Program helps homebound feed their pets
Santa Fe animal shelter, Kitchen Angels join to deliver supplies
Every Tuesday afternoon, Diana’s three dogs and two cats wait patiently at the door. She’s not sure how they sense it, but when that doorbell rings, they know something is waiting for them.
“They are all so excited,” Diana said. “They somehow know that it’s dog food and cat food day, and they all stand around as I put the food in different containers like I’m decorating a Christmas tree or something.”
Every week, Diana, who suffers from debilitating seizures, receives a supply of pet food through a partnership between Kitchen Angels and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society. Kitchen Angels provides and delivers meals for homebound people, while the animal shelter provides their pets with food and other supplies.
The partnership, which started in 2008, has been a lifeline for those people struggling to make ends meet but who rely so much on their animals for comfort and companionship, said Jeanette Iskat, client services manager for Kitchen Angels. The nonprofit serves 167 clients daily with meals, while the shelter helps more than 30 clients with their pets every week. “The pets are often the only family structure our clients with pets have,” Iskat said. “Our clients often are so limited in their ability to interact with their world, that animals provide everything for them — a warm presence, companionship, solace and amusement.”
Several shelter volunteers help every week to pack donated pet food and kitty litter for Kitchen Angels clients. Devin White, the shelter’s volunteer coordinator who oversees the shelter’s program, says the partnership is phenomenal. Two Kitchen Angels, Christy Vasquez and her husband, Tom Eberhardt, pick up the food from the shelter for distribution. “It’s so wonderful that two groups can get together and help those homebound people with pets,” he said. “Our volunteers enjoy working with Kitchen Angels, and it’s our mission to spread compassion.”
Helping people keep their bond with their pets is critical, said Jennifer Steketee, the shelter’s executive director.
“We’re happy to do anything that maintains that animalhuman bond,” Steketee said, “whether it’s one individual here or there — each one is an animal that we can keep out of the shelter and with their family, where they belong.”
Rita, who gets around in her small apartment with the aid of a wheelchair, says her life was miserable until she adopted Snuggles, a fluffy black-andwhite longhaired cat. The cat makes her day feel better, and he’s always there for her.
“He makes me calmer,” Rita said. “And when I fall, he stays with me until the paramedics come. He means so much to me.”
It’s not unusual for animals to be there for their loved ones, especially those who struggle with medical issues, Iskat said. Diana says her dogs know when she’s about to have a seizure, and stay with her until it passes.
Diana, who has several degrees and worked most of her life as a professional until being diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy about five years ago, considers her current situation as a “journey.” She jokingly calls it an evolution — or devolution, depending on the perspective.
Because of her seizures, which can be prompted by light, noise or motion, her world has become increasingly small. Without meals from Kitchen Angels, Diana says she likely would have starved. Epileptics often burn themselves while cooking, and Diana lost 15 pounds in a short time before she connected with Kitchen Angels. She’s now regained the weight and has a
goal of adding about 10 more pounds.
Iskat says many of her clients with pets appreciate their animals because they are judgment free. People are often critical of those “hidden” illnesses, such as mental or physical illness that aren’t easily identified.
“Animals don’t tell you to snap out of it if you have PTSD,” Iskat said. “For someone who is agoraphobic, that pet is their lifeline, a nonjudgmental loving presence.”
The pet food and meals the nonprofits provide help reduce anxiety, Iskat said.
Diana said she knows her life might be easier without animals — perhaps she’d be able to find a nicer place. But then her life wouldn’t be her life without her pets.
“I’m lucky I have a roof over my head,” she said. “The help from Kitchen Angels and the shelter means so much to me. Dog food is expensive, but I would never give up my animals. I will feed my animals before I feed myself. The gratitude I feel for them is immeasurable.”