What started in 2013 as a Denver-based small nonprofit, supplying pet food to 858 pets per year, has grown into a statewide organization, with over 100 locations, distributing food to over 150,000 pets a year.
Over the last 11 years, Colorado Pet Pantry experienced exponential growth. Donations and need grew hand-in-hand, allowing us to maximize our impact.
However, after the Covid shutdown took hold on pet food manufacturing plants, and large-scale emergency donations ceased, the world suddenly faced an extensive, long-term pet food shortage. See video here about how we handled the pet food shortage. Because of this, Colorado Pet Pantry had to switch gears and focus on stabilization, rather than growth. Now, after two years of established commitment to our communities, we are excited to announce that we have had the ability and opportunity to open a new pet food pantry location in Cortez, CO.
For several years, we have been serving the community of Southwest Colorado, helping people feed and keep their pets, including “open to the public” locations in Mancos, Dove Creek, and Bayfield, as well as “mini pet food pantries” in Durango, Pagosa Springs, and the Ute Mountain Reservation of Towoac.
We held our first Cortez monthly pet food pantry in partnership with Good Samaritan’s Food Pantry on May 31, 2024. The opening of the new location in partnership with Good Sam’s was done with financial support from the LOR Foundation.
After years of no expansion, Colorado Pet Pantry wanted to take the first opportunity to open a pantry in Cortez and help the many guests in this area who need assistance.
Thanks to support from a dedicated core group of volunteers, who travel the area to host the pet food pantries, we were able to assist about 54 families and 228 pets on our first day with about 2,000 pounds of pet food.
We were even surprised by a visit from our prior program manager Suzanne (pictured here with another volunteer) who helped develop the assistance program in this area, before passing the torch to our new Program Manager Kim, who joined our team in January. Kim is making significant strides to help more people and pets in the area.
We will be at this location on the last Friday of every month from 12PM to 2PM. Clients are eligible to receive pet food once out of every three months. Our full calendar is here.
Client Spotlight: Meet Wilder Lee. Wilder was one of the rare kitties to visit us “in-purr-son”. He has a disease called Cerebral Hypoplasia. His mom had Feline Leukemia when he was in utero. This disease will likely mean he can never walk and will continue to be 100% dependent on his person for food, water, nurturing, and urination. See Wilder’s Video here.
Due to the high cost of raising a pet with special needs, his person was grateful to pick up pet food at the pantry to assist with keeping Wilder as healthy as possible.
Additional Services: Many guests at this pantry had questions about spay and neuter options in the area. We offer a resource guide with several options (download Southwest Colorado resource PDF), including a mobile spay/neuter service that will host a clinic in September called Bergen Spay Neuter. More info here.
Thank you to everyone who made this new location possible, and Happy 11 Year Birthday to Colorado Pet Pantry. We are very excited to help pet families in the town of Cortez, and to have the ability to add this new location.
To volunteer with us, please visit this link. Colorado Pet Pantry is always grateful and in need of donations to make this work possible. We are able to feed a dog or cat for a full 30 days with just a $5 donation.