Fundraiser for Spaying and Neutering

The Animal Outreach Club is raising money through their “Empties for Animals” project, in which students are organizing and collecting bottles and cans throughout the campus to raise money to pay for spaying and neutering animals.

This year round event has been successful in the past, as Val Waldin, one club adviser and the main coordinator of the fundraiser said that “numerous animals” had been spayed and neutered due to the club’s efforts last year.

“The students are proactive, while advisors tend to stay in the background,” said Alice Malavasic, another adviser for the club.

The New York Code, section 809, mandates that public schools within the state of New York must give some kind of education regarding “the humane treatment and protection of animals and the importance of the part they play in the economy of nature.”

This law is not always enforced and teachers may not have the time or the resources to incorporate that into their classrooms.

This is where Waldin and the students within the Animal Outreach club come in, oftentimes engaging young students in an elementary classroom setting, where they can intelligently discuss the issue of treating animals humanely.

“You need to reach out to kids at a younger level,” said Waldin. “Once you got somebody in their teens… who are abusing animals, it’s too late.”

Waldin plans to meet with Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal on Feb. 27 in an attempt to push “Assembly Bill 207,” a bill that would enforce section 809 of the New York Code.

For more information, contact the Animal Outreach Club at animaloutreach@hvcc.edu.