Every pet deserves to feel safe and loved. That belief fuels the work at Companion Animal Alliance (CAA), where rescued and abandoned animals are treated like family.

As a freshman at LSU, living far away from her hometown in Georgia, Morgan Wheeler wanted to get involved in the community. “My mom is a vet tech, so I’ve been helping with animals since I was 12,” she says. “When I got to LSU, I wanted to find something to keep me busy that also involved animals.”

During Wheeler’s first visit to CAA, she felt right at home. “I remember on my first day, I walked in super shy and didn’t talk to the first three people that walked in,” she says. “It was very interesting having to open up to people because I wouldn’t consider myself an introvert. Normally, I can talk to everybody, but that first day, I was just so nervous. Thankfully, the volunteer coordinator, Haylie Loyd, was there to walk me through everything.”

Once Wheeler interacted with the animals, she felt at peace. She participated in multiple “Date-a-Dogs” where she got to bring a dog out of the shelter for a couple of hours. During one of those first outings, she took a dog on a walk around LSU’s campus. Immediately, people began asking about the dog and how to adopt her. “I told them that CAA is right down the road and gave them their business card,” Wheeler recalls. “I came in the next day, and she was adopted!”

According to Wheeler, a common misconception about volunteering at CAA is that it’s physically demanding or time-consuming. In reality, volunteers are asked to commit to six hours a month, with each shift being two hours. During that time, they help clean kennels, fold laundry, walk the dogs and give the animals love and attention.

“Being able to bring service to the community of adopting animals has really changed my perspective on service,” Wheeler says. “Seeing people come in and immediately fall in love with an animal and just want to take them home is just pure serotonin. Everyone at CAA, especially the staff, has the same goal: Get the animals out.”

For more information about CAA, visit the organization’s website here.