The Somerville Animal Food Pantry is helping local pet owners who are financially challenged to feed their beloved furry friends.

By Katherine Davis

Having to choose between yourself or your pet is a heartbreaking dilemma that every pet owner hopes they are never faced with. Financial situations that lead pet owners to surrender their pet are generally temporary, but when left to make the difficult decision, in the moment it is often seen as the only way to provide their pet a more stable home. A 501(c)(3) program under the Rescue Allies Inc., the Somerville Animal Food Pantry works incredibly hard to combat financial insecurity within the city of Somerville by providing free pet services to those in need– giving a helping hand to pet owners as they work to get back onto their feet.

Donating to the Animal Food Pantry could be a small act of kindness that helps keep your neighbors united with their beloved companions as they recover financially. So, what can you do to help? At the moment, the Somerville Pantry is requesting donations of any kind, but specifically those of smaller bags of dry cat food and dry dog food. While any pet food donation is welcome, these smaller bags are best fit for helping multiple families at once, as for the health and safety of all pets, larger bags cannot be opened and distributed across more than one household. Donations that are unfortunately unable to be accepted entirely, although the Pantry appreciates the thought, are opened, expired, or prescription pet food. These are similar to the guidelines of donating food to a regular Food Pantry. However, non-perishable donations are also welcome such as crates, unopened tick and flea medication, animal shampoo, collars, and leashes. If you have any questions regarding whether the Pantry could find a use for an item you wish to donate, you can ask through email at programdirector@somervilleanimalfoodpantry.com.

Unsure of where you can donate? There are two physical locations in Somerville where donations to the Somerville Animal Food Pantry can be dropped off– the Sullivan Tires located at 263 Beacon St., and Scritches and Boops located at 62 Summer St. If you are unable to drop donations off, you can fill out the form on the website communities.rescueallies.com. The Somerville page can be found under the “Local Programs” tab near the top of the webpage. By filling out this form, someone from the Animal Food Pantry will be able to come pick up your donation from your address. If you would like to help but you do not currently have any pet supplies, or you want to make sure to donate exactly what the Pantry is looking for, the Somerville Animal Food Pantry has links to both an Amazon wish list, as well as a Chewy wish list on the same website.

If you are looking to be a local sponsor for this incredible program, you can email programdirector@somervilleanimalfoodpantry.com. For those who are in need of assistance through the Animal Food Pantry, you can fill out the application on the community allies website, no questions asked. The program runs on the honor system, with the trust that those who are fortunate enough to not need the resources will not take advantage of the Pantry. For more information beyond the website regarding events or future programming you can follow @somervilleanimalfoodpantry on Instagram, and the Somerville Animal Food Pantry on Facebook. Your donation, no matter how big or how small, makes a priceless difference to members of the community and their families.