Feb 08, 2023

What can 24 pallets of donated pet food do? It can connect a community, build a community, and keep the individuals in that community fed and safe.

In 2022, APA! became a benefiting partner of a program created by the Humane Society of the United States and Chewy that connects Chewy’s warehouse returns to shelter partners in need. This collaboration has helped build upon our expanding PASS (Positive Alternative to Shelter Surrender) program, which has seen extreme growth over the last few years.

A large delivery that we welcomed to our main location will make its way across Austin in a few stages. First, our friends at Austin Humane Society have collected eight pallets that will help stock one of their quarterly food banks. Next, several partnering organizations—multiple rescues, food pantries, and municipal partners—will come to APA! to load up supplies to support their efforts. And finally, APA! will welcome community members in need to load up supplies that may mean the difference between keeping their pet or having to rehome.

When a community member is facing hard times, they may find themselves having to make the hard and heartbreaking decision to find a new home for their beloved pet. The last three years have been an eye-opener for so many, and for APA!, we saw the gap our community, and communities beyond Austin, have in providing support for a family that includes pets. Our PASS program, which had been quietly running in the background for years, shifted to a program that we recognized needed fast growth and that we needed to bring to the foreground of operations—so we could support people and pets in our community, and keep families together.

In 2022, this “little program that could” raised over $44,000 for community members who needed medical support or pet deposit support in order to keep their pet, distributed over $300,000 worth of supplies and foods to various shelters and rescue partners, fulfilled 400+ individual pet pantry orders which served over 1500 pet family members and, when rehoming a pet was the best option for all parties, intaked a little over 1000 pets, typically, directly into foster homes.

We’re honored to be a central hub partner for the HSUS and Chewy donation program as a way to continue to support our community members when they need a helping hand.

Source: Austin Pets Alive