Summer, 2010!

Turning challenges into successes…isn’t that what this past year has been about!?! We had a great chance to share both challenges and successes at the recent APHE conference in Chicago. Seventy- three participants came to learn from others in the field through presentations, the Sharing Corral, and a new, very popular roundtable discussion feature that Corey Price highlights in this edition
of the Packrat. Huge thanks to the Anti-Cruelty Society for their hospitality and to the confer-ence committee for all of their hard work pulling the conference together. If you weren’t able to attend the conference, the 2010 Conference CD is available for purchase at www.aphe.org. Next year’s conference will be in sunny Florida!

Reading Dr. Allen’s article on her challenge of incorporating animals into her local Crime Victims’ Rights Week was inspiring. We all know the important link between animal cruelty and cruelty to humans, but many in other fields do not. What a great way to highlight the importance of responding to cruelty to animals and to help both animals and people through the process. After reading Dr. Allen’s article, I read American Humane’s National Humane Review (Spring 2010) where they highlighted the Pets and Women’s Shelter (PAWS) and the Therapy Animals Supporting Kids (TASK) Programs. These articles connected so well with each other. If you didn’t get the American Humane newsletter, then you must not be taking advantage of the APHE member benefit of a complimentary American Humane membership. To learn more, check out www.aphe.org or contact our Membership Secretary at members@aphe.org. We all work toward turning challenges into successes every day that we work with animals and the community! Keep up the great work and continue sharing so we can all learn from each other’s successes.

–Stacey Zeitlin, APHE President