PITTSBURG, Kan. — It’s difficult enough to afford the current cost of food for humans, let alone for animals. A program designed to provide pet owners with free food in one area community is in limbo.
About a year ago, Chewy, a pet food and product retailer, started providing the SEK Humane Society with free dog and cat food. That food was, in turn, made available to pet owners who can’t afford that expense. But that donation cycle has come to a temporary end, and it may be a while before it starts back up.
“We recently ran out two weeks ago of all of our food, we are totally out of pallets, uh we are hoping here in the next two to six months um there really isn’t a time frame on it to get some more shipments in, we just have to keep those connections, keep reaching out to see if anyone’s willing to donate until we can get those connections started back up,” said Kelsey Keeney, facility administrator.
So in the meantime, the shelter needs as many donations of cat and dog food from the public as they can to keep the program going.
“Until we can get the Pet Food Pantry started back up with all those pallets and all that food, uh we just need some donations to come in cause the public really kind of relies on coming out to get that free food but we’re out right now so it’s kind of hard,” said Keeney.
In case you’re wondering, the shelter has its own supply of food that is fed to shelter animals, which is unaffected by the donation program shortfall.
For those who want to donate food, just bring it out to the Humane Society located at 485 East 560th Avenue in Pittsburg, which is open Thursday through Monday. If the center is closed, just set the food inside the entryway.
