Before this past summer, Hillsdale residents who could not afford to buy pet food for their cats and dogs had few options other than just waiting for better luck. Today, however, a charity in Hillsdale is giving away pet food for cats and dogs in need.
The Four-Legged Food Pantry operates out of Northside Veterinary Hospital and provides free cat and dog food for people who otherwise could not feed
their pets. The pantry receives donations, and hands out the donated pet food on the first and third Monday of each month from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Betsy Kerr, an assistant at Northside Veterinary Hospital, has overseen the pantry since its beginning.
“There was one incident that kind of triggered the whole thing,” Kerr said. “Our receptionist Molli heard from a lady who had several cats and who had just lost her job, which is pretty common in Hillsdale right now. She called and wanted to know if we knew of any kind of assistance programs in regards to feeding her cats.”
Senior Roni Roth has worked at the Veterinary Hospital for five years. She also helps run the food pantry with Kerr.
“We were all sitting around one day when that lady called and one of our receptionists said, ‘I can’t believe there’s nothing like that.’ So, it was just an idea that was thrown out there. Then Betsy went home and made the flyers, and it just happened from there,” Roth said.
Since its beginning, the food pantry has helped many people in hard times feed their pets.
“Right now we’re having them line up outside the side door. We ask them how many animals they have, and then based on that give them an amount of food,” Kerr said.
“We have a few consistent people who come, who are here most of the time when we do the pantry, but overall it’s a diverse group of people. Just here and there they come to get some food to hold them over until the next paycheck or whatever the case may be,” she said.
All the food that the pantry hands out comes from donations by individuals, clubs and businesses.
“Anybody can donate,” Kerr said. “We prefer food donations because we’re still working on our nonprofit status; but we do take monetary donations, and then take those directly to one of the stores here in town and buy food,” Kerr said.
Recently the food pantry received several large donations, including a grant from the Hillsdale Community Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization which, according to its website, receives and administers “funds for artistic, charitable, educational, and scientific purposes in a manner that both promotes the spirit of philanthropy and meets the needs of the people of Hillsdale County.”
“They allotted us $850, and then they’re basically buying the food and then bringing it over for us,” Kerr said.
The Hillsdale College Circle K also recently raised $300 for the Four-Legged Food Bank.
Kerr and Roth said students who want to help out can donate pet food to the pantry.