April 1, 2025
Feeding Pets, Supporting Families: How PAWSitive Pantry is Fighting Pet Hunger
What if feeding your pet meant you couldn’t feed yourself? For thousands of struggling families, that’s reality—and it’s driving heartbreaking surrenders. But one organization is changing the game.
In this episode, Amy Castro talks with Stacey LeBaron, founder of PAWSitive Pantry and host of The Community Cats Podcast, about how her team is tackling pet food insecurity—and helping pets stay in the homes where they’re loved.
You’ll hear about:
• A nonprofit that distributes 140,000+ lbs of pet food annually
• How food access prevents shelter surrenders and supports vet care
• The real reasons people give up their pets—and how to stop it
• Starting local: how to create change in your own community
• Practical tips for partnering with shelters, food banks & volunteers
Resources Mentioned:
- PAWSitive Pantry
- Mel Robbins' Let Them Theory
- Pet Food Assistance Directory
- The Community Cats Podcast
- Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society
- Animal Policy Group
- Community Cat Calculator
- Community Cat Pyramid
Listen now and learn how to help pets and families stay together—because no one should have to choose between feeding themselves or feeding their pet.
✅ Subscribe to Muddy Paws and Hairballs for real talk and expert advice on pet care.
✅ Share this episode to help more pet parents navigate life with their pets.
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Thanks for listening to Muddy Paws and Hairballs, your go-to resource for all things pet care. From dog training, behavior, and socialization to cat enrichment, pet adoption, and tackling behavior problems, we provide expert advice and real talk to help you create a happy, healthy life with your pets. Whether you're dealing with dog anxiety, looking for puppy training tips, or exploring enrichment ideas for your cat, we've got you covered. Be sure to check out all our episodes!
Chapters
00:00 - The Reality of Pet Food Insecurity
01:27 - Meet Stacey LeBaron of Positive Pantry
08:23 - Origins and Evolution of Positive Pantry
16:34 - Addressing Financial Barriers for Pet Owners
25:18 - Distribution Models and Volunteer Network
35:04 - Success Stories and Community Impact
40:29 - Starting Your Own Pet Food Pantry
44:27 - The Community Cats Podcast
Transcript
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00:00:00.661 --> 00:00:03.529
What if feeding your pet meant skipping meals yourself?
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Unfortunately, it's a heartbreaking reality for countless pet owners.
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Yet pet food insecurity is an issue that rarely gets the attention it deserves.
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Every day, people worldwide make impossible choices Do they pay the rent, do they buy their groceries or do they ensure that their beloved pet doesn't go hungry.
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But one organization is stepping in to change the game, ensuring that no one has to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pets.
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Stick around, because this conversation is going to challenge what you think you know about pet welfare and what it really takes to keep pets and their people together.
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Welcome to Muddy Paws and Hairballs, the podcast that cuts through the fluff to talk about real life of pet parents.
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I'm Amy Castro, and today we're diving into the issue of pet food insecurity, a problem that affects more families than you probably think.
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My guest today is Stacey LeBaron, a powerhouse in the animal welfare world with more than 30 years of experience tackling cat overpopulation and pet welfare issues.
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She's the founder and host of the Community Cats podcast, where she has recorded more than 600 episodes interviewing experts from around the world.
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She's also the president of Positive Pantry, a nonprofit working to ensure pets stay in their homes by providing food to families in need.
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Today, we're going to talk about the challenges of running a pet food bank and how we can all be part of the solution.
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So, stacey, welcome to the show.
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Oh, thank you so much for having me, amy, awesome.
00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:36.072
Well, you're even a more experienced podcaster than I am, so I'm excited to have this conversation.
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But I know, as we were talking before we started the recording, that I think there's a lot of overlap in our experiences, but you've just kind of like exponentially done things on a bigger scale.
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So what inspired the Positive Pantry?
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It was founded by Jen Bennett around.
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I don't know if we remember way back when to 2008 and 2009, when we had another financial crisis and people were struggling to make ends meet, housing was an issue A lot of people were underwater on their mortgages and that kind of thing and Jen Bennett, in that period of time, up here in Warren, vermont, we were in a little area called the Mad River Valley, so Sugarbush, mad River Glen ski area, and she started this small group to focus on trying to provide pet food to the families in the Mad River Valley during this very challenging period of time, and so she was the chief canine officer of the Positive Pantry and so they started out with dog food and cat food and they would get a group of volunteers together.
