Hard times can fall upon almost anyone. Circumstances beyond our control such as the loss of a job, an injury or illness, or even a natural disaster can create a sudden hardship on the entire family.  Painful decisions can lie ahead which may involve the beloved family pet.  Faced with the inability to care for their pet, some may resort to surrendering an animal to the local humane society.

In an effort to keep these animals in their loving homes, Foothills Humane Society (FHS) works with other organizations (Thermal Belt Outreach and Meals on Wheels) to provide pet food for those families that are unable to afford or acquire it.  FHS calls this program “Keep’em Home.”

Every two weeks, many FHS volunteers coordinate to keep this program running.  To start, volunteers travel to a distribution warehouse to pick up the dog and cat food.  In the process of transporting pet food throughout the warehouse, occasionally, bags can become ripped or torn.  Thankfully, this perfectly good food is donated to FHS.

Volunteers use typical wheeled trash cans to bring this food back to the shelter.  Once loaded, these cans can weigh up to 200 pounds.  With this much weight in a standard trash can and its frequent usage, one can see how over a relatively short period of time, it could start to wear out.  To be more specific, the wheels fall off and / or the actual bottom of the can starts to split.

Wanting to limit the frequent expense of new trash cans, volunteers sought the help of a professional waste management company, Republic Services.  (In case you did not know, Republic Services is the second largest provider of services in the domestic non-hazardous solid waste industry, as measured by revenue.)  Not only did Republic Services respond promptly to our request, they donated and delivered 30 heavy duty wheeled cans to FHS for the Keep’em Home program.  Republic Services shares in our sentiment that a loving home is the best place for the family pet.

Helping animals in our community would not be possible without volunteer support and donations.  Thank you Republic Services for helping FHS “Keep’em Home”!

– submitted by Dee Owen