McDonald nonprofit launches first pet food pantry
Courtesy of Sandi Eaton
Sandi Eaton poses with Troop 52240, a group of ninth-grade Girl Scouts who handcrafted the Kitty Take-Out pet food pantry and after-hours donation box for Nose2Tail Cat Rescue as part of their Silver Award project. From left are Eaton, Marinna Romano, Lainey Esposito, Victoria Collins, Megan Collins and Riley Galon.
Courtesy of Sherry Romano
While Victoria Collins, Lainey Esposito and Riley Galon worked to build the Kitty Take-Out pet food pantry for Nose2Tail Cat Rescue, Megan Collins and Marinna Romano, far left, handcrafted an after-hours donation box. Troop 52240’s Silver Award Project is already making an impact in McDonald.
A food pantry at the corner of Arabella Street and East Lincoln Avenue in McDonald caters to the community’s cats.
Earlier this week, Nose2Tail Cat Rescue announced the launch of its Kitty Take-Out, a Girl Scout Troop 52240 Silver Award project completed in tandem with the local nonprofit, which provides food, treats, toys and more to pet owners unable to afford staples for their fur babies.
“It’s a project that I’m really excited about. It was a goal that I’ve had for a while,” said Sandi Eaton, co-director of Nose2Tail. “To actually have it come to life is really cool.”
The Kitty Take-Out works in much the same way that a food pantry works: People donate non-perishable pet foods and treats, or toys, to the rescue (an after-hours donation box handcrafted by Troop 52240 is also available for making drop-offs during off-hours), and those struggling to provide for their pets take what they need from the pantry.
The project was made possible by Victoria Collins, Lainey Esposito, Riley Galon, Megan Collins and Marinna Romano, ninth-grade Girl Scouts with a heart for animals.
“They’re all animal lovers,” said Sherry Romano, troop leader. “We did a lot with other animal shelters. When it came time to do their Silver (project), doing something for animals was their No. 1 priority.”
Nose2Tail is local to the troop, and the Girl Scouts met with Eaton to discuss the rescue’s needs.
“When they approached me, I was like, what do you think about this idea?” Eaton recalled. “They were like, ‘Yes!’ They were really excited.”
The young women spent more than 50 hours on the project, including researching other pet pantries, determining what sort of pantry would best meet the community’s needs, and whittling down pantry and after-hour donation box blueprints they could build themselves.
They also solicited donations of plywood, shingles and other material from Home Depot, Lowe’s and the community, all of which came through for Troop 52240.
“They do take wood building classes at school, so they were familiar with it,” Romano said, but “it was definitely out of a lot of their wheelhouses, something of this size. In the beginning, when they were using the drill bits, it was a little, oof!, timid. Both boxes were built with their dads. They did every nail, every screw, every cut on the saw – everything was with their dads. It was a fun project.”
Perhaps the most fun part was unveiling the Kitty Take-Out, painted bright blue and yellow, and the donation box, both handcrafted with love, to Nose2Tail.
“We took it in our trailer. Immediately, some of the neighbors were coming out to look at it. It was used right away,” Romano said. “I know the after-hours donation box has been used, too. Both have been used quite a bit, and it’s only been a few days.”
Collins, Esposito, Galon, Collins and Romano are thrilled their project is already making an impact locally, Romano said.
So, too, is Eaton.
McDonald is a mixed-income community, she said, and, like for many animal rescues, the past few years have been difficult for Nose2Tail.
“We are struggling to find good homes for cats. We are contacted every day with people needing to surrender their cats for one reason or another,” Eaton said, adding people sometimes dump cats they cannot care for on local streets, and those cats reproduce quickly. “It’s just exhausting.”
Before the pandemic, Nose2Tail worked with Frankie’s Friends to bring the mobile, low-cost spay/neuter unit to McDonald, but that resource is no longer available.
“This is kind of our, not next best thing, but something we could have for the community,” Eaton said of the donation box and pet food pantry. “We want to help you. We want to help you keep your cats and provide you what we can. I’m hoping that it kind of does provide that resource for people in the community who struggle or are struggling, either temporarily, or are just down on their luck, and hopefully to help keep cats in homes.”
The Kitty Take-Out caters to purr-fect pets, but it’s for all the fur babies, dogs included, Eaton said.
“We’re hoping that other pet food gets donated,” she said, noting a donated bag of dog food reached someone in need earlier this week. “The two goals are help people who need a helping hand and to keep pets in homes.”
For more information on Nose2Tail Cat Rescue, visit https://www.nose2tailcatrescue.org/.