National Pet Food Bank Program

Hi there,

Thank you for your continued support of Humane Canada's National Pet Food Bank program. We are happy to report that this program has achieved much success as we reflect on its impact and importance. These successes highlight the NPFB effectiveness in addressing pet food insecurity, fostering community engagement and reducing the need for pet owners to surrender their animals due to financial struggles. By increasing awareness around pet food insecurity, Humane Canada has made significant strides in ensuring pets across the country receive the care and nourishment they need. Please read on as we share with you significant areas of impact this program has had:

Addressing Pet Food Insecurity: The National Pet Food Bank program has successfully tackled pet food insecurity, ensuring that pets across the country do not go hungry. By providing consistent access to pet food, it has alleviated some of the burden on pet owners facing financial difficulties, allowing them to care for their pets without compromising their own well-being. $80,000 in National Pet Food Bank grants were awarded to 17 recipients (12 animal welfare organizations, 3 social service agencies, and 2 human food banks). 

Community Engagement and Support: Humane Canada has fostered strong community engagement through this program. By collaborating with local organizations, volunteers, and donors, we not only have facilitated the distribution of pet food, but strengthened community bonds and awareness around pet welfare issues as well. 9 million meals were delivered to the National Pet Food Bank network through corporate donations as facilitated by the program staff.

Increased Pet Retention Rates: Our program has contributed to higher pet retention rates by reducing the need for pet owners to surrender their animals due to financial struggles. By providing essential resources, it has enabled families to keep their beloved pets and reduce the strain on animal shelters and rescue organizations.

Expansion and Accessibility: Over the two years, the National Pet Food Bank program has expanded its reach, ensuring that more communities, including remote and underserved areas, have access to pet food assistance. This expansion has made a significant difference in regions where support was previously unavailable,10 of the awarded recipients were from northern, rural or Indigenous- led projects. 

Awareness and Advocacy: Humane Canada has effectively raised awareness about pet food insecurity and its broader implications. Through campaigns and outreach, the program has educated the public on the importance of pet food banks, encouraging more people to get involved and support the cause.

Sustainable Impact: The program has laid the groundwork for long-term sustainability. By establishing strong partnerships and securing ongoing funding, Humane Canada can ensure that the benefits of the National Pet Food Bank program will continue to be felt beyond the initial two years, providing ongoing support to companion animals and their guardians. Our readily available interative map includes 305 pet food banks in 10 provinces and one territory, allowing Canadians to find accessible resources in their communities.

Thanks to the kind support of donors like you, and the generous investment from PetSmart Charities of Canada, Humane Canada has improved the National Pet Food Bank Program with plans to continue this initiative into the future. Our commitment ensures that the positive impact on pets, pet guardians, and communities across Canada will continue to grow and evolve.

We look forward to keeping you informed on our National Pet Food Bank program and thank you for your ongoing generous support.

Links:

• Canada's first Interactive Pet Food Bank Map

• National Pet Food Bank Impact Infographic (PDF)
  

Hello, and welcome back to another update from the National Pet Food Bank! 

Since our last report, we have been meeting with our most recent National Pet Food Bank grant recipients to support their developing programs. These meetings have been an opportunity for us to hear more about their program plans, and to offer support through resource and best practice sharing. These exchanges have also created opportunities for us to put pet food bank programs experiencing similar challenges in touch with one another. This part of our work is very meaningful to us, as we’ve seen many creative solutions to addressing barriers to access in underserved communities and we are always so inspired by the generous knowledge-sharing in our network. We were thrilled that one of our grant recipients, Northern Reach Rescue Network, was even highlighted on CBC News! You can check out the article linked below.

In other news, the Extend a Paw initiative came to a close at the end of February, and provided our National Pet Food Bank network with a total of 500,000 meals! Extend a Paw is an event in which each select Mars Petcare product sold at Canadian Walmart stores resulted in Mars donating a meal to our network. These donations were distributed to 13 organizations across Canada and helped to feed many animals in a time of need.  

As we look ahead, we are working on building a toolkit of resources that will be available beyond our National Pet Food Bank project’s completion to organizations that want to develop or expand their pet food assistance programs. The goal of this toolkit is to share the best practices and creative solutions currently being used in pet food banks and to uplift the expertise of the amazing organizations doing this work. 

Thank you very much for your ongoing support of our important National Pet Food Bank work, we are so grateful for your commitment to our program and companion animal welfare.

Links:

• Thunder Bay's Northern Reach Network receives grant
• Humane Canada