Volunteer

No experience necessary! Sign up below for a tour and training sessions to learn about the needs of our birds and the techniques we’ve devised to care for them.

Volunteer Commitment

With over 400 birds at our sanctuary, we are always in need of compassionate, dedicated volunteers (18 or older) who can make the commitment of one day a week for at least three months.  Reliability is important to ensure our birds receive a consistent high level of care. 

Volunteer Duties

Duties are tailored to the abilities of our volunteers, and include:

  • making and distributing toys

  • providing spray showers

  • engaging and socializing

  • laundering and folding towels

  • maintaining grounds

  • cleaning cages, changing papers

  • washing bowls and food dishes

  • measuring and serving food

  • preparing fresh food

  • scraping, sweeping and mopping floors

Community

We take pleasure in sharing our commitment with animal lovers everywhere. We work hard to make our annual Fall Fundraiser on the sanctuary grounds memorable, with tours, dancing and delicious food. In many ways—friendships, support, fun—we are a family. Please consider volunteering! 

Enrichment

Parrots are highly intelligent, profoundly social, flighted wild animals. One of the most rewarding aspects of volunteering at Foster Parrots is making and distributing toys, giving spray showers, even just talking and playing with birds. We provide a rich, stimulating environment—can you help?

These extraordinary animals are challenging and rewarding to work with. 

Volunteering for just 3 to 6 hours a week can make a big difference in their lives. 

Please join us! Email us to schedule an orientation tour.

Email: volunteer@fosterparrots.com

Here’s what our volunteers have to say about working at Foster Parrots!

“Foster Parrots is my happy place, the place where I know my spirits will always be lifted and I’m surrounded by like-minded people. Volunteering at Foster Parrots has improved my relationships with both animals and humans, in ways that I could have never expected.” -Alyssa, Foster Parrots volunteer

“Each time I enter the sanctuary I am in total awe of these beautiful and intelligent birds. I feel so extremely fortunate to help care for them and to get to know them. They truly lift my heart.” -Linda, Foster Parrots volunteer

"I have met some of my best friends at Foster Parrots, in both human and bird form. What more can you ask for? Connection, community, and a collective greater purpose." -Jane, Foster Parrots volunteer

“My favorite things about volunteering at Foster Parrots are:
Knowing that I am helping making a difference in the captive Parrot issue.
Learning as much as I have and sharing the message by educating outsiders on captive Parrots
The relationships that I have built with other volunteers.
Most of all the relationships that have been created with the birds/animals themselves.”
-Michelle, Foster Parrots volunteer

“On my drive to FP one Sunday morning, I thought to myself, I’ve found Heaven on Earth! Also, the dancing & singing!!!!!!!” -Rita, Foster Parrots volunteer

“What is it like to volunteer at Foster Parrots? For me, it is a chance to be productive and rest at the same time. When I walk through that door, I know I have entered a safe space where I can simply exist as myself, just like the birds. Just like each and every bird, I am valued for my individuality and given opportunities to thrive where I do best, rather than being squeezed into a box I don't fit inside of. I am constantly learning new things, and I feel like I am actually doing something important. It is hard work that feels freeing and fun to do, and I don't think there is anything more rewarding in the world. My best friends are birds. How many people who aren't Snow White get to say that?” -Julian, Foster Parrots volunteer

“No matter how I feel entering the sanctuary, after my volunteer shift I feel lighter. On the weeks I'm unable to volunteer, it throws me off balance; even while on vacation, I feel a sense of loss when I can't visit and interact with the birds I've befriended. Foster Parrots is my happy place, and volunteering there feels restorative.” -Ashley, Foster Parrots volunteer

“I drive 70+ miles each way twice a week to volunteer, because there simply is no place on Earth like Foster Parrots...It is truly a sanctuary for animals & people alike! I am especially grateful to have gained experience caring for birds and the opportunity to provide refuge in my home to Zoey the Goffin cockatoo who landed on my shoulder one day and chose me as her human... I do the best to care for her, given I wish she could fly free, as truly no cage is big enough...FP is an amazing community of folks with an unbridled empathy for creatures who have suffered in terrible situations and many who would otherwise have no other place to be properly cared for. I’m so grateful to be a part of it.” -Alan, Foster Parrots volunteer

Email Volunteer@fosterparrots.com to join the Foster Parrots family!