Lisa adopted sweet Velcro as a kitten. Dirty and alone, she took Velcro in and it was love at first sight. “She’s my joy to celebrate successes, and the door greeter welcoming any and all guests. Every day I thank the Universe for bringing her into my life.”
As Velcro grew up, Lisa learned her little body required a special, very expensive, prescription food to stay healthy. Due to the amazing donations by our generous pet food donors, Colorado Pet Pantry typically has this type of food on-hand. “It is very expensive but necessary to prevent her from getting sick. I can’t thank Colorado Pet Pantry enough for providing this cat food in a time when affording rent has become very overwhelming. Basic necessities are a struggle, and I am honestly not sure what I would have done to provide Velcro with her prescription food.”
Colorado Pet Pantry is a supplemental pet food assistance program. Offering pet food to our clients every other month enables us to lift a huge financial burden that furry friends can have on a monthly budget.
In 2022, Colorado Pet Pantry provided almost seven million meals to families across Colorado. It is our honor to be able to offer this service to so many community members.
Thank you to all who responded to our need for Adult Dog Food. We truly appreciate the donations you have sent. We go through thousands of pounds of kibble each month at our pet food banks. Our need is on-going and great. If you have the means to donate pet food – an extra bag in your pantry, or anything from our wishlist, we would be very grateful! There are several different ways to donate.
We are excited to announce that we raised $68,000 after expenses at this event! This will allow Colorado Pet Pantry to feed 13,600 dogs and cats throughout Colorado for a full month (it costs $5 to feed a pet for a month), helping their humans to get back on their feet and keep their families together. You have made 2023 a wonderful year for so many people and pets — we deeply appreciate you.
Did you take any great photos of the event? We would LOVE to see them! Please email them to info@coloradopetpantry.org or text them to 720-893-1139.
“Sometimes the most overlooked family members during any divorce can be people’s pets.”
In April 2022, Dawn and her family had 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 goats and 28 chickens. Due to financial stress from a divorce, Dawn could no longer afford to care for all of her animals. She had to make the heartbreaking decision to re-home her goats, chickens and one of her house cats. Dawn learned about Colorado Pet Pantry’s SECOR pet food bank in Parker, Colorado, in August of 2022. With the help of our pet food assistance program, Dawn and her son, Levi, have been able to keep and care for their cat, Brave, and their retired livestock guardian dogs, Zeke and Kalos.
“My son and I are both thrilled that we have been able to continue to love and enjoy our remaining animals. They are thriving on the generous donations from Colorado Pet Pantry. I’m so grateful for every bag and can of food that the Pet Pantry has provided. Though we are uncertain of the future, we are grateful to be able to do life with our furry family members. Kalos alerts me when my blood sugar is low, and, Zeke and Brave can tell when we need a bit of comfort. I’m grateful that with the help of Colorado Pet Pantry, I’ve been able to keep my dogs and my sweet cat Brave, after losing my goats.”
Pets need every chance possible to stay in their forever homes with the humans who love them. Our goal at Colorado Pet Pantry, is to keep pets with their families. With the help of our supporters, we provide supplemental pet food assistance to cover the gap when housing costs, inflation, medical expenses, vet care, job loss, underemployment, or divorce, chip away at the resources people need to feed their pets.
Corporate matching programs are some of the best ways to maximize your impact when you donate to a charity.
You can use this matching tool to find out if your employer is already signed up with a matching program. If they are not, you can learn how to promote this within the workplace.
This is a huge win for nonprofits and businesses who are interested in contributing to their communities. Thank you for being a part of our network of support!
We are here to confirm that we will be open on Labor Day, however, the human food bank will be closed.
We will distribute pet food as scheduled on Monday, September 4th from 9-11AM at Weld Food Bank, 1108 H Street in Greeley. You are welcome to come every other month, so you are able to get food in September if you did NOT receive food in August.
Below, we have created text for you to copy/paste and email to your friends so that you can easily invite them to our Raise the Woof! Rooftop Party for a Cause fundraiser. We really appreciate any and all networking you are willing to do. Thank you!
This annual fundraising event means a lot to me because I have personally been involved in Colorado Pet Pantry. I have witnessed their pet food assistance program in action and the work that they do is vital to keeping our community pets in their homes and out of shelters. At this point in time, Colorado Pet Pantry is seeing record numbers for those who need help with pet food assistance. Animal shelters are maxed out, and pets need every chance possible to stay in their forever homes with the humans who love them. Colorado Pet Pantry has created such an efficient system, that they are able to feed a dog or a cat for an entire month with just a $5 donation. With the Raise the Woof! fundraiser, we hope to raise enough funds to feed thousands of additional pets in Colorado.
