Moose Jaw has one more charity organization to bolster the community and this one focuses strictly on the well-being of its furry clients — an emergency food bank specializing in pet food of all types, a passion project of Moose Jaw resident Clayton Finnell.
The Moose Jaw Pet Food Bank is up and running as of the beginning of January, and the charitable initiative is making an impressive splash across the Friendly City.
It was an idea that was borne out of a trend that Finnell noticed on social media, he said. He was seeing posts from people having a hard time financially asking if anyone could share their pet food.
“I started noticing on social media that when anybody asked, (the responses) were kind of malicious sometimes and people would complain,” said Finnell. “And I thought, what's an easy way to make it so that people don't feel afraid to ask or are so offended?”
So, he came up with the pet food bank, a donation-based solution that operates just like the human food bank does. Clients can use the pet food bank eight times a year, as the service is meant for emergency situations.
“I know some people like to think that if you can't afford a cat or an animal, you shouldn't have one, but a lot of people go through hard times,” said Finnell. “So if you are, I just want to make sure you don't have to give up a furry family member, because they really are family.”
When he first created a Facebook page asking for support and donations for the project, he was immediately overwhelmed with the huge response from the community.
“I got a thousand messages in two days. Like, I felt overwhelmed just with the messages and the support has just been really great. It blew up,” said Finnell.
It has only been operating for just over a week, but the Moose Jaw Pet Food Bank has already applied for status as a charitable organization, established an interim board, and begun planning to open nine distribution spots across the city where people can pick up the pet food packages.
Finnell has even already been contacted by a handful of rural communities in the area interested in being involved and establishing their own version of the initiative.
For right now, the project is only taking donations of pet food and treats — dog, cat, fish, guinea pig, rabbit, and whatever other types that come in — and not cash. Donations can be in sealed or unsealed containers.
“I want no money, I want product,” laughed Finnell. “Donate to the Humane Society, SCRAPS, or rescues. They need that more than we do, we can get by with no money.”
Finnell also explained that, to avoid wasting donations due to expiry dates, he plans to share excess stock with other animal organizations in the city, such as local rescues, SCRAPS, and the Moose Jaw Humane Society.
“I don't want to have an excess amount that goes expired and go bad and especially when there's other groups that could use it,” said Finnell. “We're not trying to take from any other places, we just want to make sure that we can cover everybody's furry friend.”
With so much interest from the public already, Finnell has already begun thinking ahead for the future. Aside from providing nutritional support, Finnell would like to also offer emergency veterinarian services by the end of the year.
“My goal is to add veterinarian services and then follow the same rules that they do in other places,” said Finnell. “I want to be there so that if they need their pet spayed or neutered or if they need the medication, they're not struggling to find it.”
For now, he’s working on organizing donations and volunteers. Any interest in volunteering for the project can be expressed through the Moose Jaw Pet Food Bank Volunteer Facebook group.
Donations can be taken to one of the three local businesses acting as drop-off locations: Moose Jaw Families for Change, DDK Pets, or The Wandering Market.
Clients looking to use the Moose Jaw Pet Food Bank can currently message the Facebook page directly to be contacted by a distribution volunteer, and they must be willing to sign a liability waiver when picking up their pet food package.
“We're doing this just because we love to help and we love people, and we want to make sure their animals are fed,” said Finnell.
