Hello and happy New Year! This New Year's Eve I traveled to Guthrie, OK, to help rebuild the City of Guthrie Animal Shelter as part of the Petfinder.com Foundation's next week-long Rescue U Trip -- our program that sends college students to repair and rebuild shelters in need.

On May 24, 2011, the Guthrie shelter was hit by an F5 tornado (the most powerful kind), leveling one of its two buildings and significantly damaging the outdoor kennels and other infrastructure.

In the seven months since, shelter staff have been struggling to rebuild and care for the animals at an offsite temporary shelter. FEMA aided in rebuilding some of the shelter, but the money ran out and the project stalled.

Thanks to funding from the Animal Rescue Site, Rescue U is here to finish the job and make sure the employees of the Guthrie shelter can function at full capacity by Sunday, Jan. 8. Then the shelter will once again be able to open its doors to help the people and pets of Guthrie, OK.

After the jump, watch our first video update from the trip.