00:02:40.641 --> 00:02:51.888
They'd break bags down and they had like 10, we call them food shelves in Vermont, so they're small food shelves and they're open like two or three days a week for a couple of hours and they would deliver pet food to these food shelves.
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So about 10 of them.
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So very, very small effort and it was very labor intensive.
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You're buying food, you're breaking it down, you're zipping up, you're doing all the bags and you're labeling the bags dating them, and I moved to Vermont in around 2013.
00:03:08.284 --> 00:03:09.449
It's about five years later Met up with Pazza Pantry.
00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:15.207
At that point in time I had stepped away from the day-to-day animal welfare space and I was taking care of my mom, who had severe dementia at the time.
00:03:15.207 --> 00:03:23.603
And so I realized, as you know, can't be all things to all people and at that point in time I really needed to make myself available to my mom.
00:03:23.603 --> 00:03:27.286
But I was like, well, pet food, how hard could that be, you know.
00:03:27.286 --> 00:03:29.387
And so keep me sort of our board.
00:03:29.387 --> 00:03:55.781
So I became the chief feline officer and her vice president for several years, and then, about four or five years ago, we flipped, and so she's our vice president and I'm now president of Positive Pantry.
00:03:56.622 --> 00:04:01.473
And the big thing that happened for our organization was about eight or nine years ago.
00:04:01.473 --> 00:04:06.641
We merged well, we collaborate with the Vermont, the Greater Vermont Food Bank.
00:04:06.641 --> 00:04:15.991
So we now have we're now statewide and we cover the whole state and we help facilitate making connections and supporting the whole state of Vermont.
00:04:15.991 --> 00:04:26.463
And then, of more recent time, after COVID, we merged with a subcommittee or a pilot group called the Pet Food Task Force, and now we also cover Massachusetts.
00:04:26.463 --> 00:04:28.247
So the why was.
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I just felt like it was something for me to be involved with, but I was, like you know, pet food so much easier than the whole animal thing.
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And then, of course, as with many of us on our journey, it's like, well, this happens, and then this happens, and this happens, and so it grows, and grows, and grows and becomes a great opportunity and it's really, it's a wonderful program.
00:04:45.550 --> 00:04:48.694
We just love to be able to provide pet food to families in need.
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So is it something where you're really seeing these ups and downs based on a direct connection to the economy, or have things been pretty steady, or have they kind of been on the rise?
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Because I think the whole idea of pet food insecurity is probably not something that a lot of people think about unless they have the issue right Well and it's funny.
00:05:08.507 --> 00:05:11.213
So we try to define the issue too.
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So there's veterinary insecurity and there's pet food insecurity.
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So most people can't afford a $400 vet bill.
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So if their cat gets sick or their dog gets injured, runs outside, eats something it shouldn't eat, most people have a really hard time of even affording that veterinary visit, and so we're also great supporters of if you can utilize some of the pet food resources.
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Please take advantage of that and then put that money aside that you would have paid to buy the food and put your little coffee can I guess we don't do coffee cans anymore, but you know we have your little savings mechanism there to save the money for that vet bill that you may need down the line, because the affordability in veterinary care is just so challenging right now for families also, and so it's trying to utilize multiple levers to be able to put a patchwork together to help families be able to keep their pets, and so if, through taking advantage of some of these opportunities can help save some money for folks to be able to afford the veterinary care that they need for their pets, to you know that all makes sense.
00:06:17.939 --> 00:06:21.130
So we're not necessarily super reactive.
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We're more of a like a steady of supply.
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However, I will say, during COVID the demands and need went like through the roof, and it was.
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It was way up there, but then the donations were also way up there too.
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So and now we've kind of come back down and we're more at a like a pre COVID sort of steady level, and so that's that's been better.
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As a president of a nonprofit organization who has to budget, this is more helpful for us and they say they're looking to surrender a pet, my first question is always why, versus saying yes, we can take it, no, we can't, because we do help with medical care, like we had.
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One of our kind of happiest stories was a situation that was a dog that had happy tail and they kept smashing its tail open and throwing blood all over the house.
