Cel Jimenez, who co-manages Humane Society of Sonoma County’s Community Action Team (C.A.T.) with colleague Jorge Delgado, wanted to put himself in the shoes of Californians experiencing food insecurity—that’s more than 1 in 5 people, with unfair systems driving even higher rates among Black, Indigenous, and people of color; single moms and caregivers; trans and gender expansive folks; and immigrants and refugees. He and Jorge called 41 food banks in California to ask if they provided food for pets. They all said no.
Instead of getting discouraged, Cel and Jorge were excited about the enormous potential this gap affirmed. “Imagine the difference and the impact that we can start [by partnering],” Cel said. That’s the energy they brought to December’s All Call, along with pet food pantry tips and resources inspired by their experience building HSSC’s programming and their previous work in human food banking.
Tips
- Define your why. Getting clear on the purpose of your pet food pantry sets you up to make smarter decisions when it comes to operations, inviting donations, seeking volunteers, or applying for grants, Jorge explained. For HSSC, the goals are to reduce shelter entry and ensure the well-being of pets, while keeping families together by increasing food access and choices available to pet guardians who are seeking support.
- Keep it simple. At HSSC food donated by businesses or individuals is repackaged into storage bags—gallon-sized for dogs and quart for cats—and labeled in Spanish and English. Pet guardians can pick up one bag of cat/dog food per household, per day, barrier-free. Keep food fresh by keeping it moving: “That’s the most key element of this,” Jorge said. “Do not sit on that food. [It] needs to go in and out.”
- Get to know local hunger indicators. Cel and Jorge shared links we can use to quantify need (see resources below), including federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient numbers. They also shared important reminders: When it comes to SNAP, known as CalFresh in California, pet food is not included—and many people face barriers to qualifying.
- Collect core data and share it. Using a formula based on the amount of food pets receive in the shelter, Cel and Jorge track how many meals the pantry provides in the community. They also track community members’ cities and zip codes. Data points like these tell the story of where hunger happens and what’s needed to increase food access—a story you can share to get future donors and partners on board.
- Recognize the power we have to make a difference. Through pet pantries and partnerships with food banks, we can connect even more people and pets to the food they need to stay together. When we also fight the root causes of hunger, we fight many of the root causes of shelter entry. We can advocate for anti-hunger policies at state and federal levels, including joining with food banks and others in protecting SNAP benefits, which are currently at risk as the bill that provides funding stalls in congress.
So often hunger is something people experience in private, Jorge said. Every aspect of Jorge and Cel’s approach reinforces the message they want to send to the community and to every person they meet: You’re our neighbor, and we’re here if you need help. It’s a beautiful reminder that when we prioritize partnership with community organizations and pet guardians, we welcome our communities to see shelters as compassionate partners too.
Resources
- CalFresh Data Dashboard – Find the most current CalFresh data by county.
- Find CalFresh information by county.
- Find your local food bank.
- Explore economic indicators by county.
- Interactive Household Budgets Calculator – The official poverty measure primarily accounts for the cost of food, but this calculator also factors the cost of housing, healthcare, child care, and more to reveal what it really costs to live in California.
- HSSC Food Pantry SOP
- HSSC cat and dog food labels
Bonus Q&A
We ran out of time before Jorge and Cel could answer all the questions in the chat. They graciously agreed to answer the additional questions here.
How much food do you typically give away in one average day?
Dry dog food: 20-24 bags per day
Dry cat food: 20 bags per day
What type of storage do you use to keep pests out? Storage bins, steel bins?
We use black storage bins, plastic or fiber drum with lid 55 (we found these used in Facebook market for a really good price)
Are you dispensing prescription foods and if so, how are you managing/tracking prescriptions for these?
We do not offer prescription pet food diet at our pantry. When we get this type of food donated, we bring it to our Community Veterinary Clinic staff for them to decide if they can use this at the shelter or for their clients.
Where do you source your barrels?
We found them on Facebook Market place.
What is your stance on expired food use (dry/wet)?
We throw away any expired food, especially if it is open. When we go through donations, we check on “Best by date” and determine if we keep the food or dispose of it.
- Dry food: Best by date more than 6 month, dispose of it.
- Wet food: Best by date more than 1 year, dispose of it.
Damaged canned food or unlabeled need to be disposed of.
When collaborating with local businesses, is it usually easy to ask or are there certain needs that need to be made?
It depends. Some stores require us to fill in a form to rescue pet food for liability reasons.
Other stores have guidelines in place on what to donate to us. In some cases, we have developed good relationships with the store managers that they would support our program at their own discretion.
Do you have a system to track or manual entry?
We do not track the food that comes in unless we need to report on it. We prefer to track the food that comes out because that is a more valuable statistic that reflects the need. We tried tracking inventory in the beginning but as the pantry grew, we decided that it was not worth the time invested in tracking the food that came in since the food left the pantry faster than the donation coming in.
How much staff time does your program take, or is it volunteer run?
Currently, we are two paid-staff employees running the pantry and other programs. If Food Bank would provide pet food to pantries regularly, pet food pantries can be run by volunteers 100 percent similar to community pantries.
The need for our pet food bank has been growing significantly. Are you seeing the same thing?
Yes, there is no way to sugar coat that the need continues to grow. This is the same issue that food banks are expiring because of our economy.
Does your pantry offer any other supplies other than pet food?
Yes, we offer cat litter, pee pads, pet diapers, and small animal foods when available.
Do you mix all the food up together or keep brands separate?
We do not mix food together. We like to keep foods separate.
Do you have a code for what the protein is? Or what brand in case these is a recall?
We do not keep a code for potential recalls. Since the food we provide is limited in quantity and it is not meant to feed a pet for more than a few meals, we feel that the risk is minimal if we were to encounter this issue.
How often throughout the year are you doing food drives to collect donations?
Like food banks, we try to target food drives around holidays or hunger action month. However, food drives can happen any time of the year.
sorry if i missed this- but how are you tracking pounds/meals distributed?
We are tracking both. Our tracking spreadsheet helped us to keep track of both without doing additional work.
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