Each year United Way of Larimer County helps connect volunteers to non-profit organizations for a Make a Difference day, celebrated for a full week in Northern Colorado because of it's huge success. This allows volunteers to make a huge impact on the organisations they visit. Over the last month we have been following Melanie’s progress as a Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) for the W.O.L.F. Sanctuary. Because of Melanie's hard work coordinating with the sanctuary and organizing volunteers, the W.O.L.F. sanctuary is well on its way to having a new enclosure for its animals. This Make a Difference Day was a lot of hard work, but Melanie and the volunteers did not mind getting their hands dirty. "There is something about putting in really hard physical labor that in itself is satisfying” said Melanie.

The W.O.L.F. sanctuary is an organization that specializes in rescuing captive bred wolves and wolf-dogs as well as educating the public about them. This past week the sanctuary began moving to their new location in Red Feather and needed the help of Melanie and many other volunteers to help prepare the new site.

After weeks of training and preparing, the day finally arrived for Melanie and the sanctuary to put their plans into action. When we asked Melanie about the work involved, she said, “We did fire mitigation work on an entire hillside behind the buildings at the new W.O.L.F. sanctuary site up in Red Feather. This included sawing off branches low to ground, cleaning up dead branches and brush around trees, hauling the rubbish down the hillside, feeding it through the wood chipper, and empty truckloads of mulch for future use in the enclosures.”

Volunteers and Volunteer Project Leaders play a huge role in helping nonprofit organizations achieve their goals. This project went really well, with 15 volunteers working together to create something amazing with Melanie’s help. “I was worried I would have trouble getting enough people that wanted to help out and participate, but I was proved wrong. I had no problems getting a great group of volunteers together who were excited to help out!”

When asked how she felt at the end of the day, Melanie said "I felt fantastic – it was honestly one of the best days I have had all year. We had perfect fall weather, sunny & crisp, and we could see the snow dusted mountains in the distance from where we were working." Melanie and the volunteers who helped create the new sanctuary can be proud they were able to make a positive impact on Larimer County this week.

This year's Make a Difference went from October 23rd-29th. However, if you are interested in continuing to make a positive impact on the community, you can sign up to volunteer here.

If you are interested in being a Volunteer Project Leader for future days of service, you can sign up to recieve more information below.

			McKenna Wood McKenna Wood is a Community Impact intern with United Way of Larimer County. She is currently a senior at Colorado State University studying communications and history. In her free time she enjoys painting, yoga and looking at pictures of dogs on the internet.