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So it got moved to living outside.
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But the people couldn't afford the surgery to fix the issue and so they were looking to surrender the dog and we fundraised pretty quickly to raise the money for that surgery.
00:07:30.928 --> 00:07:33.718
But I've never really thought about asking if we were able to provide this, then how would that help out?
00:07:33.718 --> 00:07:39.733
But I think it's something for animal welfare organizations and for consumers or pet parents to think about.
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Don't get so focused on the vet bill.
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Get focused on where could that money come from otherwise or how can I make up the difference, kind of thing.
00:07:47.252 --> 00:07:48.233
So that's such a good point.
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And some veterinarians will have a payment plan system or an option.
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But then you say, oh, if I can provide you $100, $200, whatever of pet food and supplies per month, then then you can move that into your payment plan month, then you can move that into your payment plan.
00:08:07.822 --> 00:08:23.790
And so there are just a lot of different ways to try and help folks be able to make ends meet really, and that's part of what we are all about, and we certainly we focus on the pet food, but, as you've said, we're all connected in this animal welfare space and the more we can collaborate, the better off we're all going to be.
00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:29.132
And so if I can learn as much as I can about other programs to share with others, I'm going to do that.
00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:30.581
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:08:30.581 --> 00:08:41.962
When people are looking to surrender, the initial contact is always about surrender, not about how can you help me, or can you give me the money to help for this surgery, or can you pay for it, can you offset it, can you help me fundraise?
00:08:41.962 --> 00:08:45.226
Whatever it might be, and those are usually solutions we have to present.
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I mean, do you see that people are ashamed, embarrassed, whatever words?
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You want to fill in the blank, to ask for that help or to come and use the pantry?
00:08:58.340 --> 00:08:59.162
even if their pet really needs it Right.
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The way we work in most cases is we're providing the pet food to a human food shelf, so we're not necessarily touching the people individually unless they contact us via email or we're doing a pop-up.
00:09:07.626 --> 00:09:20.250
Sometimes we do some pop-up events also and we do fundraisers and outreach, and you know, the people that we deal with at Positive Pantry are already thinking about how can they band-aid the situation together.
00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:25.047
So luckily we don't get the question of how can I surrender my animal?
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They're approaching us.
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How can you help me be able to keep my dog and my cat, even though I've hit upon a hard time and that kind of thing?
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So luckily we don't have the look of a rescue or a shelter, so that conversation doesn't happen.
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I think when the phone calls come to a rescue or a shelter, I think that the biases that's all that they provide are those services, and so I mean I, like you, would do a flip on it and when somebody calls, I would say tell me what's going on in your life and why is this happening, and you know what can we do to partner together to enable you to continue to keep your pet.
00:10:02.221 --> 00:10:23.551
So it's challenging, though, because I do think that the general public has certain mindset of like I must give it up because I can't afford it, or people think I should be able to do this for my pet and that kind of thing, and I just hope that we can all just open up the conversation and just be open and have just listening.
00:10:23.551 --> 00:10:26.962
We need to listen a little bit better and I think we'd be much more successful.
00:10:27.705 --> 00:10:52.383
Yeah, that's, and that was actually where I was going to go next with this, because you got me thinking about the fact that when you think about and I'm sure you see the same kinds of posts that I see you know somebody goes out to their neighborhood Facebook group or to an animal rescue group or whatever it might be, and they post something about needing to rehome a pet, and immediately there's this backlash of I would never give up my pet, even if I was moving to the moon, I would buy a spaceship for my.
00:10:52.383 --> 00:10:58.166
I mean, you know, just basically beating that person over the head for considering giving up their pet.
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And then there's the whole viewpoint of you know, if you can't afford to feed your pet, then you probably shouldn't have one.
00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:06.673
And that comes from rescue people.
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It comes from, you know, lay people.
00:11:08.716 --> 00:11:10.701
What are your thoughts on that subject?
00:11:10.701 --> 00:11:19.942
The whole financial element when we go out to adopt a pet is something that we think about when we come from rescue, because we want that animal to be able to stay with that person long term.
00:11:21.066 --> 00:11:29.475
Oh yeah, and you know it's a very case by case basis with regards to people, some, some folk, their stress levels.
