June 2024 - Colorado Pet Pantry

Impact Report – Summer 2024

Serving Our Community

We are on track to serve 150,000 pets this year, ensuring people facing hardship can keep their beloved companions healthy and fed, and most importantly, at home with their families.

Remarkable Community Support

When faced with a dire food shortage in our warehouse at the start of 2024, you answered our calls for help. During the first quarter, we received an incredible influx of in-kind donations from our compassionate community that provided crucial resources for pets and their people. From office and neighborhood pet food drives, to pallets from distributors, and brands, these donations sustained us through the winter months.

Enhanced Support for Clients in Immediate Need

We transitioned our Emergency Program into a Client Navigation Team model, reducing stress on our staff and volunteers, while efficiently assisting those in need. This new model equips us with more tools to address the demand for pet food, with emergency food pickup being an option, but not the first solution.

Policy Changes for Greater Impact

We implemented new policies to extend our reach, meet the increasing need, and make the most of our plateauing pet food supply. By changing the frequency with which clients can receive food, we are able to help more people and pets in need of assistance, keeping those pets out of shelters and aligning more closely with our mission, to temporarily feed Colorado pets.

Meet Donny & Gabriel

Gabriel, an outgoing yet calm feline companion played a vital role in helping Donny navigate life’s most challenging hurdles with unwavering affection. When a sudden medical crisis left them both without a home, Donny faced the heartbreaking prospect of parting ways with his beloved friend.

Colorado Pet Pantry stepped in, offering a lifeline of support. Providing essential supplies and resources for Gabriel, your support gave this duo the opportunity to remain together, family forever.

Your support can help individuals like Donny and pets like Gabriel stay united during times of crisis. Donate today to Colorado Pet Pantry and help us continue our mission of keeping families and their beloved pets together through life’s toughest challenges.

“The Colorado Pet Pantry has helped Gabriel and me by providing food, treats, toys, a cat condo, which he loves, and a litter box. If it were not for the pantry, I would have struggled.”
~ Donny

Your continued generosity and support empower us to make a tangible difference in the lives of pets and their families across Colorado. Together, we’re building a stronger, healthier, and more compassionate community. Thank you for being a part of this important work.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Eileen Lambert
Executive Director

Meredith Allin
Director of Development

Canine Colorado Magazine teams up with Colorado Pet Pantry

Each year, Canine Colorado Magazine and DelaFoto Portraits team up with one lucky animal welfare organization in an effort to raise funds for their cause. This year, DelaFoto Portraits is supporting Colorado Pet Pantry by featuring black dogs for the 5th Edition of Canine Colorado Magazine.

HOW IT WORKS:
Anyone with a black dog (50% of the coat or more must be black) goes to the Canine Colorado’s website, and books a session with DelaFoto Portraits at their Denver-based studio.

For $250 your pet will receive:

A full two-page spread in the magazine for up to two dogs (WOW!). Additional dogs and pages may be added for a fee (connect with DelaFoto on this).
One 8×10″ mounted art print ($500 value) from your photography studio session.
One complimentary copy of the magazine (valued at $35 or more).
A studio cinematic presentation of the best portrait session images and DelaFoto’s art consultation for any additional artwork you may wish to purchase.
A chance to be in the “Top 10 Cover Contest” taking place during the month of October.

This $250 fee is 100% a donation to Colorado Pet Pantry, and will go to provide 50 dogs or cats with a 30-day supply of pet food.

THE MAGAZINE:
This magazine is a 50+ page tribute to man’s best friend. It is printed on thick paper stock, has wonderful stories about many of the dogs inside, and is solely created to support animal-based nonprofit organizations. Only one magazine is produced each year, and makes a wonderful gift for your family and friends during the holidays. For each magazine sold, Colorado Pet Pantry will receive an additional $15 donation from Canine Colorado.

WHY BLACK DOGS:
Black dog syndrome is a phenomenon in pet adoption in which black dogs are ignored in favor of light-colored ones. Observed by shelters and rescue groups across the world, this is an issue negatively affecting the adoption rates of black dogs. By shining a light on this (literally a studio photography light) we hope to bring awareness to this issue and showcase how beautiful these dogs really are.

Book Your Session NOW

Stories: Donny and Gabriel

Gabriel, an outgoing yet calm feline companion played a vital role in helping Donny navigate life’s most challenging hurdles with unwavering affection.

When a sudden medical crisis left them both without a home, Donny faced the heartbreaking prospect of parting ways with his beloved friend. Colorado Pet Pantry stepped in, offering a lifeline of support. Providing essential supplies and resources for Gabriel, they ensured this duo could remain together, family forever.

“The Colorado Pet Pantry has helped Gabriel and me by providing food, treats, toys, a cat condo, which he loves, and a litter box. If it were not for the pantry, I would have struggled.”
~ Donny

Your support can help individuals like Donny and pets like Gabriel stay united during times of crisis. Donate today to Colorado Pet Pantry and help us continue our mission of keeping families and their beloved pets together through life’s toughest challenges.

SECOR Pet Food Pantry – changes date and location

Starting July 1st the pet food pantry in partnership with SECOR will move back to its original location on a new date:

SECOR, 17151 Pine Lane, Parker, CO 80134 – we will distribute pet food on the first Monday of the month from 10AM – 12PM.

Clients are eligible to receive pet food one out of every three months.

SECOR PET FOOD BANK MAP & FLOW:

Please enter from Pine Lane and keep right, follow the yellow arrows and pay attention to volunteer instructions to receive your pet food.

Upcoming SECOR Pet Food Pantries:

11 Years in the Making

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.

Suzanne and Colorado Pet Pantry volunteer.

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.