Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Food Pantry Criteria

    Posted 2 days ago

    Hello, 

    We are transitioning to a food pantry.  Prior, we have delivered food.  This past year, we have struggled with sustainability.  We gave out 107,000 pounds of food and drover over 15k miles.  This is for a program that is supposed to be solely dependent on donations.   Due to the struggles, we are transitioning to a food pantry and working to connect home bound people with organizations that can deliver.   

    My questions for others running a pick up only food pantry: 

    How much food do you give? Is it per animal or a set amount per family regardless of the number of animals?  When we were delivering, we could confirm the number of animals.  Do you attempt to do this for pickups? 

    How often do you allow pickups? 

    We want to be as barrier free as we can.  Do you have any criteria?


    #PetSupportServices*

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    Renee Russell
    Tulsa SPCA
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  • 2.  RE: Food Pantry Criteria

    Posted yesterday

    Hi! We have a pick up pantry and give out food on a monthly basis (unless they only need some to cover until their next paycheck). We ask for information for each pet (name, age, weight, neuter status) so we can see if they add pets or offer s/n assistance or tailor food to age/weight. We try to counsel them as nicely as possible that if they add pets we cannot keep supporting that behavior as it is not sustainable.  If it is a litter from unneutered animals, we often offer to take mom and the litter until everyone is weaned, return mom (spayed) and find homes for the babies.  We also ask for their town as we track demographics to ask the towns for monetary support each year based on how many constituents we support.  We also have some supplies so may ask if they require anything else or need other assistance we may be able to provide.  

    We have forms on our website, paper forms on site and they can also fill one out over the phone if they call in.  



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    Mindy Wulf
    Executive Director
    SPCA of Hancock County
    ME
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Food Pantry Criteria

    Posted 23 hours ago

    We attempted to keep data, but with the constant flow of people coming in our doors it was creating a bottleneck and sometimes discouraging people as they didn't want to provide information.

    We decided to be truly barrier free and limited our food distribution to one gallon zip lock bag of cat food and one gallon zip lock bag of dog food per person per day with no id checks, no questions asked.

    We have repeat clients daily and some who are just waiting for that next paycheck. We have also had those who then pay it forward and donate back to us. 

    We add handouts with the food for free vaccination clinics, spay/neuter resources and other information and hope that they take advantage of what they need.

    Statistically we don't have "data" to apply for grants, but the donations we get are as a result of our community acknowledging that this food pantry is a win for the animals within our City.  Costco, PetSmart, private practice Vets, family owned businesses and citizens all donate to our food pantry. When we run out of food we post for donations and they come.

    I am not disregarding the importance of keeping data, but with limited staff to track this and the huge demand, it became more pertinent to ensure that no animals were going hungry and by promoting as such our pet food pantry has sustained itself - so far.



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    Catriona Cottle
    Animal Services Supervisor
    Antioch Animal Services
    CA
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    Original Message


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