00:11:29.475 --> 00:11:35.658
So you know, if I was stressed, you know I didn't know where I was going to get food for my family or for my pets.
00:11:35.658 --> 00:11:41.142
I don't know how I would be.
00:11:41.142 --> 00:11:56.099
But you know we have supported folks that are living in their cars with their kids and their pets because they don't want to go to a homeless shelter, because they don't want to give up their pets and they can make it work.
00:11:56.099 --> 00:12:13.734
They make it work and I mean I've had folks deliver pet food to folks in their cars and it's like you know, and the response is, like you know, it's not that bad.
00:12:13.734 --> 00:12:17.668
So if it's temporary, I guess, if it becomes systemic and maybe you see behavioral issues, anything that's causing harm to the family, you know maybe that's a time to have to make some decisions.
00:12:17.668 --> 00:12:24.629
But it's about availing people of choices and to have those choices and to feel like there's ongoing support.
00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:34.299
The one thing we try to be is very clear with folks that we will support with food for a period of time with individuals, but we won't be lifelong supporters.
00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:40.360
So folks need to kind of think about what they're gonna do after a six month period of time.
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Is there another resource?
00:12:42.115 --> 00:12:56.379
We don't want them to become super dependent on us because we wanna be able to help others, but we also have a desire to not like be like this is going to help you for seven days, because I don't think you can solve an issue that might be happening in your family in seven days.
00:12:56.379 --> 00:13:06.620
But, like, six months is about our window where we start having conversations at four to five months and saying you know, do you have a plan in place for some more opportunity for your animals?
00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:07.402
And that kind of thing.
00:13:07.402 --> 00:13:13.711
Deciding to surrender your pet is a very personal decision and it's one that you and I cannot make for anybody else.
00:13:14.152 --> 00:13:21.623
Yeah, that's so true, but yet people like to try to think that they have the right to express that opinion, which is a shame, because what that?
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I think what that does is it drives people underground.
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So, ok, fine, I'm going out to this Facebook group, let's say, or whatever social media platform, and I'm asking for help in rehoming my pet, and then I get crucified and so, therefore, I just dump my pet or I take it to a kill shelter or whatever the case may be, because I don't want to face that again.
00:13:41.846 --> 00:13:49.100
I mean, people aren't going to put their hand on the stove more than once before they learn that lesson, and it's unfortunate that people feel like they need to respond like that.
00:13:49.100 --> 00:13:50.322
So how does it?
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What are the logistics of how the pantry works?
00:13:53.173 --> 00:13:56.923
Like, do people donate money and then you use that to buy pet food?
00:13:56.923 --> 00:14:04.114
Do you have people that are bringing bags of pet food and I know you kind of talked a little bit about the distribution process, but how does that work?
00:14:05.155 --> 00:14:05.636
Yeah.
00:14:05.636 --> 00:14:11.125
So I will talk about Vermont and I'll talk about Massachusetts, because we're two very different models.
00:14:11.125 --> 00:14:20.235
So if you are out there and you're interested in starting a pet food pantry, I'm going to share both models so that then you can say oh, I think this would work in my area and this would work in my area.
00:14:20.235 --> 00:14:39.044
In Vermont we collaborate with the Vermont Food Bank and we have luckily been able to get them connected in with a program through Feeding America, which has had a large grant from PetSmart Charities for pet food, and so they're able to put their name in the hat and ask for large donations through that.
00:14:39.044 --> 00:14:43.035
That's helped basically fuel their distribution system.
00:14:43.035 --> 00:14:46.110
So thank you, thank you to PetSmart Charities for making this program happen.
00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:52.000
It's about 140,000 pounds of pet food has come through them, like in 2024.
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:57.075
So we couldn't do what we're doing without that opportunity.
00:14:57.075 --> 00:14:59.761
We've also had some opportunities through Greater Good.
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Basically, they enabled us to take in donations to a warehouse that we as a small volunteer-based organization, we just didn't have the capability to do that.
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So they do all that heavy lifting, literally, of bringing the product in and getting it distributed.
00:15:15.933 --> 00:15:29.658
I'm also on the board of the Vermont Humane Federation and so many of those animal shelters have pet pantries and we've helped to support them in their needs when they're reaching out to the community with regards to their pet food needs.
