Today, Animal Humane Society and Second Harvest Heartland announced a new partnership to distribute pet food and cat litter to families through food shelves. This new partnership will utilize Second Harvest Heartland’s robust storage, logistics, and transportation capabilities to help Animal Humane Society reach more pet parents in need. Over the next year, the two groups aim to distribute 50,000 pounds of pet food and cat litter.

“Partnering with Second Harvest Heartland — and harnessing their extensive food distribution infrastructure and expertise — allows AHS to continue providing free pet food to our community,” said Sunnie Kaufmann-Paulman, Chief Community Engagement Officer. “This partnership also enables us to expand this essential program to serve community partners on a larger scale and feed more pets in a sustainable way.”

This new program will launch next month with eight food shelf partners and with plans to expand to more hunger-relief partners throughout the year. By incorporating pet resources from Animal Humane Society into the Second Harvest Heartland ordering process, food shelf partners will be able to receive everything they need in a single order, easing their workload.

“Pets are an important part of many families, including those facing hunger,” said Lindsey Ochmanek, Director of Sourcing and Demand Planning at Second Harvest Heartland. “Some of our food shelf partners have shared stories of neighbors sharing their own food from the food shelf with their pets because they couldn’t afford pet food. We are grateful to Animal Humane Society for joining us in this vital effort.”

Following this announcement, Neighborhood House and PetSmart Charities held a community food distribution, during which neighbors received pet food and human food. PetSmart Charities launched the inaugural Pet Hunger Awareness Day® campaign in 2023 to address the difficult choices families make, like forgoing other necessities to help fill their pets’ bowls. Now Pet Hunger Awareness Day is recognized on the last Tuesday of September during Hunger Action Month, Feeding America’s annual awareness campaign, inspiring people to do their part to end hunger in the U.S.