I would be honored if you would accompany me, and also share this event with others – we are hoping to FILL the rooftop, and raise much needed funds so that we can help as many pets in the future as possible.
Due to the heat of the summer, we have altered our normal pet food bank hours to take place during the mornings, from 7:30AM to 9:30AM.
In addition, we do plan to have a July pet food bank this year. You are welcome to come to our pet food bank in July if you have not received pet food since May 2023.
We will distribute pet food on July 31st and August 28th from 7:30AM to 9:30AM.
Our services are meant to be supplementary and do not cover all of your pet food needs.
The statistics are in for last year and they are impressive. Thanks to our amazing volunteers, donors, and community supporters, we have been able to make real change in Colorado.
In the last year we…
Distributed a 30-day supply of pet food to 115,482 dogs and cats across Colorado.
Fed 1,307,876 pounds of dry food to pets.
Distributed 213,860 cans of wet food to dogs and cats.
We enabled 35,889 families to greatly reduce their monthly pet food bill, enabling them to keep their pets at home with them and out of the overcrowded shelters.
We distributed 6.93 Million meals to pets across the state.
This sounds like a job well done, and there is no way we could have filled this need without those who surround us and make it all possible.
When times are hard for humans, they’re inevitably hard for pets. Right now is one of those times. With inflation soaring and bonus SNAP benefits having ended in February, food banks across the country are seeing a huge uptick in need. At our pet food banks, we have seen at least a 15% increase in new clients across the state, and even more than that in some locations.
With pet food being so expensive, local shelters and rescues are seeing more relinquished pets than ever. This caught the eye and ear of local celebrity news anchor and recent adoptive pet parent, Kyle Clark. Kyle featured Colorado Pet Pantry as his Word of Thanks charity this week, May 10-16th, 2023.
By featuring Colorado Pet Pantry, Kyle was able to show many pet owners that there are resources available to those who have fallen on hard times, but do not want to lose their pets.
This is why we are here. With 28 open-to-the-public pet food banks across the state, we are able to take a $5 donation and turn it into a 30-day supply of pet food for a dog or cat.
So far, thanks to the Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign, we have received over $68,000 toward our $75,000 goal. If we reach $75,000, it will enable us to feed 15,000 dogs and cats across Colorado, and allow us to meet the rising need we are seeing at a time when it is so important to do so.We hope you will consider donating to this campaign to help us reach this goal.
Thank you Kyle Clark for featuring us as your Word of Thanks recipient for May 10th, 2023. Here is the original article that can be found on 9news.com:
Colorado Pet Pantry is a statewide resource that was founded in 2013 to help pets and their people.
Food banks love to add pet food from Colorado Pet Pantry because it’s one-stop shopping for families. All the pet food is donated. Then, the non-profit’s hundreds of volunteers and a few staff make sure it gets distributed across the state.
The pantry says it donated close to 7 million meals last year, which fed 115,000 dogs and cats. The demand has gone up every year since the non-profit got its start.
They’re noticing increased need lately because of inflation, and with food stamp benefits being cut in February.
That’s why our micro-giving campaign, Word of Thanks, is supporting Colorado Pet Pantry this week.
Their largest pet food banks are in rural Colorado, where shelters are full and the need is great. It’s more expensive to transport the food there, but Colorado Pet Pantry is determined to reach every corner of the state.
With our help, they can do that. Like every week since Kyle started Word of Thanks, we’re asking you to consider a $5 donation. He’ll match the first fifty of those, and Colorado Pet Pantry says they can feed a dog or a cat for a month on five bucks.
That $5 could be the difference between a family being able to keep a pet at home or having to give them up.
Word of Thanks began in 2020, and this Next community has donated $10.7 million to non-profits across the state doing great work.
As always, thank you!
If you’re interested in giving, you can donate here.
The best thing I love about Spring is that it’s almost green everywhere. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Manny Arizala with the Colorado Pet Pantry. As the pandemic wreaked havoc across our nation and here in the Colorado Springs / Fountain area, many of you stepped up to feed and give a voice to the voiceless, our pets.
I am writing you today to ask you to join us in our efforts. I am not asking for money, I am simply asking you to join us once a year, once a quarter, every other month or as often as you are able to in distributing pet food and at times, supplies to our community. With food insecurity on the rise, many of our community members rely on the generosity of food pantries and their volunteers, ultimately that also means food insecurity is on the rise for our four-legged pets.