00:15:29.658 --> 00:15:34.336
So we try to make sure we're always filling the gaps too, as well as helping individuals.
00:15:34.336 --> 00:15:46.477
And then if and local food shelves get their food through the Vermont Food Bank, but if for some reason they run out of food and they're between deliveries or whatever, we'll bridge the gap also on that one too.
00:15:46.477 --> 00:15:51.876
So we're just always trying to look at different ways of being able to help support.
00:15:51.876 --> 00:15:52.779
We do fundraising.
00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:54.932
We fundraise a lot through our website.
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We have a holiday appeal that we do.
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We do a lot of grant writing, because I think grant organizations and donor advised funds can understand more of the strategic picture that this is going to cover the whole state.
00:16:05.614 --> 00:16:14.876
So if there's like a corporation that wants to cover the whole state, we're pretty easy way to cover pet food needs all across the state, because that's our focus In Massachusetts.
00:16:14.876 --> 00:16:25.352
We do not have like an anchor organization that we collaborate with, so we're a dating service between retailers, food shelves and then with our volunteers.
00:16:25.352 --> 00:16:47.318
So like we'll have volunteers go to retailers and say you know, can you do a food drive, do you get broken bags and they create these connections and then they'll get that food and then they bring it over to the local food pantry that's willing to include pet food and they bring it over there or they'll do a pop-up in the parking lot of the human food pantry days and they'll provide pet food there.
00:16:47.318 --> 00:16:50.493
So we're always just trying to kind of that's.
00:16:50.714 --> 00:16:52.839
We have to be creative in Massachusetts about.
00:16:52.839 --> 00:16:55.715
You know how to think outside of the box and then we'll purchase food.
00:16:55.715 --> 00:16:58.251
Through the grant money that we get and the donations we get.
00:16:58.251 --> 00:17:02.282
We'll purchase again to bridge the gap and make sure everybody has enough volume.
00:17:02.282 --> 00:17:08.650
We probably significantly and consistently support about 50 food shelves all across the state.
00:17:08.650 --> 00:17:16.082
We have about 35 volunteers in Massachusetts and then we also do help with the animal shelters too that have food pantries.
00:17:16.082 --> 00:17:28.971
So again, you know, and we were like Greenfield College had a, which is a commuter college in western Massachusetts, and they had started a food shelf or food pantry, you know, for human food.
00:17:28.971 --> 00:17:35.713
But they were getting so many requests for pet food that we've added pet food in there at the school-run food shelf.
00:17:35.713 --> 00:17:39.672
So we're pretty much anybody who reaches out and asks us, we try to figure something out.
00:17:41.115 --> 00:17:42.459
So what do you find?
00:17:42.459 --> 00:17:46.656
I mean, obviously that's two, like you said, two completely different approaches, but yet they're working.
00:17:46.656 --> 00:17:48.342
What are the challenges?
00:17:48.342 --> 00:17:54.462
You know if somebody's sitting out there thinking I could start this on a smaller scale in my community or grow it into a big scale.
00:17:54.462 --> 00:17:56.738
What are some of the biggest challenges that you face?
00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:12.325
We are, at this point in time, quite focused on staying all volunteer run and so I will be honest and say we have wonderful volunteers, we have a great group, but we're very vulnerable on a small handful of people.
00:18:12.325 --> 00:18:15.462
You know we're dependent on them, which you know.
00:18:15.462 --> 00:18:27.252
There you are, amy, you're nodding away, which is like we've seen many organizations where you know you've got three to five sort of key players and like if something happened to two of them, you know the organization would be very challenged.
00:18:27.252 --> 00:18:33.057
And so I mean maybe that's just what presidents are supposed to do, is just worry about that kind of thing all the time.
00:18:33.057 --> 00:18:52.502
But that's just one thing that I think about is, you know, if something were to happen to the president and the treasurer and you've met some of them online and they're really doing wonderful work but it is a worry for any small nonprofit being so vulnerable because you're such a small group of people.
00:18:52.851 --> 00:18:56.619
But if someone was just starting out, I would say stay small.
00:18:56.619 --> 00:18:58.832
Start small with just one food shelf.
00:18:58.832 --> 00:19:07.897
Develop your system that way and see what works and what doesn't work, because then you'll get an understanding of what you could then replicate for other food shelves.
