--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PetSmart:
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What: |
Just in time for the holidays, and in an effort to keep families together through hard times, Santa Claus is joining PetSmart and nonprofit partner PetSmart Charities to deliver a semi-truckload of donated pet food – about 190,000 pet food meals, nearly 40,000 pounds, or 20 tons of pet food – to PAWS San Diego, a program of San Diego Humane Society, to help pets and pet families in need in the local area. |
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| The 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 1,600 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, the pet retailer expects to donate 60 million meals* – more than 6,000 tons – to pets in need at hundreds of animal welfare agencies across North America, as well as human food banks, food pantries and meal programs, where pet food is a rare offering. | ||||
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In a 2017 survey funded by PetSmart Charities and conducted by Wakefield Research, 97 percent of respondents agreed it is important to keep people and their pets together during difficult situations such as living in poverty, experiencing homelessness or escaping domestic abuse. That’s why PetSmart and PetSmart Charities want to help keep people and pets together through this massive pet food donation that will help families who may rely on food banks or pantries to now have access to delicious, nutritious food for their four-legged family members too. |
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This is San Diego Humane Society’s second truckload of PetSmart-donated pet food this year, and the food helps pet families in need stay with their pets during challenging times. |
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| To get the massive pet food donation to hundreds of agencies in local markets across North America, like San Diego Humane Society, 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 across the country. | ||||
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| San Diego Humane Society is a Rescue Bank affiliate and the longest-standing nonprofit in the city, serving San Diego County since 1880 with a range of programs and services that care for companion animals, wildlife and pet families in need. The pet food will be distributed to the organization’s network of rescue partners and shelters, as well as offered at the facility’s on-site pet food pantry through PAWS San Diego – a program of San Diego Humane Society, which provides safety net services for pet families needing assistance keeping their pets with them and out of shelters. | ||||
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When: |
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. – noon | |||
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Where: |
San Diego Humane Society |
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| 5465 Gaines St. | ||||
| San Diego, CA 92110 | ||||
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Photo Ops: |
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The unloading of 50 pallets of pet food – 39,900 pounds or 20 tons of pet food – among the largest pet food donation to San Diego Humane Society/PAWS San Diego in recent years. |
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Santa, along with local PetSmart store team members, helping load nonprofit agencies’ trucks with the 38-pound bags of donated pet food. These nonprofits are shelters, rescues and animal welfare organizations that help pets in need in the San Diego metro area. |
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San Diego Humane Society’s PAWS San Diego clients – pet parents and pets – receiving the donated 38-pound bags of dog and cat food from Santa, who will also help them to their car with the large pet food bags. |
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Santa interacting with pets on-site. |
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Pets sampling the pet food. |
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Interviews: |
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PAWS San Diego clients explaining the importance of free pet food for their pets and families, especially during the holidays. |
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Grants Officer for San Diego Humane Society, Katie Woolsey, commenting on the local impact of this significant pet food donation and the partnership between PetSmart Charities and San Diego Humane Society. |
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Local nonprofits served by San Diego Humane Society speaking about how the donated pet food frees up their annual budgets to do more to help pets in need. Pet food is a significant budget item for shelters and rescues. |
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PetSmart associates 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 San Diego 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. Program ends Dec. 31, 2017. |
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For more information on the Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program, please visit PetSmart.com/give-a-mealdonation.
About San Diego Humane Society
Serving San Diego County since 1880, San Diego Humane Society’s scope of social responsibility goes beyond adopting animals. San Diego Humane Society offers San Diegans a wide range of programs and services that strengthen the human-animal bond, prevent cruelty/neglect, provide medical care, educate the community on the humane treatment of animals and provide safety net services for all pet families needing assistance with keeping their pets.
As San Diego’s longest-standing nonprofit organization, San Diego Humane Society has campuses located in Escondido, Oceanside, and San Diego as well as adoption centers throughout San Diego County. San Diego Humane Society is supported by contributions, grants, bequests, investments, municipal contracts and small fees for services. For more information or to view our current animals available for adoption; please visit sdhumane.org.
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 nonprofits PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities® of Canada, invite more than 3,500 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 7.6 million adoptions – more than any other brick-and-mortar organization. The company’s portfolio of digital resources for pet parents includes PetSmart.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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*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.
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 nonprofits 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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