Newsletter
Food 4 Paws Newsletter - February 2011 - July 2011
It has been a busy 6 months for your neighborhood pet food pantry! Here are some of the highlights:
- Ameren Illinois Pet Food Drive. Ameren Illinois sponsored a pet food drive for us in early June. They brought in over 70 pounds of food and a significant amount of monetary donations. We are so thankful for this help!
- Food Delivery. On June 10th, five of our fabulous volunteers met at Meadows Veterinary Clinic to help us stock our shelves with our latest food delivery. They carried in almost 5,000 pounds of food! Check out the pictures in our gallery.
- Paws Giving Independence, Paws for a Cause Event at Junction City. On July 9th, we shared a booth with a local therapy dog group, W.O.O.F. - We Offer Our Friends, at the second annual fundraising event. Paws Giving Independence trains service dogs to assist people with a variety of disabilities while providing support to encourage independence. We were very fortunate to be included in the pet-friendly festivities, and we added 2 families and 3 dogs to our pet pantry program!
If you would like more information about Paws Giving Independence, please check out their website: www.givingindependence.org.
Thank you for your interest in Food 4 Paws. It is the support of our community and our amazing volunteers that has helped us continue to serve disadvantaged dog and cat owners in the Central Illinois region. We could not be more grateful!
Food 4 Paws Newsletter - August 2010 - January 2011
Here are some of the exciting and heartwarming things that have happened over the last few months:
- Concessions in Bloomington. We have worked the concession stands at several events, and it is always a good time. We have enjoyed the opportunity to learn what it is like behind the counter at a major event (very fast-paced) and the chance to spread the word about Food 4 Paws. Look for us the next time you attend an event at The Bloomington Coliseum; we’d love to help you with all of your concessions needs!
- Riverview Grade School and Junior High Fundraiser. The students of Riverview Grade School and Junior High participated in a fundraiser for Food 4 Paws. They raised almost $300. They presented us with an enormous check at their career day event. It was a great experience getting to meet the students and teachers who helped to make this donation possible. You can see TV footage of the event on this site or on our Facebook page.
- Holiday Fund Drive. In light of the struggling economy, we elected not to do a major fund-raising event this year. We sent a letter to all of our past contributors asking them to renew their contribution, and we are happy to report that we received a very good response.
Thank you to all of you who sent in a holiday donation. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support as we enter into our second year of food distributions!
If you have not yet made a donation and are interested in helping Food 4 Paws, please send a check to the address listed on our homepage. Remember that every little bit helps!
Food 4 Paws Newsletter - June - July 2010
We have been distributing food for a little over 4 months now, and we have grown a lot in that time!
Here are just a few of the exciting things that have been happening:
- On May 8th, we took a group of eager volunteers to the Bloomington Coliseum for an exciting fundraising experience. We sold foam footballs and raffle tickets for the half- time entertainment at a Bloomington Extreme indoor football game. We had fun, the staff of the coliseum could not have been nicer, and we raised some money for our pantry. It was a great night!
- The Pekin Girl Scouts held a food drive on behalf of Food 4 Paws and TAPS. Our President and Vice President got to join them at a troupe meeting to tell them about our organization and to answer their questions. The girls were really enthusiastic, and their love of animals was obvious. At the end of the drive they presented us with a large amount of food, some cash donations, and an astounding number of treats, toys, and food bowls. Thanks Pekin Girl Scouts! You ladies are amazing!
- On July 16th, we will again be heading to the Bloomington Coliseum. This time we will be running a concession stand during a Toby Keith concert. We are looking forward to raising money for our favorite cause and (if we're really lucky) getting to hear some great country music!
- On July 25th, we will have a booth at the Paws for a Cause event from noon-4pm at Junction City in Peoria. Paws for a Cause will benefit Paws Giving Independence, a local not for profit group that rescues dogs from local shelters and trains them to be service dogs. Paws for a Cause will feature a dog show and demonstrations by the Peoria Police department's canine units and the PGI's own service dogs. For more information about the event, you can visit the Paws Giving Independence website at www.givingindependence.org or visit them on Facebook.
We feel honored to be able to participate in this event and to help raise awareness about a group that provides a vital service in our community.
Food 4 Paws Newsletter - April - May, 2010
Food 4 Paws has been distributing food since March 07, 2010, and we are happy to report that we have given out over 1200# of food! We could not have accomplished this without the support and generosity of our community.
Here are some of the highlights of the last few months:
- On March 6th, we hosted an Open House for our contributors and volunteers. We had a great turnout, and appreciated the opportunity to meet some of our supporters face-to-face. The event was held at our distribution center, Meadows Veterinary Clinic. Many local businesses including Cookies By Design, Jane Dough Bakery and Cafe, Trefzger's Bakery, McDonald's in East Peoria, and Starbuck's on Main St in Peoria donated food and drinks. Larimor photography came out and photographed the entire event; you can view these pictures by clicking on the Gallery link.
- We were honored to be one of two approved facility solicitations for Caterpillar Logistics in Morton. From April 5th-April 16th, employees could bring unopened bags of cat and dog food to collection barrels located throughout the facility. 820 pounds and 312 cans of food were collected. Thank you to everyone at Caterpillar who made an effort to support our cause!
- Our new and improved website launched on April 11th. We just love the new site, and we hope you will enjoy it too. We'd like to extend a special thank you to Carolina and Stephen Erke, our web designers, who have donated their time, talent, and money to develop and maintain this resource. You two are amazing!
As we look forward to the coming months, our primary focus will be generating more awareness about our program throughout the community. We want to help as many animals as we can, and we recognize that, in order to do this, we need to go out and talk to community groups and aid organizations in our area. If you know of anyone who is currently struggling to feed a pet, please encourage them to apply for our program. We are here to help!