Volunteer
Ways to Volunteer
Save the Chimps does accept volunteers to help with various tasks at our sites in Fort Pierce, Florida and Alamogordo, New Mexico. However, if you are interested in volunteering, please note that volunteers do not have contact with the chimpanzees and you must provide proof of a current negative TB test as well as a current Tetanus shot.
On-Site Volunteering
Volunteering in Florida
Do you like to cook? Do you have a green thumb? Do you like to work in an office setting? If so, you might consider volunteering at our sanctuary in Florida. Our volunteers help in the kitchen, preparing the chimps meals, which involves counting out fresh produce, or cooking oatmeal, pasta, or soup for the chimps to enjoy. You'll be able to hear the celebratory calls of the chimps as they are served the delicious meals you have helped prepare for them. If banana plants, tomatoes, or other fruits and veggies thrive under your care, we could use you to help plant and maintain our garden. We currently have a small garden that will grow in size as more chimps arrive to their new home in Florida. Volunteers also help make enrichment for the chimps. We have a number of enrichment devices that need to be prepared for the chimps, which usually involves getting your hands sticky with peanut butter, raisins, or bananas. STC's development department is always in the need of assistance preparing Adoption packets, giveaway packets used at outreach events or stuffing envelopes.
Florida residents who are interested in volunteering on site may contact our Florida office at (772) 429-0403 or email volunteer@savethechimps.org.
Volunteering in New Mexico
Have you always wanted to be a caterer, preparing meals for over 100 people at once? Or do you simply love to do laundry? If that's you, we could use you as a volunteer at our sanctuary in New Mexico. Volunteers in New Mexico help in the kitchen with the enormous task of preparing meals for the chimps. This involves counting out hundreds of apples, oranges, cucumbers, and other fresh produce, or preparing pasta, rice, or salads in "the kitchen that never sleeps." Volunteers also help with the seemingly never-ending task of laundering the chimps' blankets and toys. Staff collect the laundry from the cages, and from there they need to be washed, hung out to dry, and blankets folded. We have 11 washing machines in 3 different buildings that are going all day long. Volunteers who help with the laundry will definitely get a workout walking from building to building! Be warned, it can be a messy job, but knowing the chimps curl up each night with clean, soft blankets makes it all worth it. Volunteers also help pop popcorn or prepare enrichment.
New Mexico residents who are interested in volunteering on site may contact our New Mexico office at (505) 437-8010 or email volunteer@savethechimps.org.
Off-site Volunteering
If you are not able to volunteer on-site, but would still like to help the chimps, there are a number of things you can do. Off-site volunteers are limited only by their imagination! Here is a list of ideas that our off-site volunteers do for us:
Collect and deliver donations
We have a number of volunteers who collect items listed on our wish list (such as toys, food, shredded paper, etc.) from friends, neighbors, or coworkers, and then mail or deliver the items to us in person. One group of volunteers has placed a collection box in a local health food store, and deliver the in-kind and cash donations to us on a regular basis.
Make decorations
The chimps in New Mexico don't have much of a view, so we hang decorations outside their cages to brighten up their home. We have volunteers who make wall hangings, wind chimes, and other decorations that we use. If you are artistic or creative and would like to make decorations for the chimps, please send them to our site in New Mexico where they will be hung up for the chimps to enjoy!
Yard sales or bake sales
We have volunteers who have yard sales or bake sales in order to raise money and awareness for Save the Chimps. If you are interested in having a sale to raise funds, please contact us at
info@savethechimps.org, and we can supply you with brochures or newsletters to distribute at your sale.
Help Save the Chimps Spread the Word About the Work We Do.
Perhaps you live near a school, community college or university, own or know of a business that will display Save the Chimps has promotional materials. This is a great way to introduce people to our organization as it offers Save the Chimps a level of exposure that we otherwise wouldn’t have. Save the Chimps has brochures, colorful postcards, promotional DVD’s, newsletters and posters available and are more than happy to provide them to you.
Please e-mail info@savethechimps.org or call us at (772) 429-2225 for further details. Thank you for your support and we look forward to hearing from you!
If you live in the Albuquerque or Santa Fe area, Animal Protection of New Mexico has enrichment parties and collects donations for Save the Chimps. If you would like to join an enrichment party, have goods to donate, or are able to help deliver donations to New Mexico, please contact APNM at (505) 265-2322 or email them at apnm@apnm.org.
Save the Chimps is a santuary that offer permanent and peaceful retirement to its chimpanzee residents. Because of this, Save the Chimps is not open to the public.