The new Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry, a pet food pantry operated out of a local self-storage facility, has set a date for its opening: March 6, from 10 a.m. to noon. The Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry is located in Queen City Self-Storage, at 4775 Red Bank Expressway in Cincinnati. The pet food pantry, which was founded by local animal rights activists Shannon DeBra and Anita Barron, will give away food to Cincinnati pet owners who cannot afford to feed their pets. In part, the pet food pantry is intended to prevent families from abandoning or being forced to give away pets that they can no longer care for.
"People lose their jobs and can't afford to keep their pets or they have to move from their house to an apartment that doesn't allow pets," DeBra explained to Steve Kemme, a reporter for Cincinnati.com. "Money is definitely a factor in these dogs and cats landing in the shelters."
The Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry has received thousands of pounds of donated pet food in the last month. At the beginning of February, when Barron and DeBra first announced that they would be opening the pet food pantry, the pantry had only ten cans of pet food on its shelves (see "Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry Opened in Self-Storage Center," Feb. 4). Now it has nearly 4,000 pounds. It also has other pet supplies, such as cat litter, pet collars, and treats. To receive free pet food, pet owners will not have to prove that they cannot afford to feed their pets, but they will have to register with the pet food pantry and sign a form stating that they are in need of assistance to care for their pets.
The Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry is the first pet food pantry in the greater Cincinnati area, according to DeBra, but it is not the first one in the United States. Over the last year, pet food pantries have been opening all over the country. Pikes Peak Pet Pantry of Colorado Springs, Colorado, like the Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry, relies on a self-storage facility as its distribution point. Pikes Peak Pet Pantry distributes food from the parking lot of SecureCare Self Storage on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During last year's holiday season, Pikes Peak Pet Food Pantry joined with three other pet food pantries, People Care Pet Pantry of Ravenna, Ohio; Northland Pet Pantry of Kansas City, Missouri;and the Central Florida Animal Pantry in Orlando, Florida, to run a pet food drive. Pikes Peak Pet Pantry also maintains a list of other pet food pantries and humane societies offering pet food assistance around the United States and Canada, at "U.S. & International Pet Food Banks."
Local communities have welcomed the pet food pantries with open arms. "I've had people say 'I was feeding my dog ramen noodles until you guys came along," Jennifer Fulton, the president of Northland Pet Pantry of Kansas City, Missouri, told the Kansas City Star last September.