AVMA convention attendees to help refurbish equine shelter

Seattle

-- Many veterinarians attending the 2009 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) convention will volunteer some time to make repairs and cosmetic improvements to a nearby equine shelter.

This year’s AVMA “voluntourism” project will benefit Hope For Horses, a tax-exempt group that cares for abandoned, neglected and abused horses. Convention attendees who volunteer will paint barns and help repair fences, stalls, walls and other structures – work that the shelter had to forgo because of lack of resources, partly due to the recession.

“With the AVMA’s help, we’ll be able to accomplish some tasks we otherwise couldn’t do,” says Jenny Edwards, Hope for Horses executive director.

The AVMA, through its nonprofit foundation, set up a volunteer program during the 2008 convention to help refurbish animal shelters in the New Orleans area that had been damaged in Hurricane Katrina. A high percentage of attendees volunteered for that work.

In choosing an animal shelter to assist, the foundation works each year with the convention and visitors bureau in the AVMA convention city to locate deserving shelters and determine the kind of help they need.

For details on the volunteer program, visit www.avmf.org.