19 tons of dog food given away
Monday, May 16, was a good day for area dogs as many owners loaded their pups into their cars and headed for the Ringgold Telephone Co. parking lot to pick up free dog food.
North Georgia Animal Alliance secretary Sara Deberry received a call a few weeks ago from the Atlanta office of the Humane Society of the United States asking if NGAA would be interested in distributing a truck load of donated dog food from Chewy.com.
“We definitely were,” says Deberry, “but we needed a place with a loading dock and a forklift.”
RTC to the rescue! Deberry contacted Marcy Kernea, advertising and public relations manager at RTC, which has supported NGAA in its work for many years now.
“We were happy to help,” says Kernea. “Alice Bandy, the owner of RTC, has a real heart for animals and we love helping the community.”
Deberry and other NGAA volunteers, as well as volunteers from RTC, were ready early Monday morning to distribute 1,300 bags of
IAMS dog food. Cars started lining up an hour early with canines of all sizes and types hanging out windows or sitting on human laps.
Kernea and Deberry agree that the most fun part was seeing all the dogs. On the other hand, loading 39,000 pounds of dog food in 30-pound bags was a lot of hard work. But Deberry says she hopes to be able to do it again. “Maybe we’ll get some cat food next time, too.”
Kernea is also looking forward to doing it again. “We already do food distributions for people through The Evitt Foundation,” she says. “Being able to help with pets too is great.”