It is an annual event for me, volunteering for Clear the Shelters at a nearby municipal shelter. I regularly photograph at my home town shelter, Coppell Animal Services, as well as neighboring Carrollton Animal Services. For Clear the Shelters I'm usually torn between the two; wanting to experience and capture everything from start to finish at both - but alas I can't be in two places at one time.

The Coppell shelter was under renovations in 2017 so I spent the entire day at Carrollton and thoroughly enjoyed watching the day unfold from the unlocking of the doors at opening to seeing the last animal get adopted before close so I decided that from now on, I will alternate years at these two shelters and fully dedicate myself to a single shelter for the day. 

We had beautiful weather and a great turnout and nearly cleared the shelter save for 1 dog and 3 cats - but that's so much more successful than a typical Saturday so the event works! It's a call to action to draw attention to animals in our shelters that may have been overlooked or have lingered due to no fault of their own. 

Seeing so many smiling faces, some crying with happiness, will fill your "humanity" tank. Consider volunteering at your own shelter in 2019. 

You can read more about the Clear the Shelters movement and see the nationwide results for 2018 here.