Free pet food available by the ton! NY/NJ and beyond...overflow of donations for Sandy relief

[phesina]

I read this on the VetPet Partners veterinary forum today.
See http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=25468 for the article itself.. AND PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!

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Free pet food available by the ton

December 21, 2012
By: Edie Lau
For The VIN News Service

Shop foreman Desi Medina offloads pallets of donated dog and cat food at the
warehouse of ZipJack Custom Umbrellas in Elmsford, N.Y. The donation by a pet
rescue organization intended for Hurricane Sandy relief was so great that most
of the food remains in storage with nowhere to go.

If it truly could rain cats and dogs, ZipJack Custom Umbrella might not be in
this predicament.

The umbrella factory in New York is in possession of 40 pallets of dog and cat
food, wet and dry, donated for Hurricane Sandy relief. It has no one to eat the
food.

Volunteers were able to distribute six of the original 46 pallets of food to
storm victims but because the outpouring of donations from all quarters was so
generous, demand ebbed for the remainder, according to the coordinator of a
local relief effort, Dr. Brian Green.

Now the food -- wrapped in 3-by-3-foot blocks, each weighing some 250 pounds -- is
occupying warehouse space belonging to ZipJack, whose owners had offered what
they thought would be temporary storage.

It?s been nearly two months since Sandy made landfall on the New Jersey shore,
mowing over coastal communities in that state and in neighboring New York.

Green, a veterinarian in Tarrytown, and Mike and Martha Witkowski, owners of
ZipJack in Elmsford, jumped into volunteer efforts to collect donations -- food,
paper goods, cleaning supplies and more -- and deliver them to storm-wrecked
areas.

?Following that,? Green recounted, ?one of the good-hearted people that was with
us who happens to be a breeder made contact with a Texas rescue organization
that trucked up to us about 50 pallets of pet food. That?s just tons of food.?

He continued: ?It was very well-intentioned, but it got shipped to us before we
had a distribution channel for it.?

That?s when the Witkowskis offered their warehouse space.

Some of the food made it into the hands of rescue organizations tending to pets
displaced by the storm. "But because of the generosity of so many people," Green
said, "the need has been markedly diminished in the area."

Mike Witkowski, who has become quite familiar with the specifics of the
donation, said the food consists of Cesar and Pedigree brands for dogs and
Whiskas brand for cats. "We have 20 pallets of Cesars and two types of Pedigree
? big bags and smaller bags of treats," he said. "The Whiskas, there's two
different flavors, all soft packets."

Together, they occupy 600 square feet of space where workers normally do
repairs. "Luckily, we were able to move over" to another space for that,
Witkowski said.

But soon the largesse will pose a real inconvenience, as remodeling is on
ZipJack's schedule in January. "I have to hold off until I can clear that spot
out," Witkowski said.

Green surmises that there may yet be pet-owning storm victims who could use the
food. And if the need isn't great among Sandy survivors, then certainly pet
owners down on their luck for other reasons would welcome the provisions, Green
believes.

It?s just a matter of reaching them.

To contact Green about the surplus pet food, send email to vetnvild(at)optonline.net

[Karen]

Thanks, perhaps some of our rescue folks will be able to take advantage of this! Especially some of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey folks.

[pomtzu]

It seems that the Humane Society and SPCA and rescue groups would be able to take advantage of this. And what about the normal food drives that go on this time of year for humans and pets alike. I'm sure that people on a fixed income that have pets would welcome free food to feed to their furry kids. Someone just needs to get the word out, that this is available to them.

[Karen]

Pomtzu, I know the food bank in my church basement (which is the ecumenical food pantry for all of Watertown, MA) does not take pet food. We have many non-English speaking people who visit the food pantry, being in a big urban area, and so they worry that people might not know that it is not made for human consumption. They wish they could, but as they have "patrons" from so many different countries, Asia, to South American, Armenian, other Europeans, Russian - so not even all people who use the same character set we do! But other places do, that specialize in pets, so they direct them to those if anyone enquires!

But I'll spread the word amongst folks I know in the area!

[Cataholic]

Karen- that food bank is missing the mark. They could very, very easily put a animal sticker on the package. Can't stand to see " the religious" forget about the animals. So sad.

[Karen]

Karen- that food bank is missing the mark. They could very, very easily put a animal sticker on the package. Can't stand to see " the religious" forget about the animals. So sad.

It is not a religious organization, it is just housed in the basement of my church. Is a town-based non-profit run by hard-woking people, mostly volunteers. They do not forget about the animals, when they know there is a pet involved, they direct them to other resources.