SPOKANE, Wash. — KREM Cares works closely with SpokAnimal and this holiday season we're helping provide pets and their families with support.
Our "Stock the Shelves" event is an effort to get pet food and supplies to SpokAnimal to use at the shelter and food bank. You can take bags and cans of both dog and cat food or litter to the shelter all season long.
Executive director Dori Peck gave KREM 2 a peek behind the locked garage door where they store all the pet food pantry supplies. On Thursday it was stocked for a feast, though depending on the day she says it may also hold famine.
"This is pretty average," Peck said of the boxes filling the shelves. "Sometimes there's nothing in here at all."
The only constant this year has been the need.
"We've given away 71,000 pounds of food this year. Last year for the entire year we did 60,000 pounds," Peck said.
SpokAnimal has seen lines out the door of people and their pets desperate for bags or boxes of pet food. Peck says inflation has hit families hard, forcing some to sometimes make tough choices.
"The need is non-stop. We see 30-40 people every day. They just can't make ends meet is what it is," Peck said.
Anthony Horn, a peer support counselor with Revive, waited outside SpokAnimal to help Scott, who is experiencing homelessness, and his dog, Paws. Horn says many of the people he works with have animals.
"Yeah it's like either feed yourself or feed your animals," Horn said. "A lot of people will put their own needs aside for the animals. Being homeless you suffer from a handful of things where all you have is that companion."
Paws needs shots to be able to live in a shelter alongside Scott, who is deaf. He communicates with Horn through text messages, expressing how important it is to have his dog with him.
"He says he loves him and this dog absolutely loves people," Horn read.
It's why KREM 2 and SpokAnimal want to help keep people with their pets, no matter their circumstances. Your donations will be accepted right now at SpokAnimal.
"Here, any time they want to," Peck says of those donations. "We're not open, please leave it. We'll take it inside."