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Vegas Dog Food Buffet

May 08, 2009, 4:9PM MT

By Cheri Moon

Best Friends Donates 29,000 Pounds of Dog Food

Best Friends Donates 29,000 Pounds of Dog Food

by Cathy Scott, Best Friends’ writer

At a time when money is tight and families are struggling, Best Friends Animal Society just donated more than 29,000 pounds—or 14-1/2 tons—of dog food for needy people and their pets in southern Nevada.

The 30-pound bags of adult and puppy food, with a total retail value of about $50,000, arrived May 6 in Las Vegas at Three Square Food Bank, a regional distributor. The enormous food donation from Wellness Natural Pet Food is what made it possible.

Best Friends’ Volunteer Transports Food
But the big challenge was getting all those bags of dog food from the sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, to Las Vegas. So Ellen Gilmore, coordinator of Best Friends’ First Home Forever Home campaign, called on members.

Volunteer Scott Donnelly in Las Vegas received the member message and enlisted a fellow roofer, who volunteered to pick up and drop off the food with his truck. And Honey’s Jubilee Lumber Plus In Kanab donated use of a forklift and operator. At the wheel of the big rig, delivering the food, was James Brown, owner of James Brown Roofing in St. George, Utah.

“I’ve got animals myself and have had dogs,” Brown says. “I believe in karma. If you do good things, good things happen. It makes me feel great to help.”

From the start, the goal for Gilmore has been to get the food to those who need it the most. “We want the food to get to people it will help financially and at the same time prevent them from giving up their dogs because they can’t afford to buy pet food,” she says.

The next challenge was finding a human food distributor in Las Vegas that would take the food, warehouse and distribute it. It was another Best Friends member, who asked to remain anonymous, who enlisted Three Square.

Food Going to Human and Animal Nonprofits
And Three Square executives happened to have the warehouse space and were happy to help. “There are so many people who are out of work,” says Terri Lawson, food resource manager for Three Square. Lawson once worked with Meals on Wheels where people often told her they needed pet food too. “We see a need growing on a daily basis. It’s a wonderful idea.”

The end result is that the food is going directly to those who need it, which includes Noah’s Animal House, a temporary shelter for homeless women’s pets while the women find jobs and permanent housing. Also included is Catholic Charities’ Meals on Wheels and Adopt A Rescue Pet. The remaining bags will be given to food distributors who will hand it over to individuals with dogs.

“This food give-away is something we could do in a community where people are faced with tough decisions,” Gilmore says. “We want people to know that there are options other than giving up their pets. We hope that this food will make a difference in the lives of a few thousand dogs and their people over the next several months.”

Just as important, Gilmore points out, “Best Friends has the most unbelievable members and volunteers. We couldn’t have it done it without them.”

As for the future, she says, “Right now, the dog food is what we have to give, but we are looking at continuing efforts down the road that would include food for other pets, including cats.”

How You Can Help
Donate to the First Home, Forever Home campaign.

The First Home, Forever Home campaign is working with you to create a world of No More Homeless Pets by developing programs to help families find solutions so they can keep the pets they love. 100% of your donation today will support the First Home, Forever Home Campaign, and help keep pets and their families happily together.

To Find A Food Bank In Your Area

Click here and then click on the folder named "Pet Food Banks Nationwide."

For More Information:
In this economic environment, if you are having trouble affording your pet or have to move, there are resouces available to help you keep your pet.

• How to Find Pet-Friendly Housing.

• Taking Your Pet When You Move.

• How to find help in tough financial times.

• Lost Our Home Pet Foundation.

Photos by Sarah Ause, Best Friends’ photographer
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends’ staff

Comments

Posted May 09, 2009, 5:3PM by georgebailey47

Wow, 14 tons!

I hope that all of the dogs enjoy their meals.

Every living soul deserves a happy heart and soul, and a full stomach.

"Bone-Apetit"

Haha

Posted May 08, 2009, 10:15PM by cottageantiques

Wow! All I can think of is the relief of the people who will be getting the benefit of Best Friends generosity so their dogs can have plenty to eat. What a huge amount of organization all of the volunteers involved did. I'm amazed! I read all of the materials on how we can help and I'm going to help. There are so many things that we don't think of that would make a huge difference to groups trying to help keep pets in their homes.
Thank you to you all, you all rock!

Posted June 06, 2009, 6:29PM by Mom2FiveLV

Las Vegas is mentioned in the article, however, there is no Las Vegas location on the downloaded pet food bank locations & I can't find any info at the Three Square Food Bank website for pet food. We have people here who can't feed their pets; I'm trying to help a lady who is feeding her dogs mac & cheese just not get rid of them. Please, can someone tell me how Las Vegans can get help with feeding their pets? Thank you.

Posted June 08, 2009, 4:2PM by ellengilmore

My understanding is that Three Square is distributing the pet food to partner agencies throughout the area. If you click on the link "our partners" on the Three Square website and then choose "agency partners," you will see a long list of all the groups they work with. If any of them are familiar to you, then you could contact them directly about getting some of the dog food.

The other option would be to contact Three Square and ask them to advise you on who to contact based on your location. Their website has this information for finding who to contact: "If you are in need of emergency food assistance, please call 211, a referral line for Southern Nevada."

I hope this will be helpful. If you don't have any luck, please contact me again. Feel free to email me directly at elleng@bestfriends.org.

Ellen Gilmore
Campaign Coordinator
FIRST HOME FOREVER HOME
http://network.bestfriends.org/foreverhome

Posted May 21, 2009, 10:12AM by mschneider

Wow, great story. I actually wish my roof was leaking so I could call James Brown.

Posted May 09, 2009, 4:40PM by Rita2828

ONCE AGAIN BEST FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE

THANK YOU FOR HELPING OUT

Rita from Brooklyn

Posted May 11, 2009, 4:52PM by msramblinrose

I think this is wonderful! The postal service is also asking for donations of pet food also for their annual food drive. Best friends-how about helping the people with cats out there too???