FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — When 87-year-old Lucille Mann knits, her 21/2-pound dog, Pepper, curls up beside her or nuzzles in her lap.
“I just don’t know what I’d do without her because she’s my life,” she said.
Realizing the two are inseparable, Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County not only delivers daily meals to Miss Mann but also drops off some pet food for her treasured Chihuahua.
About a fourth of the Fort Worth chapter’s 400 clients receive free pet food in addition to daily meals. The chapter started providing cat and dog food five years ago after volunteers noticed a growing number of clients feeding pets from their own plates.
This holiday season, the Meals On Wheels Association of America and Banfield, The Pet Hospital are teaming up to help needy seniors nationwide feed their pets.
They hope to collect 1 million pounds of critter vittles at 575 Banfield veterinary hospitals across the country during a two-month pet food drive called “A Season of Suppers.” Since the cause started earlier this month, donation boxes have been filling up quickly, so volunteers are already making deliveries.
“The holiday time is when there is a more acute awareness of people in need, especially seniors who may not have other relatives and are really more isolated than the general population,” said Sandy Campbell, president of Banfield Charitable Trust, the veterinary practice’s nonprofit organization.
Portland, Ore.-based Banfield and Meals On Wheels also are accepting monetary donations in hopes of raising $100,000 for the meal-delivery agency’s “We All Love Our Pets” program. The pet food program already helps seniors in Fort Worth; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Sacramento, Calif., and the agency would like to expand into other communities.
“It’s truly awesome they’re doing this,” said Janine Brown, program manager of senior nutrition services at the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance. “Not only do seniors not have to share their food, which isn’t healthy for pets, but they can keep the limited amount of income for their medicine and electric bills.”
Elizabeth Escontrias and her brother, Manuel Valle, who live in Fort Worth, said their lives are enriched by their several cats and five small dogs, including a feisty 11-year-old Chihuahua named Bad Girl whose tongue always hangs out.
But feeding them is difficult on a fixed income, they said.
“I’d have to give them away if [Meals on Wheels] didn’t help me,” said Miss Escontrias, 68. “Our animals are just like family. They’re our little children.”
Though the priority is providing meals to seniors — four in 10 Meals on Wheels chapters nationwide have waiting lists — the agency says the pet food program improves the quality of life for its clients.
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