@Karen Kirsch That is wonderful. We started our community pet food bank about four months ago so we are still learning and fine tuning our program. We are in a very rural area and many in our community have not only cats and dogs but also small animals like bunnies, chickens, ducks. We've even had request for feed for a cow :). We actually found great information here in Maddie's pet forum. I would suggest doing a search for pet food banks. We ask that people register with our pet food bank through an online form. They have to self atest that they are in need and must be within a certain zip code area (we include 4 counties that surround us). We ask them to list the species and number of each animal they are requesting help for. Our set up is a little different then most. Because we are giving out more than cat and dog food the registration helps us pull the specific feed each participant needs. We hand out feed and supplies the last saturday of each month during a two hour period. A text is sent to the participants the Wednesday before and we ask that they respond if they will be attending. We pull the feed the night before and put the participants name on it. It is a little more work but this ensures each of our participants get what they need and no one leaves empty handed. We continue to grow. The first month we had three participants we now have 27 families. That may not seem like much growth but like I mentioned we are very rural with the closest grocery store about 25 miles from us. :) As we grow we will adjust the program to fit the needs of our community.
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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2024 06:20 PM
From: Karen Kirsch
Subject: Pet Food Pantry
I am starting a 501(c)3 pet food pantry and intend to distribute free pet food to families in need in hopes of keeping pets in their homes and out of the shelter. Does anyone have experience with this and/or advice to offer?
#CommunityPartnerships*
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Karen Kirsch
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