Austin is a city of animal lovers, but not everyone can volunteer at the shelter or foster a homeless pup. Luckily, Tomlinson’s Pet Supplies has made helping rescue pets easier than eating too much at the holiday feast. The iconic local business is teaming up with the community for another round of the Pound4Pound Pet Food Drive, and all anyone has to do to participate is buy a bag of food. Yum!
Pound4Pound started in 2008 at one Tomlinson’s store to help a rescue group struggling to afford food. This year all 11 locations will participate in the food drive, which will support 29 central Texas shelters and rescues. Customers pay for a bag, then Tomlinson’s and their vendor partners match the donations, doubling the amount of food and helping twice as many pets.
Since the program began, an estimated 450,000 pounds of food has been distributed, with a goal to add 110,000 pounds to the total this year. The high-quality kibble is allocated based on need, and donors may designate their contribution to a specific participating rescue group.
Kate Click, who coordinates Tomlinson’s marketing and community outreach, explained that originally donations were stacked in the stores, where customers enjoyed watching the piles grow. But the increasing generosity of donors has made that stunning visual display impractical.
“Even though the donations are only accepted during the holidays, we receive so much food we have to space distributions throughout the following year,” Click said. “We quite literally feed many of Austin’s rescue pets.”
“We work with those rescues with whom we have an established relationship,” she added. “These are rescues that hold regular adoption events at our stores and whose adopters come to see us with their new pets! Of course, we’re always eager to meet new rescue partners.”
Even with so much food going out, there is always a need for more. Austin’s no-kill rules mean keeping rescue pets healthy and fed is a constant and costly effort.
Fortunately, Pound4Pound makes supporting homeless pets as simple as buying one less bottle of wine for Christmas dinner. It’s a small sacrifice for a big payoff, and one our community seems happy to make.
To add a bag to the pile, simply visit any Tomlinson’s location through Christmas Eve. The donation is tax deductible too, and donors who give a medium or large bag will receive a nicely sized coupon to use at the store. So, a gift for you, and a gift for the critters. That’s enough to give everyone the warm fuzzies!
For more information about Tomlinson’s and Pound4Pound, click here.
