Back in August, in collaboration with freekibble.com, Halo, Purely for Pets donated 46,000 pounds of dog dry Spot’s Stew to 24 shelters and rescues in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. It’s a gift still making a difference.
At City of Catoosa Animal Control, shelter director Darla Procter has saved the donation with the thrift of a squirrel secreting away precious food for the winter. “I’ve been trying to hold out,” says Procter, director of the Ringold, Georgia-based shelter, which received between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds of food for the county-run facility, with 60 dogs and 30 cats at a time.
The dogs usually eat donated but low-quality food; receiving Halo was like going from a fast-food joint to meals at a four-star restaurant. “They liked it, they didn’t turn their nose up one bit,” says Procter. “It was fantastic (to receive the donation). A problem with shelters in general is that food is where the vast majority of your money goes. This frees up money that goes to medication (and other animal care).”
The Orlando, Florida-based Superior Mutts’ Christopher Murphy shared his 1,500 pounds of Spot’s Stew with several other rescues. The dogs at Murphy’s house — where he keeps hard-to-adopt mutts — “scarfed that stuff down like they hadn’t eaten in weeks,” he says, noting that due to financial constraints he must buy generic brands that they don’t enjoy as much.
One of the Halo beneficiaries was Trooper, a blind and deaf Dalmation-Great Dane mix that Murphy was fostering when the food was delivered. “When you are blind and deaf,” says Murphy, “it makes eating yummy food all the more important. It was nice to see him enjoy the higher-end Halo with his foster brothers and sisters.”
Murphy, a paralegal who devotes his spare time to rescuing strays, drives hundreds of miles every weekend transporting homeless pets from shelters to rescues, who then find them homes. One of the rescues he frequents is Sanctuary Animal Refuge in Clewiston, Fl., run by Palena Dorsey, a legal secretary who organized the donations to the two dozen rescues. “She’s amazing,” says Murphy. “She’s my inspiration.”
