Share the love this month and support the Animal Food Bank by sponsoring a heart at two local pet stores.
Between now and Feb. 14, people can sponsor a heart at the Total Pet in Kelowna or the new Bosley’s in West Kelowna.
Founder Nicole Frey says, “Any kind of donation they want to make to use at the till gets a paper heart. They can write their name or their pet’s name on it and then they’ll get hung in the store.”
Frey says all the funds raised will stay in-store to help purchase pet food.
“We’re looking to raise $2,000 to be able to purchase a pallet of food.”
An official event will be hosted at Total Pet on Harvey Ave on Feb. 13.
Donations can be made during the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and there will be a draw for a gift basket.
Frey says financial donations made go further through AFB’s buying power, a good thing as demand continues to rise.
“Where we started in Kelowna in 2020 we were averaging about 32 requests per month. 2021 was 57, 2022 was 83.”
Frey says January 2023 had over 100 requests.
“We’re seeing a steady decline in donations. I think everyone is just scared of the economy, it’s a little sketchy, inflation, and we’re still recovering from COVID. People don’t have or are maybe less inclined to donate, because they don’t know what’s going to happen with their personal finances.”
AFB accepts physical donations as well, including opened and expired bags of pet food.
“That’s one of the things that sets us apart from other organizations, we’ll take open food and we’ll take expired food. There’s always somewhere that we can find to send the food. For instance, when you’re dealing with starving dogs in remote communities, they don’t care if the food is expired, they don’t care if it’s been open, they just want to eat. So, we do a lot of networking with organizations like that, where we’ll send out pallets of open food and returned food for dogs and cats that wouldn’t have anything otherwise.”
Learn more about the Animal Food Bank by visiting its website animalfoodbank.org.
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