So back on July 16th of 2013 I applied to become an official volunteer with the Carson shelter. Immediately I received a robo-response thanking me for my interest and telling me that orientations take place every 8-12 weeks. Keep in mind that my application (along with many others) was submitted about a month prior to my girlfriend, who was then an active volunteer at Carson, being “suspended” for playing with individual Pit Bulls out in the play yard. This link will give you a good idea as to what that entailed, as it has 17 embedded videos of different dogs having a grand time with Dianne. As you can clearly see, she’s an amazing asset for any shelter to have and pretty darn wonderful with the dogs. And this shelter fired her…

Fast forward to January 14th and I get an email notifying me about the next orientation that will be taking place on 1/25/2014. Keep in mind that this is nearly 28 weeks after I applied, when the auto-response told me that they do orientations “every 8-12 weeks.” Worse, they hadn’t done an orientation for about 8 months prior to me applying either. But that’s for another article. Anyways, this email states that those still interested must RSVP by 1/21/2014. I RSVP on 1/17/2014. I then get an email back today stating that my volunteer application has not been accepted due to my “recent and ongoing conflict with the animal care center.”

After careful consideration, we believe that your recent and ongoing conflict with the animal care center, department staff, and various volunteers would be disruptive to the operations and mission of the program and the department.

I immediately emailed Aaron Reyes, a liason between Carson shelter manager Gil Moreno and L.A. County head honcho Marcia Mayeda, in an effort to let him know that my volunteer application had been denied. About a year prior I had had a meeting with Aaron and it was in that meeting where he suggested to me that I apply to become a volunteer. I jokingly told him that they’d never let me do it, as they’ve viewed me as an enemy from day 1, and he assured me that they would, and if they didn’t, to come to him and he’d resolve it. What was Aaron’s response now?

I’m sorry to hear about the outcome of your volunteer application. I was not aware of this decision, nor am I a part of this decision making process. If you have additional information that may be helpful relative to this decision, please contact our Director of Volunteer Services, Rohmi Reid.

Gee, thanks. Rohmi was the person that informed me of my ineligibility for the program. This entire disaster speaks for itself.

Carson shelter declines my volunteer application by swaylove

Email exchange with Rohmi Reid on 1/23/2014 by swaylove