PAWS Shelter Foundation member Dianne Shoffner says after several strong years of giving it has become a challenge to keep the shelves stocked at the Hardin County Pet Food Pantry housed at Helping Hand of Hope.
“We’ve been very wildly successful in the past and have given up to 100,000 pounds of food out a year, But I’ve lost some of my donors,” Shoffner said. “One very prominent one is Chewy. We used to receive three or four truckloads a year, and now we’re not receiving any because they’ve started distributing worldwide and it’s just getting harder to get.”
Shoffner says folks looking to help support families and pets in need have a good opportunity to do so right now.
“We’re doing a promotion this week with Tractor Supply here in Elizabethtown,” Shoffner said. “You can either go online and purchase a bag of food there and have it shipped to our E-Town store, or you can go to the store and pick up a bag of food. They will collect it and we’ll be able to pick it up there to take over to Helping Hand of Hope.”
Shoffner says the pet food pantry was created to support pet-owning families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 300,000 pounds of food has been distributed since 2021.
“We distribute over 20 bags of food a day, so it just takes a lot of food to keep our county dogs that are less fortunate in having food day to day, and it goes to our community that really needs help to keep their pets at home and not return them to the shelters or that kind of thing,” Shoffner said.
Donations may also be taken to Shoffner at Sam Russell’s Pet Provisions. Contact Shoffner for more information.
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