Pet Care Trust Appoints New Board Member

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Scott Rabe, director of Marketing for Central Aquatics in Franklin, Wisconsin, has been appointed to the Pet Care Trust board. Rabe will be one of two representatives of the American Pet Products Association (APPA) to serve on the Board of Trustees. He will replace Brent Weinmann, president and CEO of Vitakraft Sunseed, Inc., who is retiring from the board after 13 years. Weinmann joined the board as an APPA representative in 2004 and served as the Trust’s president in 2012-2014.

Weinmann was presented with the Trust’s “Crystal Apple Award” during a ceremony at the recent board of trustees meeting at the World Pet Association’s Aquatic Experience Show in Schaumburg, Illinois (pictured here).

“Brent was one of our longest serving board members and a great leader for the Pet Care Trust,” said Steve King, executive director. “Under his leadership, the Pets in the Classroom program grew from a simple idea to a highly successful program that has provided nearly 5 million students from pre-K to ninth grade with daily access to a classroom pet. We will miss Brent’s creativity and thoughtfulness.”

Rabe is new to the Pet Care Trust Board, but he is not new to the organization’s mission. Since the earliest days of the Pets in the Classroom program, Rabe has spearheaded Central Pets’ participation as the leading supplier of animal habitats and other products. Scott works with nearly all of the program’s retail partners in setting up their annual coupon programs.

“Scott Rabe will be a great addition to the Pet Care Trust Board,” noted Rand Kollman, president. “His dedication and support for the Pets in the Classroom program has been unflagging and has been instrumental in the program’s success.”

Established in 2010 by the Pet Care Trust, The Pets in the Classroom grant program continues to make strides in improving the educational environment of classrooms and introducing children to small animals across the U.S. and Canada. The program, which offers pre-kindergarten through 9th grade teachers in private and public schools with financial support to purchase and maintain small animals for their school setting, has issued over 109,000 grants to teachers, meaning over 5 million children have experienced the joys and benefits of pet care since the program’s inception.