Pets of the Homeless Embarks on Ninth Annual Give a Dog a Bone Week
CARSON CITY, Nev. (PRWEB) May 25, 2018 -- The week of August 5-12, 2018 is the ninth national Pets of the Homeless Give a Dog a Bone week. Across the country, more than 470 member collection sites for Pets of the Homeless will be asking the community to bring donations of pet food and supplies to their neighborhood participating donation sites.
Homelessness is still an issue even as the economy brightens. 3.5 million Americans are homeless. Between 5 and 10 percent of homeless people have dogs and/or cats. In some areas of the country, the rate is as high as 24 percent. Despite improvements in the economy, homelessness continues to be a reality for many people. The need for pet food and veterinary care will continue to be a pressing concern for those who find themselves homeless and the pets that rely on them. Pets are non-judgmental, and provide comfort and an emotional bond of loyalty to their owners. In some cases, they provide the homeless with protection and keep them warm.
Genevieve Frederick founded Pets of the Homeless in 2006 to offer animals the food their owners cannot provide. The organization garnered nonprofit status in 2008. Pets of the Homeless is a volunteer-based organization, who’s mission is simple – to feed and provide basic veterinary care to pets of homeless people in the United States and Canada.
"Since 2008, collection site members have taken over 559 tons* of pet food and supplies to homeless shelters, food banks and soup kitchens across the country,” said Genevieve Frederick, founder of Pets of the Homeless. “It is a combined effort to continue year-round collections of pet food. We truly appreciate the committed member sites who have reported their contributions. The need is great for communities to continue to donate to this ongoing and much-needed effort."
*Approximately 50 percent of the collection sites report the amounts, so the number is actually greater.
As an outreach to the homeless who own pets, Pets of the Homeless uses cash donations to provide veterinary care to pets of the homeless at free wellness clinics as well as emergency veterinary care across the country.
Pets of the Homeless has more than 480 distribution locations in food banks and soup kitchens in nearly every state. Over 1,117,000 lbs. of food have gone to tens of thousands of animals. More than $746,000 has been provided for veterinary emergency care and wellness clinic services to over 17,900 pets.
For more information about Pets of the Homeless and to donate, visit http://www.petsofthehomeless.org.
About Pets of the Homeless:
Pets of the Homeless believes in the healing power of companion pets and of the human-animal bond, which is very important in the lives of many homeless. They find solace, protection and companionship through their pets. They care for their pets on limited resources so they themselves have less. The task, nationwide, is to feed and provide basic emergency veterinary care to their pets and thus relieve the anguish and anxiety of the homeless who cannot provide for their pets. For more information, please visit petsofthehomeless.org.
Chrisie Yabu, KPS3, +1 775-686-7437, [email protected]
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