00:19:07.897 --> 00:19:14.157
And in my world I do like the having one representative a volunteer representative for each food shelf.
00:19:14.157 --> 00:19:34.650
So I do like that model where here in Vermont it's more like they'll email me and we'll facilitate virtually, but to have a designated ambassador or representative for each food shelf, I think makes it feel more local and more community-based and when opportunities become apparent you can take advantage of them locally.
00:19:34.650 --> 00:19:51.916
I'm not local for most of these places, but there's the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts and lots of opportunities for campaigns and awareness and outreach, and so I do like the model the small is beautiful model of having one person designated in each community.
00:19:51.916 --> 00:19:56.231
So I would start small, but think about scale when you start small.
00:19:56.752 --> 00:19:59.638
Yeah, yeah, you got to have that bigger picture.
00:19:59.638 --> 00:20:18.123
But I like what you said as far as having that kind of continuity of the representative, because I think that person can also better see the future and see where potential problems, roadblocks or whatever shortfalls, whatever it might be, if they are consistently working with that same group or with that same organization or in that same facility.
00:20:18.123 --> 00:20:20.575
So that's definitely good advice.
00:20:20.796 --> 00:20:21.237
Can I also?
00:20:21.237 --> 00:20:31.016
I'd just like to also mention quickly too, for folks that are involved in the sort of the senior center council and aging Meals on Wheels space.
00:20:31.016 --> 00:20:36.029
There's also funding for food for Meals on Wheels, national funding.
00:20:36.029 --> 00:20:59.103
I did a podcast with the community, kat's podcast with the folks from Meals on Wheels, and so, even if you aren't set up or you don't think that that's something that you can do, you could help facilitate by reaching out to your local Meals on Wheels and introducing them to Morgan, who runs the national group enabling pet food to get through to their clients.
00:20:59.103 --> 00:21:01.690
So you know, a lot of it can be connections.
00:21:01.690 --> 00:21:03.457
It doesn't have to revolve around money.
00:21:03.457 --> 00:21:21.622
A lot of what we've done is connections and opportunities, Like, I say, the dating service between the retailers and the food shelves, and so by listening to this podcast you'll be like, oh, maybe I should talk to my counsel on aging and see if they've connected about the pet food program from Meals on Wheels, which also includes veterinary care too.
00:21:23.372 --> 00:21:23.933
That's good to know.
00:21:23.933 --> 00:21:24.636
I did not know that.
00:21:24.636 --> 00:21:26.545
I mean, it makes sense.
00:21:26.545 --> 00:21:30.539
The pet food thing totally makes sense with Meals on Wheels, but it's not something that I would have thought about.
00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:41.221
Another thing I would add too, just because I know it does exist in our local community around here is coordinating or working with your local, city, county, municipal animal shelter.
00:21:41.923 --> 00:21:50.547
Not all of them are going to be open to being involved in something like that, but I do know just one in particular that's local, that actually has a little pet food pantry.
00:21:50.788 --> 00:21:56.401
It's somewhat unfortunate because it's for the community and the community is a relatively affluent community.
00:21:56.401 --> 00:22:27.818
But at the same time, that concept of if there's some space where we could store something on site, or even asking for your local animal control to be a referral source you know, if you were just starting small and maybe you were stockpiling a little of this and a little of that on your own and your local animal control could reach out and say, hey, you know, we had contact with this person who is possibly looking to surrender their pet we couldn't take the pet, but they might need your help and at least making them aware that you're trying to do something you never know what kind of support you might get from that local facility.
00:22:27.818 --> 00:22:37.842
So, as far as the long-term vision for Positive Pantry, do you see it expanding to more states or just growing within the two states where you've got it?
00:22:37.842 --> 00:22:39.633
What's on the horizon?
00:22:40.253 --> 00:22:44.592
Wow, great question, Amy, and I'd love for you to tell me what's our next step?
00:22:44.952 --> 00:22:49.334
Don't tell me Please, I can barely keep up with what I'm doing now, let alone big picture.
00:22:49.534 --> 00:22:54.371
I mean honestly, my big picture would be to cover New England.
00:22:54.371 --> 00:23:11.219
I think the square footage of New England is maybe less than Texas, so we can do things in a regional way, you know, and so I do think that we're close enough together that we could get some pretty significant resources.
00:23:11.219 --> 00:23:19.151
I know with trucking to the Northeast, sometimes organizations feel like it's not worth it because they're just coming to one place and they're going back.
00:23:19.151 --> 00:23:26.663
So if I had a regional grouping, you know if they're going to stop in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, you know, maybe that makes it worth the trip.
00:23:26.663 --> 00:23:36.030
So I think, in terms of getting large scale product into the region, I think having it cover all of New England would be ideal.
00:23:36.653 --> 00:23:37.394
Yeah, that would be great.
00:23:37.394 --> 00:23:41.030
It's funny you talk about the closeness, because Texas it's nothing.
00:23:41.030 --> 00:23:44.200
I can't leave my house and not drive an hour, let's just put it this way.
00:23:44.200 --> 00:24:01.656
I mean, I can get to the local grocery store in 12 minutes, but for the most part, you know, everything is about an hour away and so I am moving back to the East Coast, not to New England, but you know, when people talk about being able to traverse the entire state of Delaware in an hour and a half north to south, it's like mind boggling to me, like how much.
00:24:01.656 --> 00:24:10.527
And I'm from New York originally, so I know that drive from New York to Maine and it's like it's amazing how many states you can pass through in a relatively small amount of time.
00:24:10.527 --> 00:24:12.336
And I still would have only been north of Dallas.
00:24:12.336 --> 00:24:13.936
It's all definitely relative.
00:24:13.936 --> 00:24:16.959
Any success stories that stand out to you?
00:24:16.959 --> 00:24:26.282
Sometimes, whether it's rescue or whether it's doing what you're doing, there are those incidences that just help you keep going because you see it's worth it.
00:24:29.309 --> 00:24:33.240
Yeah, and unfortunately I'm going to have to go back into the COVID era that we're trying not to remember.
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.780
But I'm going to go back into COVID and this is how we got started in Massachusetts.
00:24:37.780 --> 00:25:01.300
So they're in Chelsea, massachusetts, which is a little town north of Boston, high population diversity and a lot of population turnover in that community and we had a group I was running a group there that did not get into the pet food space and I always regretted that, and so I was like this is an opportunity to try and start something.
00:25:01.300 --> 00:25:08.352
And one of the churches, an Episcopal church, st Luke's, reached out to us and they said you know, we'd be happy to take pet food.
00:25:08.352 --> 00:25:21.857
They'd gone from assisting like 90 families to over 300 families on a weekly basis with food in general human food but they were getting requests for pet food, and so we collaborated with the MSPCA of Boston.
00:25:22.138 --> 00:25:24.767
So we heard the story from the pastor there.
00:25:24.767 --> 00:26:08.683
It was funny because he said they opened up at 10 am on Saturday mornings for their food distribution days and they have a camera outside their door and it's like at like six or seven in the morning in the heat of July anyway, there's like a fold out beach chair there right by the front door, and then there's, like, this older gentleman just sitting there like reading the paper and just doing his thing, but he wanted to be first in line, first in line for this the food pantry and so and this was every saturday, this happened every saturday, but they told us the story so it gets to be 10 am, they open the door and he goes in and he goes straight to the cat food table and it was just for some reason, that simple act of like.
00:26:08.703 --> 00:26:49.442
This man was willing to spend three hours every morning waiting in line, so he was the first one to the pet food table because, unfortunately, the pet food table was the first place to have the product go yeah and so he he wanted to make sure he was going to take care of his cats through this whole period of time and that was what was most important to him and it seems it seems like not valuable, but it's incredibly valuable because, you know, here he just loves his cat and he's willing to do this for his cat and I mean, it's one of many stories like that, but that was the one that happened kind of during COVID and I'm like, okay, this is my why.
00:26:49.442 --> 00:26:50.365
You know what.
00:26:50.365 --> 00:26:51.490
I'm doing this for him.
00:26:51.490 --> 00:26:54.480
I'm doing it for this gentleman and all the other people that are out there.
00:26:54.701 --> 00:27:04.160
Just this morning, I had another person from Massachusetts who was housebound and she was running out of litter and cat food and dog food and I put together a delivery for her.
