Meet our Volunteers: Lauren
01 June 2021Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Greyhound Trust and we simply would not be able to operate without the support of the amazing and dedicated individuals around the UK who give up their time to support us.
From caring for and walking the dogs to carrying out home visits, attending events, fundraising or branch social media and website support, there are lots of different things our volunteers do to help make the Trust a success!
Lauren Hirst
Volunteer at the Hall Green Branch.
My name is Lauren Hirst, and I’ve been volunteering with the Hall Green Branch of the Greyhound Trust for almost 20 years. Currently, I am vice-chair but do lots of other things too.
I stumbled into volunteering by accident really. We went to a local rescue centre looking for a Jack Russell and came home with a greyhound! Not knowing anything about greyhounds, we were walking Jasper at our local country park and met some volunteers from the Hall Green Branch, and the rest, as they say, is history. It’s great to be with others who share the passion for the breed and I love how all the hounds have their unique personalities and the joy they bring to their forever families.
I started volunteering as a walker to learn more about greyhounds and meet other greyhound owners and little by little took on more responsibilities like home checking, awareness, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and support, social media, doing a weekly shift at the kennels, and eventually going on the committee.
It’s great to see all the dogs going off with their forever families but the most rewarding part of the role is finding homes for the “trickier” dogs. Two stick out in my mind one from the past and another more recent one.
The first is Power, who as you can guess from his name is a powerful black male, with a high prey drive so very reactive to other breeds of dogs. He had been in our kennels for almost a year when his current owner, Charles, walked in and asked to be shown “the dog who has been with you the longest.” With Charles's patience, support and training Power is happily homed and even walks alongside small fluffies.
The second is Skippy who had been with another branch before and during the lockdown and came to Hall Green to help find her a home. Skippy is a tri paw; her hind leg had been amputated due to a severe injury. Skippy also finds other breeds of dogs a real challenge, so not an easy dog to find a home for; but we at Hall Green believe there is a home out there for every greyhound and Skippy, now called Pippin, is now living a lovely life on the Isle of Man with her new owner, Taylor.
There is nothing as rewarding as seeing happily homed greyhounds, especially the Powers and Skippys of this world, not to mention the many friends I’ve made over the years. So for anyone thinking of becoming a volunteer for the Greyhound Trust, take the plunge! 
Photo: Lauren Hirst, one of our volunteers at the Hall Green Branch