Every week, Brooke Bouchey, our Outreach Director, teams up with the Blue Mountain Action Council to distribute pet food to more than 1,100 local families. This endeavor began at the beginning of the pandemic as a way to keep families and their pets together by removing the barrier of food costs. Pets have become an even larger part of our lives as many people are still isolated and we hope to continue to support pet-owning families.
This project got an unexpected boost this last Monday (2/22/21) when the shelter received an unusual phone call from a towing company. A semi-truck carrying dog and cat food had overturned on the highway and was waiting on their lot for local animal non-profits to gather whatever goods were still salvageable.
BMHS [Blue Mountain Humane Society] staff members quickly went into action and two vans and a truck drove over an hour to the lot. The semi-truck was in fairly good condition, considering it had crashed, and the driver was unhurt. The contents were a bit mixed up and there were some open cans of dog food, but it was still full of usable pallets of pet food. After hours of loading, sorting, unloading, and return trips, the shelter’s storage building was filled with:
- 17,224 wet dog food cans and packets
- 4,540 cat treats and wet food pouches
- 48 packets of Greenies pill pockets
- 2 boxes of Dentastix
Truly a blessing in disguise! We are grateful to Eastern Oregon Towing and Recovery for thinking of us when faced with a somewhat damaged shipment of pet food. Our plan is to return as much of the pet food as we can to the community through our weekly distributions. We are grateful for this chance to serve our community and if you are interested in joining us, we still have a full wish list of items needed by our current furry residents that can be found on our Facebook and website.
–Meghan Spracklen