Volunteering at island sanctuary

I want a dog lol .. i wish i could volunteer to help too , i used too do it when i was younger but now sadly i think with my disability it wouldnt be advisable too , but its really nice that you want to volunteer hope you get some others wanting to help

Thanks Rob. Today is 6 months since my dog 'went over the Rainbow bridge'. I'd had him for 16 years so it's still very hard. I walk my cousin's dog along the seawall every day which is so nice. You live in Gzira, right? I can walk Wesley over that way sometime if you want to meet for coffee/tea. I like all the cafés in Gzia- good vibe in that area!
Edited: whoops, I see you're in Marsaxlokk!

yes im in marsaxlokk, i may end up visitng the island sanctuary now for a friend lol
I have always been a dog person , i used to work at the blue cross animal sanctuary then i went and worked at a kennels where i met honey a golden retriever puppy who i used to help feed she was so small she literally could fit in the palm of my hand , i worked all summer and with the help of my mother we bought her for the family dog , she was adorable.  she used to follow me around everywhere and mum always knew when i was coming home from uni as she would sit by the door head reasted on the window looking out for my return   and honey was extremely loyal to me ...though i think one of my fondest memories was walking her round the block with four cats following happily behind chloe amadeus taz and schwups  all four cats were named individually by me and my brothers and sister irony being they spelt cats .. sadly honey died about a couple of years ago now and the cats i think only ones left but they are about 17/18 years old , i have had cats living with matt ( my husband who i have lived with now for 10 years almost ) and i really love cats too but i miss the companionship of a dog and i know its extremely hard losing an animal ,  i think  they become such a big part of your life and if im honest i miss having someone in the day time when matts at work to keep me company  we didnt feel it was right to drag our cat milo out to malta with us ,and though i know he went to a special person who needed him and looks after him just as much as he needs its still incredibly tough .

So at some point in the near future we hope to get a cat and maybe a dog

any hows yes im in marsaxlokk .. lol maybe if you do start volunteering at the sanctuary , you might like to pop in for coffee one afternoon after work , or we could meet at one of the restaurants in marsaxlokk

good luck with the volunteering though

Aww, thanks for sharing that. I would love to meet up for a cof. Will let you know how it goes on Saturday. Enjoy the sun today. (Love how I can say that almost every day! .

hey it was good to see you yesterday ,how did you find the volunteering , we went back this am to walk the malumut/akita cross but hes already been reserved but we took a lovely little boy called sarjo for a walk and i think its love at first site now we have to wait to see if we can adopt him

He's beautiful! Hope you can adopt him!
I had fun, what a nice place (as far as shelters go). I love that they can roam a bit. I'll be there again tomor morn as they need people more on weekdays. Come look for me if you go by tomorrow! Talk to you soon.

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and also looking to do some volunteering of some kind. Prob only one day a week but I don't work (my partner does so on my own a lot!) and looking for something to do aside from studying as I don't know anyone here.

Would you mind sharing what the place is like and if they have any expectations over hours the one must volunteer for? I go back to the UK quite often so would need to be flexible.

Will appreciate your help!

Err, why don't you just contact them?

Telephone: +(356) 21659895
Email: info@islandsanctuary.com.mt
Facebook: The Island Sanctuary Malta

they are really nice folk at the island sanctuary why not go and walk the dogs for them sunday morningins 9-10:30 (except 2nd sunday of month) they really do appreciate it

Err, because I'm asking for someone's opinion and I don't think the Sanctuary can answer for them! I do have every intention of calling them, thanks for the contact details.

Thanks for the info Robpw2, would love to walk the dogs so will see what hours are available.

Really just wanted opinions on what the sanctuary is like before committing time to them. I've done a lot of voluntary work in the past and it can be hit or miss based on the attitudes of the people there. Given the response of "Err, why don't you just contact them?" I may stop using this forum though!

redmik has a point in if you want to know what the sanctuary is like your best off going to visit
my opinion may be biased because i just recently adopted a dog from there , you may have different views

no one is saying you should leave the forum or anything like that but i think there are some things that you cant really give advice or opinions on .

Volunteering is a good thing and i think you will soon know if its the place for you if you contact them and go and tryout one morning
also message nange because i know she volunteers there so she may be able to give an insight the rest of us cannot
anyway good luck

Charlotte you asked a specific question:

Charlotte1500 wrote:

if they have any expectations over hours the one must volunteer for? I go back to the UK quite often so would need to be flexible. Will appreciate your help!

Hence my response because only they can answer that and discuss your flexible availability.
The contact details I provided were to enable you to do that. Glad they are useful.

