HSSC-Winter-2023-North-Bay-Pets-Final - Magazine - Page 11
C.A.T. PROGRAM ONE YEAR IN
How do you measure compassion?
Some things are impossible to quantify.
The love we have for our pets, for
instance. We can’t imagine our lives
without them and we’d do anything
to protect and provide for them,
through thick and thin. Launched just
one year ago, our Community Action
Team (C.A.T.) is the latest of our
evolving safety net programs aimed
at helping local pet guardians care for
their fuzzy family members when the
going gets tough.
Even if we can’t quantify love, we can
measure the compassionate impact
that our C.A.T. program is making!
To identify – and respond to – the
growing call for help from folks who
struggle to meet their pets’ needs,
we are tracking some very signi昀椀cant
numbers. Meals are one metric we
count – both at our shelter locations
and through our mobile distribution
e昀昀orts.
We’re also tracking – and expanding!
– the number of partnerships we’re
cultivating to help meet even more
of the need. We are proud to be
collaborating with many wonderful
human service organizations throughout the county, like Redwood Gospel
Mission, Los Guillicos Village operated
by St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County,
and the monthly Guerneville food
pantry - a program of the Salvation
Army. And we’re partnering with our
friends Compassion Without Borders
to bring our mobile pet food pantry
to clients accessing their monthly
Esperanza Truck clinics.
HSSC Community Initiatives Manager, Jorge Delgado, described a
compassionate connection he made
at a service site in Cloverdale. “She
shared that her husband was not
able to work and that her paycheck
was being stretched thin,” Jorge says.
“She needed food for their dog and
cat. Since we were able to provide
that, her paycheck can now go a little
further covering her family’s other
pressing needs.”
Your donations of pet food to our
pantry are the key factor in our ability
to meet the outpouring of need. You
may never meet the person and pet
who’ve been helped by your kindness,
but it feels so good knowing you’ve
helped relieve their worry and helped
them feed their beloved dog or cat.
From one pet parent to another, we
are lifting each other up and nourishing
the need.
If you are in need of support or would
like to donate some pet food to help
out another pet parent, please visit
C.A.T. on our website at:
humanesocietysoco.org/owner
-support/pet-food-pantry
C.A.T. impact at a glance
HSSC Santa Rosa Shelter: 6,917 meals/month
HSSC Healdsburg Shelter: 2,145 meals/month
Mobile Pet Food Pantry: 3,688 meals/month
Distributed through partners: 769 meals/month
Current mobile event sites: 7
Distribution partners: 9
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