Over 34 tons of dog food donated by Best Friends helps keep Vegas pooches with their families during economic downturn

By Cathy Scott, Best Friends staff writer

For a Las Vegas family and their two dogs, life just got a little easier, thanks to a generous donation of dog food.

Kevin and Rachel Pritchett, who are expecting their first baby in September, called the food “a lifesaver.”

The same week the Pritchetts received a 30-pound bag of Wellness, a truckload of 40,000 pounds—or 20 tons—was picked up at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, and delivered to Three Square, Nevada’s largest food bank, for distribution to agencies, so that it ultimately reaches food bowls in the Las Vegas area. It’s all part of Best Friends’ First Home Forever Home campaign to help keep pets in their homes.

The food was the second delivery—generously donated to Best Friends by Old Mother Hubbard dog food company—to Three Square in recent weeks. For the first delivery, in early May, Best Friends donated 29,000 pounds to Three Square, where it was distributed to 37 agencies, including Homeless Helpers. Tony Sipich, founder of Homeless Helpers, gives food not only to homeless people in the Las Vegas Valley, but also to families, like the Pritchetts.

For the Pritchetts, the dog food could not have come at a better time. Four months ago, they took in Rufus, a young boxer, who was found as a stray on a North Las Vegas street. Between Nova, their mastiff mix, and Rufus, the pair are big eaters.

“This food means the world to us,” says Kevin Pritchett. “It’s a lifesaver. I’m working six days a week just to pay the bills, and we have a baby on the way.” His wife, Rachel, agreed. “Money’s tight right now,” she says. “This is a tremendous help.”

Sipich says helping the Pritchetts and others, including seniors on fixed incomes and homeless people with dogs, with not only human food, but now dog food too, is a boost to many who are in dire need.

“Homeless Helpers feeds people,” Sipich says. “Sometimes people have to make choices. Some seniors will feed their animals [human food] and not eat the food themselves. You can’t blame them for making that decision. So this food is a real gift for them.”

Ellen Gilmore, coordinator of Best Friends’ First Home Forever Home campaign, says the Pritchetts and their pets are exactly the type of home the food is intended to help. “Las Vegas is one of the cities hardest-hit by foreclosure and job loss,” she says. “We're very, very grateful to the folks at Wellness for donating food that lets us help families keep their pets. Three Square and their partner agencies are incredible about getting it distributed to individuals and families in the community.”

To help even more needy Las Vegas people and their pets, and also as part of the First Home Forever Home campaign, on July 11 and August 15, Best Friends and Three Square have teamed up for a Four-Legged Food Drive at two Smith’s Food and Drug locations in Las Vegas. (For more details, see “Keeping pets in their families.”)

The goal, Gilmore says, is “to keep pets with the people who love them, and all of these organizations working together is helping us reach that goal."

How You Can Help:
• Join the First Home Forever Home campaign to see how you can make a difference in your community.
• For more information on First Home Forever Home’s Four-Legged Food Drive (happening this summer in Florida, Nevada, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington) and how you can help struggling pet owners in your community, e-mail Ellen Gilmore at elleng@bestfriends.org.

Photo, of Kevin Pritchett (left), Rufus the boxer and Tony Sipich, by Jennifer Sipich. Other photos by Sarah Ause, Best Friends photographer.
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends staff