Wow. My first day on this forum and these are not the kind of responses I excepted. Clearly it is I who should change my expectation, and close my account.

If we really want to be that pedantic and copy previous comments etc, you'll notice that I was responding to Nange's original post and asking her opinion and to share her experiences having been there. I thought the purpose of this forum was to support one another and share experiences, rather than ridicule (which is what starting a sentence with "Err" does) or effectively tell someone to not ask questions and go find out themselves.

Thanks for the help and extended hand of friendship.

One thing to learn out here is that the Maltese, generally, prefer and in many cases only, deal 'face to face' and by speaking directly to others.
Speak to them and get the answers directly.
Only they can give you definitive answers after hearing your availability for volunteering and in what role.
You may be able to negotiate with them after having a conversation, rather than make any decision simply based upon another's opinion and/or experience.
Their experiences could well be different from what yours could be.

Hi Charlotte,
I hope you are still here! As Rob says, the place is very nice and I go two mornings a week now. I find everyone to be very welcoming and laid back. They show you how to help and then leave you on your own. I know what you mean, in Canada volunteering is so structured it's almost ridiculous. There is very little ego at island sanctuary and they are just thrilled to have help. They mostly need people on weekdays but there is no commitment necessary as far as I can tell.
It is however, a bit tricky to get to (if you don't have a car) depending where you live, as it's in Marsaxlokk. I have managed to line up a ride with another volunteer. Let me know if you need more info .

Charlotte1500 wrote:

Wow. My first day on this forum and these are not the kind of responses I excepted. Clearly it is I who should change my expectation, and close my account.

If we really want to be that pedantic and copy previous comments etc, you'll notice that I was responding to Nange's original post and asking her opinion and to share her experiences having been there. I thought the purpose of this forum was to support one another and share experiences, rather than ridicule (which is what starting a sentence with "Err" does) or effectively tell someone to not ask questions and go find out themselves.

Thanks for the help and extended hand of friendship.

You have been given help and i havent been nasty to you , i have given you details as far as i know and i have suggested you go and visit .  its up to you what you wish to do with this information though and you can ask any question you like but when your asking about hours for working etc or whats expected from you by a particular group surely you can see that contacting them directly really is your best option.

I dont understand why your wanting to pick a fight over someone who has given you the contact details of the company and helped you at least to start looking for the information you need .

you havent asked for freindship you asked about volunteering and you got a response maybe not the one you wanted or particularly like , if you want friends etc then perhaps may i suggest you post on the meet other people thread .

If you want clear unfettered advice about a particular subject then that what you got

I am sorry if you feel hard done by but i really do think your best bet is speaking to the people at the island sanctuary about volunteering etc as they are the people who do it regularly , they are also the people who will know what hours they may require etc

anyway hope you have a good experience and the island sanctuary are able to provide you with the information you may require

Nange wrote:

Hi Charlotte,
I hope you are still here! As Rob says, the place is very nice and I go two mornings a week now. I find everyone to be very welcoming and laid back. They show you how to help and then leave you on your own. I know what you mean, in Canada volunteering is so structured it's almost ridiculous. There is very little ego at island sanctuary and they are just thrilled to have help. They mostly need people on weekdays but there is no commitment necessary as far as I can tell.
It is however, a bit tricky to get to (if you don't have a car) depending where you live, as it's in Marsaxlokk. I have managed to line up a ride with another volunteer. Let me know if you need more info .

You can walk to the sanctuary from delimara its about 35 min walk , that the closest the buses will get you and you will need to get the 206 .. i have done it a number of times and i walk with a stick so if your fit and healthy you should have no problems.

Hi Nange, thanks for your comments, it was really just someone's experiemce of the place that I was after and if it's as nice as you say then I'll pop in. I have a car here so no issues traveling and weekdays also exactly what I'm looking for so sounds like it could be a good way to help out.

Robpw2, it wasn't your comment I was offended by, yours was helpful and appreciated. Maybe I've not socialized enough but starting a response with "Err..." is effectively treating me as if I've not two brain cells to rub together and that asking Nange for her advice is beyond stupidity! Just didn't think it was a necessary way to address someone, that's all! I wasn't given unfettered advice, just contact details. I'll be more specific in future... That's my rant done! I've been in Malta a long time so understand the difficulties and frustrations of dealing with some Maltese organizations.

Sometimes, when a message is misinterpreted, it is just as likely for the receiver to be mis-tuned as it is for the transmitter. Or the receptors language is not that of the transmitter.
Sometimes it's more about ourselves than others.
Err........ is not 'stupid' to me it's more of an 'excuse me' but then I'm a Scouser.

The solution is rather simple; just ignore what you don't like.