00pm-7:00pm WAITLIST
- Wednesday evenings from 5:00pm-7:00pm OPEN
- Thursday evenings from 5:00pm-7:00pm WAITLIST
- Friday evenings from 5:00pm-7:00pm WAITLIST
Status: WAITLIST
Description:
Provide behind‑the‑scenes support to our administrative team. Tasks may include scanning, mailing, data entry, inventory support, answering phones, and basic research.
Your Impact:
Behind-the-scenes support with administrative tasks, you help reduce staff workload, improve efficiency, and ensure accurate communication and recordkeeping—freeing up time and resources that directly support our mission and programs.
Schedule:
(recurring commitment preferred)
- Monday – Friday (weekdays only)
- Anytime between 9:00am-4:00pm
Status: OPEN
Description:
Help maintain and beautify our 145-acre training campus. Tasks may include weeding, landscaping, clearing walkways, cleaning handrails or signage and washing vehicles.
Your Impact:
A safe, functional, and well-maintained campus is critical for effective training and daily operations. Your efforts help protect infrastructure, improve accessibility, and maintain a professional environment where dogs, handlers, staff, and visitors can work safely and comfortably.
Schedule:
(recurring commitment preferred)
- Monday – Friday (weekdays only)
- Anytime between 9:00am-4:00pm
Status: OPEN
Description:
Join us in caring for gardens on our campus, including the Memorial Wall, Guardian Glade, and Wilma’s Statue. Volunteers tend to ornamental and pollinator-friendly gardens through activities such as planting, weeding, pruning, deadheading, watering, mulching, and seasonal garden clean-up. Depending on the time of year, volunteers may help refresh flower beds, plant new pollinator species, shape shrubs, and keep pathways and garden borders looking their best. This role is ideal for those who enjoy working outdoors, appreciate the therapeutic nature of gardening, and take pride in creating beautiful, welcoming spaces. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or simply enjoy getting your hands in the soil, there are opportunities to contribute throughout the seasons.
Your Impact:
The gardens surrounding the Memorial Wall, Guardian Glade, and Wilma’s Statue are meaningful destinations for visitors, donors, handlers, and canine teams. These spaces provide a beautiful setting for pairing ceremonies, donor tours, memorial reflections, and special events while also supporting local pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Your care helps ensure these gardens remain vibrant, welcoming, and reflective of the mission and history they represent.
Schedule:
(recurring commitment preferred)
- Monday – Friday (weekdays only)
- Anytime between 9:00am-4:00pm
- Seasonal projects and special garden workdays may also be available
Status: OPEN
Description:
Have a unique skill or professional expertise not listed here? We welcome volunteers who can contribute in specialized ways—tell us how you’d like to help!
If you’re interested in donating your time as a volunteer with SDF, please complete and submit our volunteer application.