Las Vegas emergency pantry helps feed over 1,700 dogs, cats

Hundreds lined up outside The Animal Foundation Monday afternoon in east Las Vegas to receive free pet food through an emergency food pantry.

After over three hours, the nonprofit distributed 8,825 pounds of dog and cat food to help feed 1,253 dogs and 512 cats.

The Animal Foundation holds a monthly pet food pantry, but CEO Hilarie Grey said the government shutdown and cuts to SNAP and other food benefits spurred them to hold an emergency pet food giveaway.

“When you’re going through something, having your furry family with you is an important support, and for folks that may have lost their job or have something really awful going on, the thought of also losing their pet is really overwhelming,” Grey said.

Volunteers and Animal Foundation employees assembled the bags of pet food like a well-oiled machine, scooping kibble into clear plastic bags and labeling them with the food type. Workers greeting those in line would call out what they needed; within seconds, they would receive 10 pounds of food per pet, up to 40 pounds of food per household.

Like clockwork, volunteer Tavon Wilmer scooped up three bowls of kibble into a plastic bag and passed it down to another worker. Wilmer, a cat owner himself, said he often volunteers at The Animal Foundation to give back to others.

“It’s really important to help out, especially with everything that’s going on,” he said. “I love what we’re doing. It’s really uplifting and it’s really caring for the community.”

Pantry ‘a huge help’

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., made an appearance at The Animal Foundation, bringing her own bag of cat food to donate to the cause. With a Senate vote on Sunday inching the decision to end the federal government shutdown closer to the House, Titus told the Review-Journal she plans to vote against reopening the government unless Affordable Care Act premium subsidies extensions are included in the budget.

“I think we went through a lot of pain for nothing. We still haven’t solved the problem of the health crisis, but nobody likes to see a government shutdown. So people suffer as a result of it, and this SNAP has been one of those consequences,” Titus said.

Some people in line for pet food said recent cuts to SNAP benefits have forced them to grapple with tighter budgets and make difficult decisions about how to feed themselves and their pets.

Kendra Carter, a single mother of six with four pocket bulldogs, said she carpooled with a neighbor to pick up food for her pets. Carter, who works at a sports book, said cuts to SNAP benefits have reduced her monthly payments to $750 from $1,500 per month.

“I don’t want to have to split or have to decide to take the dogs to the shelter because we can’t take care of them,” Carter said. “This is a huge help. This is money back in the pocket.”

Another mother, Mariam Luna, went to the pantry to pick up food for her two dogs and two cats. She said she left her job at Ross to raise her 4- and 3-year-old sons, making them reliant on her husband’s salary to get by.

The $600 of monthly SNAP benefits Luna used to receive have been reduced to nothing, she said, making it difficult to by the food her children need. She welled up while recalling how she can no longer afford to treat her kids to ice cream or pizza on special occasions.

“It’s super hard because we do have two kids and they do ask for a lot,” Luna said. “There is a lot of things that I’m not able to buy.”

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.