HALO, FREEKIBBLE & FOOD PANTRIES HELP PEOPLE KEEP THEIR PETS
January 28th, 2010 by Diane Herbst
Imagine having no money but a very hungry dog or cat to feed. Unfortunately, this sad scenario is happening all over the country, with many heartbreaks for both our four-legged friends and their owners. “Since the economy took a turn for the worse, we’ve seen a lot more animal surrenders,” says Tricia Sebes, volunteer and rescue coordinator for the McKamey Animal Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “The reason is definitely increasing that people can’t afford to feed their pets.”
We needed to help. Earlier this month, with the help of Freekibble.com, Halo donated almost 6,000 cans of Spot’s Stew to McKamey and two other shelters and rescues in Tennessee, which have been distributing the food to pet owners in need.
“We are absolutely thrilled to do it,” says Lisa Reeves of the Nashville Humane Association, which gives out their Halo Spot’s Stew every Sunday and Wednesday. “If we have (the food) and we can help someone, we will. We try not to turn anyone away.”
In addition to the food, all three organizations (the third is A New Leash on Life in Lebanon) received a variety of other Halo products, including Herbal Healing Salve and X-tra C, an instant vitamin C powder.
“It makes me feel great to know that this food is getting to people who really need help feeding their animals,” says Mimi Ausland, the 13-year-old founder of Freekibble.com. “I know that because of this, people will be able to keep their pets and feed them a really good food.”
The Nashville Humane Association first started distributing food in November, 2008, and since then have helped some 500 families keep their pets. “I think it’s hard for some of these people to come in,”
says Reeves. “You have families who never had to ask for help, and now they do.
“People have been in tears, they’ve said, ‘I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here,’” Reeves continues. “It’s sad, i think pride gets in the way of some people but they have to come in and do it.”
On November 5th, Freekibble.com had a Hi-5 promotion: for every trivia question someone answered about a dog or cat, 50 pieces of of kibble would be donated by Halo. That day, some 60,000 people played Freekibble.com, raising 5 million pieces of kibble, or the equivalent of 20,000 Meals of Halo. And the need to help these financially-strapped pet owners continues to grow.
At McKamey Animal Center, there has not been the usual post-holiday slowdown in animal surrenders, says Sebes, noting that the 26,000-square-foot shelter now has 288 dogs and puppies, 455 animals in all. McKamey has shared the donation with two local food banks to reach more pet parents in need. “They’re very grateful we have this a service to them,” says Sebes. “People come to us for help with their animals and it’s great we can provide for them.”


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. 
Today, Freekibble will launch ‘Kibble Katch,’ a game where playing results in the donation of additional Halo food to animal shelters. Upon launch of Kibble Katch, Halo promises to donate 1,000 pieces of kibble per purchased application (four full and nutritious meals), to Freekibble.com to donate to shelters dogs.
“Shelters are one of the saddest places to walk into, but for really lucky people it can be one of the happiest places to walk back out of. Why? For those lucky people, like me, you find a best friend staring back at you from the inside of a cage.”
This sentiment clearly moved Christiana Gunderson, director of operations at SafeHaven. “It’s a big deal to us for a kid to take it upon herself to do this for the animals,” says Gunderson, whose shelter has over 1,200 dog and cat adoptions annually. “I think that was great.” Gunderson has set aside the Halo gift for “pets who are depressed or whose appetite is down,” she says. “I have a foster dog right now and put it on his food to entice him to eat.”

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