Donations of food help families keep their pets

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Each year around the holidays the West Suburban Chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter Society (CPCU) donates both its time and money to Loaves & Fishes. This year they recognized the need for pet food at the food pantry and made it part of their goal to feed area pets. | Submitted

Updated: January 29, 2012 8:05AM

When most people think of a food pantry, they think of human food. But, when a family falls on hard economic times, the family pet suffers as well. So, it might not be surprising that, earlier this month when Loaves & Fishes received a donation of more than a hundred bags of pet food, the supply was gone in three days.

“What a lot of people forget is that many families in need have pets,” said Bill Forese, ADOPT Pet Shelter’s director of strategic development. “Pets need to eat.”

Sue Hrovat, pantry manager at Loaves & Fishes, estimates that about 43 percent of the families they serve have pets and rely on the pantry to help feed their cats and dogs. To help pet owners, Loaves & Fishes receives pet food donations from the Naperville Area Humane Society, ADOPT and pet stores, as well as individuals and community groups.

“There is a constant shortage,” said Jody Bender, community relations director at Loaves & Fishes. “(Pet food) leaves the shelves as quickly as it arrives because of its scarcity and the growing need.”

Each year around the holidays, the West Suburban Chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter Society donates both its time and money to Loaves & Fishes. This year, they recognized the need for pet food at the food pantry and made it part of their goal to feed area pets.

“Most of us are pet owners and said we have to do something about this,” said Barry Zalane, CPCU’s vice president.

With this in mind, Zalane approached Pet Supplies Plus in Naperville with the hope of being able to make a donation of pet food to Loaves & Fishes. Store manager Dave McCann said his store was able to donate its discontinued food at a reduced price and also contacted their distributors who donated more food. In all, with the help of CPCU, Pet Supplies Plus and its distributors were able to donate more than 100 five-pound bags of pet food to the shelter.

“The whole operation was a lot of coordination (to help) families economically stressed ... who had pets,” Zalane said. “It was a wonderful experience. We could do this again and again.”

And, while both ADOPT and NAHS also rely on donations of pet supplies, including food, they also donate food they cannot use to Loaves & Fishes, recognizing that if people can keep their animals fed and taken care of, they will see fewer animals in their shelters. According to Angie Wood, executive director at NAHS, their shelter has about 100 animals in their care. She said they also continue to see people needing to surrender pets because of financial circumstances.

Forese says that, every day ADOPT, which has about 30 dogs and more than a hundred cats at its shelter, staff field about a half dozen calls from families who can no longer care for their pets or are losing their home, and believe they need to give up their pet. For these people, realizing that food pantries offer pet food is a huge relief.

“When we tell people we have pet food, you see their eyes light up when they realize they’ll be able to keep their pets,” Bender said.