The pantry serves pet owners in the Springfield area who can’t afford to feed their pet by supplying free pet food.
“Everybody hits a rough spot every now and then; we can help so they don’t have to give up a pet,” said Donny Meyer, founder of Pet Pantry-Springfield.
According to Second Harvest, the reason for the move is “guideline changes and tightening of policies,” said Tyra Jackson, its executive director.
The problem is food for human consumption and pet food can’t be stored together, Jackson said. She added that Second Harvest has offered alternative solutions to the problem to Meyer. They include a possible different site or using different storage containers.
Meyer believes the pet pantry has helped 1,500 people since opening.
“If a person can’t afford to take care of a pet, they’ll leave it on the roadside,” he said.
James Straley, executive director of the Humane Society Serving Clark County, said the population of strays has been shrinking.
“Since 2012, there have been 300 less strays picked up in the county,” said Straley. “When the economy was really, really in the tank, people would come in asking for pet food, but we haven’t had anyone in a long time.”
As for a new place to move, ideally Meyer is looking for an old farm house, but is open to anything at this point.
“We could do many more things at a different location,” Meyer said. He would like to offer free spay and neutering to those who can’t afford it in the future.
The pantry is a 501-c non-profit charity that accepts donations of either pet food or money to purchase pet food.
“We do get donations, but nothing steady,” Meyer said. When donations do run low,”we’ll put out barrels and collect the hard way,” he added.
Meyer said the pet pantry will accept donations of food for all types of pets.
“We have a bag of hamster food on the self now,” he said.
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