Holiday Gift Wrapping at the Mall at Robinson

Help Support WPHS this holiday season!

We are approaching the holiday season, and the malls and department stores are beginning to decorate accordingly.  The toy stores have announced their “hot” lists and kids are already making their wish lists.  At first, you would think that the malls in our area are interchangeable; but the Mall at Robinson has what no one else has… Holiday Gift Wrapping by the Western PA Humane Society!

The Western PA Humane Society has partnered with the Mall at Robinson for the past seven years.  There is a special station set up inside the mall for people to bring their gifts to be wrapped.  The gift wrapping is free, although donations are accepted.  The station is open during all mall hours for shoppers’ convenience.  This year, it will run from November 25th thru December 24th.

The accomplishments for this endeavor are quite amazing.  For one holiday season, 300 volunteers are needed for tasks such as gift wrapping and showing off available pets for adoption.  These 300 volunteers wrap hundreds of gifts every day, and as the holidays loom closer, the numbers are in the thousands.  It is a great success for our pets as well, because last year we had 19 dogs who found their forever homes with families who were getting their gifts wrapped.  The generous donors also helped us raise over $30,000 in one month.

All of this success is due to our wonderful volunteers who come to the mall and wrap their hearts out.  Volunteers sign up for four hour shifts, and there are usually four to ten “wrappers” at a time.  We love when whole families come together, or a group of co-workers share a shift.  Anyone is able to volunteer, and the only requirements are that you can wrap gifts and have a blast.  You do not need to be a current volunteer at the Western PA Humane Society to participate.  If you are interested in volunteering this 2011 season, or would like to organize a group to volunteer, please contact Sarah Shively at 412-321-4625 x244 and sarah.shively@wpahumane.org , or Gretchen Fieser at 412-321-4625 x248 and gretchen.fieser@wpahumane.org.