1 4 PAWS ORGANIZATION - Hungry Tummy

1 4 PAWS ORGANIZATION - "Knowledge & Respect"

Operation "Hungry Tummy"

Shiloh City of Peace Foundation offers the local and surrounding communities a place where the doors are opened to provide nutritious meals to anyone who enters. Our "Plates from Home" caters to those individuals and families who are in need of meals or groceries. Many of our clients owns pets and on numerous occasions I hear the level of concern that owners have for their animals. Although many of our clients were willing by choice to go without food, they somehow manage small portions of food to offer to a doggiii or kitiii. There beloved unconditional loving pet took priority of being fed.

These are the animals that bring a glimmer of hope or security to a person when they are down. A moment of joy and a sense of stability is offered between "best friends" and often it is the motivation that is required for "care" that gets a discouraged person through another hard day.

I could nor would ever ask a person to leave a pet behind in order to offer refuge, that is why operation "Hungry Tummy" was created. We are compassionate volunteers that struggle to fill our shelves with adequate quantities of the best pet food available. We will never feel the guilt of having our "can goods" meant for human consumption being fed to a starving pet rather than a hungry person. These are the times we fill "honored" to pass a bag of dry dog food along with a "healthy" meal.

Many consumers have the mind-set that food pantries of cupboards only cater to the poor and the homeless. Many and most pantries do and plenty offer services under emergency conditions. Our 14 PAWS organization helps support the Shiloh Basic Cupboard is able to provide many daily amenities when available. As an additional support system we do the same for pets. Our "Tenders from Home" program adds that special comfort of ownership by taking measures to offer a wide range of services.

How you can help:

As a Faith based ministry we operate on a very minimal budget and most of the monies spent is provided through the generosity of our own staff by offering a few dollars from their personal budgets. How you can help is simple, just take the time to help us by adding a bag or canned food (and it doesn't stop there, bird seed, ferret food, etc..) it is at your own discretion (I am particular to dogs, cats and fish, since I am a owner of all three) and contacting us for pick up. You can also check our Events page for announcements. If you really feel bold ask your church or workplace to bring in a donation every last Sunday or workday or get the children involved by hosting a party.

We will do our part to help reduce hunger in pets that belong to the homeless and the less fortunate and provide medical care for those pets in communities across the country.

We believe in the healing power of companion pets and of the human/animal bond which is very important to life.

Our actions include the following:

Promoting to veterinarians and pet related businesses the importance of joining the program
Speaking out on the issue of pets of homeless and the disadvantaged
Campaigning to food distributing organizations the importance of distributing pet food to the less fortunate
Providing grants to licensed veterinarians and other nonprofit organizations that meet our objectives to administer medical care to pets of the homeless.

Please contact us for any inquiries. If you seek a pantry on your own be advised that not ALL pantries are willing to accept or distribute pet food because they may feel that their ministry is in just feeding the unfortunate and NOT their pets.

Photo by Tim Hulsizer