Pet food donation relief

THANKS to the generosity of the community, a local Geelong charity has donated 250kg of pet food to Uniting Emergency Relief.

Don’t Forget My Pet Foundation bundled up one of its largest donations yet, destined to help people who are struggling to feed their pets.

Foundation founder Alysha McKenzie said there were many animal owners who are having to make the decision to feed their animals before themselves.

“What the food does is it alleviates a little bit of pressure for a short period of time to enable people to spend money on the things that they need.

“If people need to spend money on petrol to get to medical appointments or to get to this or that, then they’re not having to worry about buying the pet food, it alleviates an enormous amount of stress.”

A majority of the food donated came from members of the community, with some of it purchased by the foundation when funds allowed.

Don’t Forget My Pet started just over a year ago and has been partnered with Uniting Emergency Relief ever since, along with the Wellington Neighbourhood House.

“Uniting Emergency Relief covers the Grovedale and the Norlane area, so it’s really important to us that we’re covering all the lower socioeconomic areas in Geelong,” Ms McKenzie said.

“The reason for [partnering] with Uniting Emergency Relief is because they’ve got a really good program in place.

“They bring people in for interviews and ‘go how can we help from a holistic perspective and how can we tap you into other services to help you get back on your feet.'”

Since the foundation’s beginning it has donated 1,350 bags of pet food for people in need, 3,500 sachets and cans of wet food, supported 28 pets and diverted 2.6 tonnes of food from landfill.

Ms McKenzie said there has been an increase in the demand of the foundation with the amount of people needing assistance on the rise.

“What I’ve really noticed since March 2024, we’ve been providing food to Uniting and to Wellington Neighbourhood House and what I’ve noticed is, we’re still providing the same amount, but it is going so much faster.”

To donate and for more information, head to dontforgetmypet.org.au