Sunday May 30 -- 11:00AM

On Sunday May 30 in place of our regular sermon PMUC will feature a presentation by Veterinarian Dr. Beth Allen.  She will talk about the role that animals play in our lives in a physical and spiritual sense and what the future of life with animals might look like.

You are invited to bring your (well behaved) pets to church for this occasion. Please invite any of your friends who share a love of their pets and all animals.  Everyone is welcome!

Dr. Beth Allen has been a licensed and practicing veterinarian in Genesee County for 22 years.  She received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1988 from Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine and completed her internship in Rochester, NY, at Pittsford Animal Hospital.  Her practice includes emergency small animal veterinary medicine, exotic animal medicine, human animal bond veterinary medicine and humane education.  

As an emergency veterinarian in Buffalo, NY she dealt with many cases of animal abuse/neglect brought in by area animal control officers.  She also became involved in human crime victim advocacy. As a survivor of child sexual assault and domestic violence she actively advocated for other victims.  She has volunteered as a rape crisis counselor and for Victim Impact training for first time juvenile offenders, rape crisis/mental health counselors, child advocacy centers, corrections, animal shelters, and other law enforcement agencies. In an effort to bring together those that advocate for survivors of human crimes and those that advocate for victims of animal crimes, she initiated coordination of Genesee County's first Criminal Justice Day for both human and animal crime victims.

Her hope has always been to empower victims of crime and the community in hopeful, informative, and progressive ways.  In recent years she has owned and operated The Compassion for Cats Program of The Village Vet in Elba, NY - a community low cost spay/neuter program and speaks on a wide variety of humane education topics. 

Dr. Allen is a member of the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians, The  American Association of Veterinary Medicine, American Humane Association, ASPCA Association of Shelter Animal Veterinarians, Association of Professional Humane Educators and The Latham Foundation.

Dr. Allen recommends the book 'The Soul of Animals' by Gary Kowalksi to anyone interested in the spirituality of animals.  Rev. Gary Kowalski combines heartwarming stories with solid science to show that other creatures are not insensitive objects devoid of feeling and intellect but thinking, sentient beings with an inward, spiritual life. He currently serves as senior minister to the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont.