While many students spent their summer vacations out in the sun, one ISU student was collecting unused, out-of-date veterinary medicine textbooks to send to Afghanistan.

Matt Wegner, junior in veterinary medicine, said he sent “well over 200 books and 300 to 400 issues of professional journals” to Afghanistan.

The books and journals were packaged in 15 boxes, he said.

The project took him two months to complete in the summer, while few other students were around.

Wegner said he was chosen a professor in the veterinary medicine college for the project because of his undergraduate ROTC experience and his intention on entering the Veterinary Corps after graduating. He said he agreed to work on the project because “[the College of Veterinary Medicine] stresses that veterinary medicine is a global profession and that what happens in one part of the world will eventually affect another.”

John Smith, Veterinary Corps officer, contacted veterinary schools around the country early in the summer. Wegner said the e-mail asked schools to donate out-of-date texts and journals faculty and students had to rebuild for the veterinary school in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The books are of great use in Afghanistan, Wegner said. He said he hopes the books will be a part of “rebuilding the country and get it going in all aspects, since it is mainly agricultural.”

Kenneth Platt, professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine, said most of the books sent to Afghanistan were for faculty.

“The school in Kabul basically had no books because the Taliban destroyed them all,” Platt said. He helped Wegner by giving him faculty contacts.

He said Wegner is “one of those guys that really care for other people,” making him ideal for the project.

Wegner raised the $220 to ship the books to Afghanistan through faculty donations and a collection plate.

He also reviewed and cataloged each book, Platt said.

Packing the books up by himself was “not too bad,” he said. “It [was] like moving.”

Kevan Flaming, instruction development specialist for the College of Veterinary Medicine, donated books to Wegner’s project.

Wegner said his donation “will certainly be appreciated.

The donations “are a substantial contribution to the education of vets in Afghanistan,” he said.

Wegner said the books he donated would be used rarely here but will be put to frequent use in Afghanistan.

“It’s nice to know that even in the middle of Ames, Iowa, I can help someone halfway across the world,” he said.