The day before the American Academy of Dermatology’s annual meeting kicked off, more than 50 volunteer dermatologists visited the Miami Beach Police Athletic League’s Youth Resource Center, put on jeans and a t-shirt, and assembled furniture, planted trees, and painted the walls.
The Youth Center is funded mostly through donations and fundraisers, so there’s not much to go around for renovation projects.
The AAD’s volunteer event equaled close to $10,000 if the Center were to buy the item and pay for labor, said its executive director, Officer Art Martineau. "It’s just like Christmas," he said.
This is the third year the AAD has organized the volunteer event, working with the Hands On program to identify projects in the cities where the annual meeting takes place.
Planning the event takes time and has its costs, but for the Academy, it’s a way to give back to the community it is visiting, said AAD’s past president, Dr. William James, who has attended the annual volunteer events, starting with New Orleans.
-By Naseem S. Miller
On Twitter @naseemsmiller