WITH A NEW $7,500 GRANT FROM PETSMART CHARITIES®, PEOPLE & PETS TOGETHER IS HELPING TO KEEP PETS HEALTHY AND IN LOVING HOME
October 18, 2018 — MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – People & Pets Together recently received a $7,500 grant from PetSmart Charities, the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, designed to help keep more people and pets together in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
When people are experiencing life changes and challenges such as poverty, hunger and homelessness, having a pet can add an extra layer of complexity and concern. Pet parents in these situations often feel that they have no other option but to surrender their beloved pets to local animal welfare organizations.
But with the help of this new grant, People & Pets Together is committed to offering solutions that will help pets to stay within their loving homes and families. People & Pets Together helps families facing economic hardship by providing pet food to food shelves in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, by operating a pet food shelf in an area of Minneapolis with a high percentage of people living in poverty, and with a veterinary assistance grant program that helps cover emergency vet bills for low-income households.
“People & Pets Together provides food and care for four-legged Minnesotans. But in doing so, we are not only improving animal health,” said Kim Carrier, President of People & Pets Together. “Pets help people live happier and healthier lives. By supporting the relationships that people have with their pets, People & Pets Together hopes to improve the health of our communities and let everyone feel the love and support that a relationship with a pet can bring.”
“We believe pets make us better people, and proudly support organizations that promote the human-animal bond,” said Jenny Aho, regional relationship manager at PetSmart Charities. “By lending our support through funding to People & Pets Together, hundreds of pet parents in the Twin Cities may not have to make the difficult decision of surrendering their pet to a shelter or forgoing their own resources to provide food and care for their pet.”
Pet retention is just one of PetSmart Charities’ seven grant categories. Funding from PetSmart Charities supports animal welfare organizations and non-profits committed to reducing pet homelessness and enhancing the human-animal bond. For more information, visit www.PetSmartCharities.org.
People & Pets Together helps families in need care for beloved pets. Its mission is to support the relationships that people have with their pets, and to prevent the surrender of pets during times of economic crisis. In early 2016 People & Pets Together opened its pet food shelf in Minneapolis, the first dedicated pet food shelf in Minnesota.
PetSmart Charities®, Inc. is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 500,000 shelter pets each year. PetSmart Charities also provides grant funding to nonprofits aligned with its mission under four key areas of support: Preventing Pet Homelessness; Helping Shelter Pets Thrive; Supporting the Bond Between People and Pets and Providing Emergency Relief and Disaster Support. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting almost $340 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 15 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.