Atlanta Pet Food Bank Lends Helping Hand

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - For many people, their pets feel like members of the family. In a difficult economy, many Georgia animal owners are facing tough choices about whether they can afford to keep their pets. An organization in midtown Atlanta is working to keep people and their pets together by offering free food.

The Save Our Pets food bank is run on a shoestring budget out of an old warehouse on Ottley Drive. The bank opened in the summer of 2008, just as the economy was beginning to falter.

Ann King said she realized something had to be done to help struggling pet owners. "We don't have to work out anymore, if we take the food back and forth," said King.

King said she didn't mind hauling boxes of pet food into her midtown warehouse, she was just grateful they have something to put on the shelves.

"Most people wait until they absolutely cannot wait anymore," said King.

King and volunteers like Val Smith run the pet food bank and provide free food to owners on the verge of surrendering their pets because they can't feed them.

"I tell people when they come in, if you turn them into animal control, they're full. They're going to be put to sleep," said King.

King said with the unstable economy, a lot of pet owners can't afford to keep their pets.

"A lot of people will say to me, 'Well it's people that were not being responsible. They should never have had the pets in the first place if they can't afford them.' That's not true. Most of the clients coming in for food have had their animals for years and little did they know they were going to be laid off, lose their job," King said.

Smith, who owns several cats, is not just a volunteer at the pet food shelter, she also gets food.

"I could get anything from dry food to wet food to treats to chewy things. Sometimes we have toys, leashes," said Smith

Save Our Pets food bank is usually open Saturday mornings and they get about 75 people in a day. So the shelves are cleaned off.

"We weren't open last Saturday because we didn't have anything to give away. The Saturday before that we gave all the food we had to Chattooga, in Summerville," said King.

Save Our Pets has enough food right now to stay open thanks to children in King's neighborhood, who collected supplies door-to-door.

King had a message to struggling pet owners. "You need to do every single thing you can to keep them in your home, through resources like us. I mean there's always another way. There's always another way, other than giving them up," she said.

Save Our Pets food bank relies on donations of pet food and money to stay open. Food can be donated at the food bank's Ottley Drive facility near the downtown connector or at several drop-off sites around town.

People in need do pet food or supplies can visit the food bank on Saturdays.