--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PetSmart
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What: |
Three locally based organizations, PetSmart, PetSmart Charities and St. Mary’s Food Bank, the world’s first food bank, are coming together to help hungry pets in need in the Phoenix area. St. Mary’s Food Bank is about to receive its largest pet food donation ever – a 53-foot semi truck loaded with 190,000 pet food meals, nearly 40,000 pounds, delivered on Tuesday, Aug. 22. |
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| The significant pet food donation is from PetSmart’s Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program, where for every bag of dog or cat food purchased online or in its 1,500-plus stores through Dec. 31, 2017, the retailer will donate a meal to a pet in need. Through this historic program, which PetSmart launched in celebration of its 30th anniversary this year, it expects to donate 60 million meals* – nearly 13 million pounds – to pets in need at hundreds of animal welfare agencies across North America, as well as human food banks, pantries and meal programs, where pet food is a rare offering. | |||
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To get the massive pet food donation to hundreds of agencies in local markets across North America, like St. Mary’s Food Bank, PetSmart is working with nonprofit partner, PetSmart Charities, the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, which is teaming up with GreaterGood.org’s Rescue Bank program and Feeding America, two renowned national nonprofit organizations. These organizations are getting the pet food quickly and efficiently to hungry pets in need. |
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St. Mary’s Food Bank is a Feeding America affiliate, and delivers 250,000 meals a day to hungry people served by about 300 agency partners that run food pantries and meal programs. Now the food bank can help feed hungry pets too! The pet food will be distributed Tuesday, Aug. 22, to clients served by the Knight Distribution Center, an on-site food pantry at St. Mary’s Food Bank, as well as through its agency partner network. The Knight Center serves 700 client families a day, many with pets. |
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Two additional semi truckloads of donated pet food from PetSmart will be delivered to St. Mary’s Food Bank later this year and into 2018. |
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When: |
Tuesday, Aug. 22, 10 a.m. – noon |
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Where: |
St. Mary’s Food Bank Knight Distribution Center |
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3131 W. Thomas Road |
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Phoenix, AZ 85009 |
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Photo Ops: |
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• 10 – 10:30 a.m.: Semi truck unloading of the 50 pallets – nearly 39,900 pounds of pet food – at the Knight Center. This massive amount of food will be forklifted from the truck and placed at the Knight Center to be delivered to clients of the Knight Food Pantry, as well as local nonprofit agencies served by St. Mary’s Food Bank. |
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• 10:30 a.m. – noon |
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◦ PetSmart and PetSmart Charities volunteers at the Knight Center, aiding clients with their human and pet food parcels. |
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◦ Local clients – pet parents and pets – receiving the donated 38-pound bags of dog and cat food. |
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◦ The massive amount of pet food in a human food bank and pantry, where pet food is a rare offering. |
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Interviews: |
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• Food pantry clients explaining the importance of free pet food for their pets and families. |
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• St. Mary’s Food Bank representative commenting on the local impact of this significant pet food donation. |
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• PetSmart and PetSmart Charities representatives discussing the Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program and its impact on pets in need. |
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Call to Action: |
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• People in the local Phoenix area can continue to help pets in need through PetSmart’s Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program – buy bags of dog and cat food at PetSmart and the retailer will donate a meal to a pet in need for every bag sold. |
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For more information on the Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program, please visit petsmart.com/giveameal.
*Ends 12/31/17. 5 oz. dog food, 1.5 oz. cat food donated to PetSmart Charities to feed dogs and cats in need. See details at petsmart.com/giveameal. The actual number of meals donated is based on dog and cat food bags sold. The meal donation estimate is based on historic sales for similar time periods. No guaranteed amount. Rescue Bank and Feeding America will help distribute a large portion of the pet food donation in the U.S., while four large animal welfare agencies will distribute it in Canada.
About St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance
Celebrating its 50th year as the world’s FIRST Food Bank, St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is a non-sectarian, nonprofit organization that alleviates hunger by efficiently gathering and distributing food to 474 partner agencies at 600 locations that serve the hungry. Serving nine of Arizona’s 15 counties, the organization is a member of Feeding America, the national network of food banks, and is committed to volunteerism, building community relationships, and improving the quality of life for Arizonans in need. In Fiscal Year 2016-17, the Food Bank distributed more than 86 million pounds of food to Arizona families and children and garnered more than 200,000 volunteer service hours. Web site: www.StMarysFoodBank.org Phone: 602-242-FOOD.
About PetSmart®
PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they, together, can live more fulfilled lives. This vision impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 55,000 associates, operate more than 1,500 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as more than 200 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and products, as well as pet-focused services such as dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart® Doggie Day Camp® and pet adoption. PetSmart, together with non-profits PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, invite more than 3,000 animal welfare organizations to bring adoptable pets into stores so they have the best chance possible of finding a forever home. Through this in-store adoption program and other signature events, PetSmart has facilitated more than 7.4 million adoptions – more than any other brick-and-mortar organization. The company’s portfolio of digital resources for pet parents includes PetSmart.com, OnlyNaturalPet.com, petMD.com, Pawculture.com, AllPaws, an online pet adoption platform that helps potential pet parents find the perfect pet to adopt based on their home, family and lifestyle, as well as BlogPaws, the world’s first pet blogger and influencer network. Through these digital platforms, PetSmart offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. In celebration of its 30th anniversary, PetSmart launched its Buy a Bag, Give a Meal™ program in March 2017. For every bag of cat or dog food purchased March 1 – Dec. 31, 2017, PetSmart will donate a meal to pets in need and expects to donate more than 60 million meals in 2017*. In May 2017, PetSmart acquired Chewy.com, a leading online retailer of pet food and products in the U.S., which operates as an independent subsidiary.
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About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization with a mission to find lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. In addition to finding homes for almost 500,000 shelter pets each year through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities provides funding to non-profits aligned with its mission through four key areas of grant support: Preventing Pet Homelessness; Helping Shelter Pets Thrive; Supporting the Bond Between People and Pets; and Emergency Relief and Disaster Support. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the pin pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses 90 cents of every dollar donated and has become the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, donating about $300 million to date. PetSmart Charities, a 501(c)(3) organization, has received the Four Star Rating from Charity Navigator, an independent organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 14 years in a row -- placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org
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