I joined the Colorado Pet Pantry this past Fall simply because of our mission: “The Colorado Pet Pantry will temporarily feed Colorado pets, allowing families to increase their ability to care for pets with the goal of keeping them out of shelters and with their families.” Your generosity of time will allow us to be true to our mission and will additionally have a direct positive impact on the members of our community.
Growing up, I couldn’t tell you how many times a pet made the difference between a good day or a bad day, no matter the circumstances. Pets bring love, joy, and most of all companionship. Will you join me and volunteer some of your time at one of our pet pantries in either Colorado Springs, Fountain or both? I hope you decide to join me in saying yes, I will volunteer. Bring a friend with you to volunteer or make a date with your loved one to volunteer together by simply signing up at the link below.
Thank You, and I look forward to seeing you at one of our pantries very soon. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me directly or text me at the number listed below.
Starting March 1st, 2023, Coloradans, and people throughout the nation, participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) saw their monthly amounts drop drastically as the Emergency Allotments for the SNAP program (Food Stamps) that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic came to an end February 28, 2023. On an individual basis, the end of emergency allotments will mean an average loss of $82 in food stamps per person every month, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates.
The Emergency Allotments began in March 2020 to help people who lost their jobs, were underemployed, were financially strained due to medical costs, etc. due to COVID-19. After three years, the decision was made to end the Emergency Allotments. Additionally, this is happening at a time when grocery prices are already much higher than normal. This change will affect the human food that is accessible to people, leaving even less money for pet food and pet costs.
That’s where we come in.
How will this affect Colorado Pet Pantry?
Colorado Pet Pantry saw a drastic increase in the amount of people needing pet food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three years later the need has only continued to increase, while donations have recently begun to decrease due to our donors’ economic concerns. We’re already seeing even more people needing help with pet food because more of their sparse funds are needed to feed the human family members.
Colorado Pet Pantry works side by side with human food banks to help make sure the human food goes to the humans and the pet food goes to the pets. “I will feed my pets before I eat…” is a common phrase heard at our organization when those who need pet food reach out.
The human food banks that we partner with have already reported that their human food distributions increased by 30 to 50% in February 2023 alone. And our pet food banks in the past two months have greatly increased in the number of people seeking help. This began the month BEFORE the food stamps decreased. The concern is that this number will dramatically increase in months to come as people and families realize the full affect of the decreased food stamp allotment.
While food stamps cannot be used for pet food, this decrease in food stamps will affect a person’s or family’s overall ability to feed all the members of the family, including ones with paws. Colorado Pet Pantry anticipates that need will greatly increase, beginning NOW.
As pets make their way into our hearts and our homes, they become part of the family. Most of the clients we assist have had their pets for many years, then financial struggles took hold. Pet owners should not have to choose between keeping their pet or feeding their pet.
How can you help?
Monetary donations go a long way. Thanks to our pet food partnerships, we can take just $5 and give a pet a 30-day supply of pet food.
Volunteering is the backbone of our organization. If we do not have volunteers to run our pet food banks, pick up donations, or help in our warehouse, we do not exist. If you are able to volunteer, we would love to have you!
Sharing about us online helps spread the word about what we are doing and grows our organization. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up to date with what is happening at Colorado Pet Pantry.
Did you know you can support Colorado Pet Pantry just by doing your regular shopping at King Soopers or City Market? When you add us as your charity of choice, King Soopers/City Market will donate a portion of what you spend directly to us. In the fourth quarter of 2022, 601 enrolled householdshelped usraise $5,312 in donations! Visit the King Soopers/City Market page, create your account and sign up today.
Start a Facebook Fundraiser
Creating a Fundraiser on Facebook is very easy. This is a great way to not only raise funds for your favorite nonprofit, but to show your friends what causes matter to you. Facebook generously covers transaction fees for nonprofits in their online fundraiser. Visit Facebook’s Fundraiser Instructions today and learn how to set up your fundraisers.
Donate Your Colorado State Tax Refund
If you’re expecting a Colorado state income tax refund this year, we hope you’ll consider donating some or all of it to Colorado Pet Pantry. Colorado makes it easy to donate your refund to the charity of your choice. When you file your taxes this year, add our registration number, 20123031891, on the Voluntary Contributions Schedule (DR 0104CH) of your Colorado Individual Income Tax Return. Learn more about this easy to use and much appreciated program.
Share us on Social Media
Social media is a fast and cost-effective way for us reach a larger audience. When you follow (or “like”) us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share our content, it allows us to reach and engage with an even larger audience. The more people we reach, the more people and pets we are able to help! It’s an easy and free way to help us share information and gain followers and supporters. Please help us by following us and sharing our posts! Learn more here.