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:07.247
She was like I can't tell you how much this means to me.
00:27:07.247 --> 00:27:13.875
You know, so many people turn their back on you and you are just wonderful, and I was like I'm not wonderful, I'm just doing my job, you know.
00:27:13.875 --> 00:27:18.627
I'm like you know, and it's like there's, as you said earlier, there's no shame in this.
00:27:18.627 --> 00:27:20.281
There's absolutely no shame in this.
00:27:20.281 --> 00:27:23.400
We have so much technology, we can figure things out.
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:38.836
We have so many more resources, we have delivery services.
00:27:38.856 --> 00:27:40.199
We have food shelves, we have mobile, we have shelters.
00:27:40.199 --> 00:27:44.707
There are just so many delivery systems that I think everybody should be able to access food and potentially some supplies if they need to.
00:27:44.707 --> 00:27:48.011
Possible pet surrender that you're not seeing.
00:27:48.011 --> 00:27:48.613
You know what I mean.
00:27:48.613 --> 00:28:05.036
It's like all the people who are looking out for their pets before they're looking out for themselves, or they do that until they can't do that anymore kind of thing, and it's like you haven't seen the journey that that person has traveled when they get to that point to post on a social media platform or to reach out to a rescue.
00:28:05.036 --> 00:28:17.183
So how about we take a little step back and be a little less, a little less judgy and a little more helpful when it comes to people trying to do just doing their very best for their pet, and that's what they know to do, yep, for sure?
00:28:17.304 --> 00:28:21.817
Yeah, there's a book out, actually by Mel Robbins called Let them.
00:28:21.817 --> 00:28:33.663
You know, it's very much about sort of being stoic and I feel like I try to do that a lot, which is what is it that I can impact and what can I help to support others?
00:28:33.663 --> 00:28:36.693
But, as you say, I'm not going to tell somebody what to do.
00:28:36.693 --> 00:28:40.045
I'm going to provide them education, provide them information.
00:28:40.045 --> 00:28:43.316
I'm going to provide them my own personal beliefs.
00:28:43.316 --> 00:28:48.167
I can agree to disagree with anybody any day of the week, but I also will respect them.
00:28:48.268 --> 00:28:55.615
I mean, I have difficult conversations, probably on a daily basis, and I'm comfortable with that and I think we should all be comfortable with it.
00:28:55.615 --> 00:29:01.619
And then we also need to take the time and the space to let it digest and to say did I learn something new today?
00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:04.790
Or maybe that's not for me and I'm going to go my way.
00:29:04.790 --> 00:29:12.249
So we have to realize we can control our own words, our own actions, our own physical space.
00:29:12.249 --> 00:29:17.982
We may not have control over others and I don't think we should ask others that we should have control over them.
00:29:19.306 --> 00:29:19.707
I agree.
00:29:19.707 --> 00:29:20.167
I agree.
00:29:20.167 --> 00:29:21.761
That's such a good point.
00:29:21.761 --> 00:29:33.715
So if somebody is listening to this right now and they want to get involved and they want to help, obviously if they're in Vermont or Massachusetts there are options available that might not be available if somebody's somewhere else in the world.
00:29:33.715 --> 00:29:35.500
So could you kind of hit both of those.
00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:41.227
Like if somebody was looking to get involved and they lived in the states that you serve, where do they go to get started?
00:29:42.170 --> 00:29:59.615
Sure, so obviously, as you just said, in Massachusetts or Vermont, please, please, go to positivepantryorg and it's P-A-W positivepantryorg and we have a nice website there and you can fill out a form for being a volunteer and all that kind of stuff.
00:29:59.615 --> 00:30:13.640
So we'd love to have volunteers, virtual volunteers, if you want to do anything like social media, grant writing, virtual connections, emailing, checking in with the various food shelves and our collaborative partners.
00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:17.279
So there are always opportunities for folks that are outside of the region too.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:19.288
We like to be as inclusive as possible.
00:30:19.288 --> 00:30:28.201
And then also, if you're in other parts and you want to be very hands-on and be distributing food in your own community, which I highly recommend, there are other organizations.
00:30:28.260 --> 00:30:38.121
If you just Google pet food pantries in my area, I believe there is actually a pet food pantry directory of some national organizations.
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