• 2 days ago
Many people are finding it difficult to afford food for their dogs and cats, leading them to rely on the Burnley food bank for support.
Transcript
00:00So tell me how the food bank began helping people with the cost of caring for their pets.
00:06Yeah, so just after Covid we started to notice people were ordering food parcels
00:11and then feeding their pets with the food that we're giving through food parcels. So we went
00:16in contact with RSPCA just to see if we could support. We look really heavily on food and how
00:21we support humans but not really about pets. So we came together with RSPCA just after Covid
00:28and sort of nailed down a plan and really just if we pick up some pallets of food from them every
00:32week or every month we're able to support all the pets throughout Burnley and all through our
00:36parcels. And what are the reasons that people are struggling with the cost of, you know, pet food?
00:43I think it's cost of living. Food costs in general have gone through the roof so I think food costs
00:49as well and eyes and testicles and stuff and it's just so expensive. So if we can just do a little
00:54bit of support through families. I think people forget when you're doing a food parcel that
00:59it's just food but it's not. It's a lot of, you know, you've got your baby food as well as your
01:03pet. So it's really important that we look at the pet food and how we can support more often and
01:08but yeah it's a cost of living. That's just the way that we're sort of where we're living at the
01:12moment. Last year we supported around 500 dogs and we've supported, yeah, a lot of people with cats
01:19and other pets as well. So yeah we are finding there's a lot of people that are in need of pet
01:25food at the minute. And how is the, how is downtown coping with the demand? So we're coping fairly
01:33well due to the partnership with the RSPCA. We get regular donations from them which we're really
01:38grateful for. We are in need of more wet dog food and more carrier bags as well to put the dog food
01:47in. But generally we cope very well so we do have pet food available if anyone needs it.
01:53And what's sort of the feedback from pet owners, you know, about the help that you're providing them?
01:59They're so thankful because it just means they're not having to worry about any of the bills. I know
02:03that obviously they can phone in and they can get vouchers. They work with the Building Together
02:07team and it just means at that cost and they don't have to worry about it. Then they can focus on the
02:12food and obviously we can give them support. But for them it's a godsend really. But sometimes
02:17people will express that the reason that they're struggling is because of high vet bills. So in
02:23that instance we were able to ring the RSPCA and ask for a voucher. And in my experience ringing
02:29them they've always been really quick and I'm really happy to provide that. So those vouchers
02:35are around £100 towards the cost of treatment which is really really helpful for people. So
02:40people have really appreciated that. It's been so important for us to keep that partnership going
02:46especially with the food bank and for Building Together. We wouldn't be anywhere we are without
02:50the partnerships through RSPCA. But yeah in terms of the donations just if you can donate we're
02:57crying out for still wet pet food even though we're getting it from RSPCA, the wet dog food
03:02and carrier bags as well just so we can start decanting a lot of the bigger biscuits into bags.

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