Health & Fitness
Royal Canin associates renovate Virginia animal shelter
Hundreds of associates Royal Canin gathered in Washington, D.C. this week for an annual corporate retreat and to donate both a day of labor and 3,400 pounds of food to FOHA animal shelter.
Hundreds of associates from St. Charles-based pet food company, Royal Canin, gathered in Washington, D.C. this week for an annual corporate retreat and to donate both a day of labor and 3,400 pounds of food to Northern Virginia’s Friends of Homeless Animals (FOHA) animal shelter.
The 280 company volunteers arrived at the shelter Wednesday morning, providing approximately 2,400 hours of manpower to rebuild kennel runs and outdoor play yards, mend perimeter fencing, landscape and care for the 110 dogs and 60 cats housed at the facility. Royal Canin also provided and installed new signage, an electric gate and new furniture for FOHA’s welcome and adoption center.
Royal Canin began the annual service day tradition in 2009 in New Orleans when associates spent a day rebuilding homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, the company has left a positive impact on communities across the country. In 2010, associates built a park in Hot Springs, Va., and in 2011, the group renovated Summit County Animal Shelter in Keystone, Colo.
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Royal Canin chose Friends of Homeless Animals (FOHA) as its 2012 service day beneficiary because the shelter shares the company’s core values of knowledge and respect for animals, as well as a long history of putting the animal first. FOHA is a non-profit, no-kill, 100 percent volunteer-run shelter that has been serving the Washington metropolitan area since 1972. The organization is dedicated to saving abandoned and abused cats and dogs, providing medical care, rehabilitation, and adoption services.
“We depend solely on the goodness of volunteers, donors and companies like Royal Canin to save the lives of dogs and cats,” said Laura L. Dove, President of FOHA. “The donation of 3,400 pounds of food will feed our animals for more than two months and the renovations made by the Royal Canin associates will have a lasting effect. The shelter looks amazing; these improvements will boost the spirits of our volunteer family and, most importantly, allow us to better serve the thousands of animals we rescue, rehabilitate and adopt each year.”