Behind every great Smart Pup is a great volunteer

31 Jul Behind every great Smart Pup is a great volunteer

This week at Smart Pups ….

I am sure you are all familiar with the quote ‘behind every great man is a great woman’, or a surprised one at least! So here is a lesser known quote ‘Behind every great Smart Pup is a great volunteer.’
Actually, not just one volunteer, many hands, all of equal value. Our fulltime fosters who take a pup into their home, our short-term fosters, the dedicated retail team in our charity store, our donation box collectors, those who turn up to run our stalls, cook sausages or talk to others about what we do.

One volunteer who has donated her time and skills across all these areas is Jacqui Armstrong. Smart Pups is so lucky to have Jacqui on board, working in our charity store and helping with events such as Eumundi Markets and Bunnings sausage sizzles. Jacqui first got to know about Smart Pups after seeing one of our training vans on the Sunshine Coast. After researching what our organisation does she decided she wanted to be involved.

Here’s what Jacqui says about Smart Pups and her volunteering experience –
‘Smart Pups is such a worthwhile organisation and many families have and will benefit from getting their wonderful assistance dogs. These dogs help enrich and improve a special needs child’s quality of life, health, happiness, independence and confidence.

I feel privileged to be a Smart Pups volunteer and really enjoy the times I spend helping out this amazing group of people who are so dedicated to raising and training these much needed and valued Assistance Dogs. Of course, being a dog-lover, it is a real buzz for me to be with the puppies in training too. Smart Pups are a very welcoming and inclusive organisation and having been a Community Volunteer for 6 years, this is definitely my favourite group to be a Volunteer with!’
Jacqui was recently interviewed about her many volunteer roles by ABC radio. Click below to listen to the full interview. I am sure you will agree she did a fantastic job.

I only have one criticism, Jacqui, you described yourself as ‘just a volunteer’. I hope at Smart Pups our volunteers are never ‘just’ volunteers. I hope we can make you and all the other wonderful, talented people that willingly give their time to help us feel that they are making a vital and valued contribution, because without our volunteers there would be no great dogs, no Smart Pups.
Smart Pups is always in need of volunteers, from full-time fosters to occasional workers at a barbecue. If you would like to help out visit https://www.smartpups.org.au/help/ to find out more.