Petfinder.com Foundation/R.O.A.R. rehab West Virginia shelters

Students helping out at a shelter on a previous Animal Lifeline trip

As the program assistant for the Petfinder.com Foundation, I get to experience many events for animal welfare. One of my most exciting events will be starting today: This morning I will be flying into Charleston, WV, to be part of an outreach program with Animal Lifeline.

Twenty-seven college students and I will travel to three separate counties in West Virginia to provide shelter repair, training, and transport of approximately 35 adoptable dogs to rescues and shelters in Pennsylvania.

We’ll be volunteering at the shelters in Ritchie County, Braxton County and Clay County. We will also work with various transportation groups to coordinate rescue efforts.
The Petfinder.com Foundation and Animal Planet’s R.O.A.R. are funding the trip with a $25,000 grant to Animal Lifeline, which sends student volunteers to animal shelters that have major rehabbing projects to be done. Learn more about the West Virginia trip and all the participating shelters here.

This trip will provide much-needed aid to the three shelters we will be visiting. For example, the Ritchie County Humane Society suffered a devastating fire in January. While there, we will focus on repairs to the remaining shelter structure to help increase the quality of life for all the shelter’s animals until the new shelter is built. We’ll also be building a memorial garden in honor of the large loss of life that is still weighing so heavily on the staff and volunteers.

While helping with the actual repairs to the shelter and care of the animals, I will also be taking a lot of photos and videos of the recovery efforts. I, along with a few of the students, will also be blogging about our experiences and the ups and downs of rebuilding a shelter and transporting dogs across state lines to give them their best shot at finding their forever homes.

To find out how you can help fund more projects like this, please visit the Petfinder.com Foundation’s donate page. If you’d like to learn more about pet rescue and transport, next week Denise Bash and Jen Daley of Animal Lifeline will be writing in from the trip to answer your questions. Ask us your questions in the comments below and they will write back by May 28.

Also, don’t forget to check out Animal Planet’s new show about pet-rescue transport, Last Chance Highway, which premieres June 19 at 8 p.m. E/P.

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