Grays Harbor and Pacific counties last week saw sizable pet food donations make their way to area animal shelters and animal controls.
The donation comes courtesy of Dennis Company’s Randy Dennis and their pet food supplier, Phillips Pet and Food Supplies. Dennis said in the past Phillips has contacted him three or four times a year to see if he is interested in donating pet food that is just past its pull date.
“This time they called last week and offered me more food than they ever had before,” Dennis said. “We had to buy $3,000 worth of food to get $80,000 (in food) donated.”
Dennis said he and his company have been working with Phillips to donate pet food for the last five years. Dennis Company is well-suited for transporting the donations because of their access to trailors and machinery needed to move food from place to place. The relationship serves both companies as well as the community, as Phillips is able to make space in their warehouse upon donating and Dennis is able to lend a hand to the community.
“I think Dennis Company has always tried to remain very involved in the community where our stores our located,” Dennis said. “Over the years we’ve tried to help the shelters as much as we could.”
Dennis said this is the first time the donation has happened in the past three or four years because Phillips Pet Food has improved their business model. With this improved model the company has gotten better at ordering just the right amount of food, leaving less for donations.
“This is a win-win relationship between us and Phillips Pet Food for them to donate and us distribute,” Dennis said. “This time I paid a small amount to get a lot of food, so it was worth it.”
Thursday and Friday of last week saw two Dennis Company trailers haul the donations to the Port of Grays Harbor, where Deb Thomas-Blake of Harbor Rescue was waiting to divvy up the food.
“It is a very appreciated early Christmas for everyone up north and down south with Randy donating this stuff,” Blake said. “He’s very community oriented.”
The donations will go to numerous animal agencies throughout Grays Harbor and a couple in Pacific County. Harbor Rescue, PAWS of Grays Harbor, Gentle Paws Sanctuary, East County TNR, Aberdeen Animal Control and Hoquiam Animal Control all received some of the 15 pallets of food. Donations also went to the South Beach Human Society and HAVA (Harbor Association of Volunteers for Animals) in Raymond.
“People don’t think about the animal controls, but it’s important because they never know how many dogs they’re going to be getting in,” Blake said of keeping the controls stocked with food. “It’s important to keep them supplied with food so when they bring an animal in they can set it up with food and water.”
While not as much was available to donate as was initially expected, 15 pallets weighing about 500 to 800 pounds each made for sizable donations to area organizations. However, Dennis said there is always more to be done.
“They all needed the food a lot — I wish we actually could’ve had more,” Dennis said. “We gave everybody some but they can always use more.”
