Doggy Days

Austin Pets Alive hosts extra adoption events following Hurricane Harvey

Austin Pets Alive!, Austin Animal Center, and Austin Humane Society presents SOS: Save Our Seniors

There are several APA adoption events this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Austin Pets Alive!, Austin Animal Center, and Austin Humane Society

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, local nonprofit Austin Pets Alive has rescued thousands of stranded and abandoned pets, moving them to temporary locations and foster homes. While some of these dogs are waiting to be reunited with their families, many were already in area shelters and are looking for adoptive homes.

APA currently has over 650 dogs in foster alone, and now they need to find loving families of their own. This weekend, a few establishments are hosting special adoption events with APA dogs, alongside the usual weekend adoption sites at Petco.

Petco
Petco hosts Austin Pets Alive dog adoptions at the Bee Caves Road and Hancock Center locations from 12 pm to 5 pm every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This weekend the sites are filled with foster pups looking for their forever families.

Doggy Day at Habitat for Humanity ReStore
ReStore will host a fun doggy-centric event on Saturday, 11:30 am to 4:30 pm with dog toy making demos all day, showing people how to turn their "trash" into their doggy's treasure. They'll have local dog-centric vendors, free pet portraits, and prizes, and APA! will have lots of foster dogs available for adoption.

Parking lot party at El Chilito
El Chilito on Burnet Road is hosting a fun event with lots of foster dogs available for adoption onsite. There will be a DJ spinning '80s jams and doggy-themed favorites. Bring cash to purchase $2 beers, with all proceeds benefiting APA. Members from APA’s Dog Foster Team will be on hand to talk about the rewards of fostering, update you on Harvey relief efforts, and accept cash donations.

Bonus: Blenders and Bowls Ice Cream Social
No doggy adoptions here, but it's a fun way to help. Blenders and Bowls will host an ice cream social with NadaMoo on Saturday, September 16, from 11 am to 3 pm at the east side location. They will serve a special creation called the Pup Cup that is half acai, half NadaMoo, with proceeds from each Pup Cup sold donated to Austin Pets Alive. NadaMoo and HeyDay Cold Brew Coffee will be on-site providing ice cream and cold brew coffee samples.

charity

Worker Bee News

Amazon wants to hire 1,000 seasonal employees in Austin for holiday

Photo by Wallstplaybook.com

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As the 2024 holiday shopping season approaches, Amazon is doing its annual round of holiday hiring, seeking to fill 250,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal roles across the U.S., including 18,000 positions in Texas — including 1,000 openings in Austin.

The bulk of the open positions in Texas are in Dallas-Fort Worth, but they're also hiring in Houston and San Antonio.

Seasonal Amazon jobs offer competitive pay, flexible schedules, and, as a release so eloquently puts it, "the opportunity to be part of the bustling retail industry during its busiest time of year." LOL. Many of these seasonal roles also come with the potential to transition into regular, full-time employment after the holidays.

The release does not specify which positions are open but one can assume packing and delivering boxes are involved.

Interested applicants can go to amazon.com/localjobs or text NEWJOB to 31432 to sign up for job alerts. Open roles are posted throughout the holiday season.

Pay and Benefits
All seasonal employees earn at least $18 per hour, and have access to comprehensive benefits like health care coverage from their first day of employment.

Approximately one-third of seasonal employees stay on year after year.

Seasonal employees who stay at the company can see an average pay increase of 15 percent over their first three years.

Amazon perks include career advancement opportunities; access to earned pay at any time; health, vision, and dental insurance from the first day on the job; a 401(k) with company match; and up to 20 weeks of paid pregnancy/parental leave for birth parents (six weeks for eligible supporting parents).

They also get Amazon Prime employee discount, and Amazon’s Resources for Living program, a free benefit offering mental health and financial services and support for employees, their families, and their households.