For Pet Owners Suffering Financial Hardship
Our Pet Food Bank helps keep pets in their loving homes when their owners are experiencing financial difficulties. Each year, Berkshire Humane Society receives between 800 and 900 requests for pet food from owners who, for example, may have lost their jobs or faced unexpected medical bills. Thanks to the generosity of our community members, we’ve been able to meet all those requests.
How Can I Help?
We welcome donations of food for dogs, cats, small mammals and birds for this important program. We invite community members, such as schools and church groups, to think of us and host a pet food drive for this important program. We accept canned food as well as new and opened bags of food. (We always need cat litter too!)
How Can I Get Food?
To sign up for the Pet Food Bank, please come to Berkshire Humane Society to complete an application. You’ll also need to bring some form of identification, such as a driver’s license or Mass ID. Once your application is submitted, you’ll receive a card that entitles you to six monthly visits. At each visit, we’ll require your signature.
To ensure that we can help all those in need, eligibility is based on the short-term needs of pet owners and their animals. If you’re still in financial need after six visits, you can reapply to receive additional visits.
To be eligible for the Pet Food Bank, we also require that recipients adhere to the following guidelines:
- You cannot adopt from Berkshire Humane Society until approved by our staff;
- If you bring additional pets into your homes while taking part in the program, we will terminate your privileges to the Food Bank;
- If you refuse to spay/neuter your unaltered cats and dogs, we will terminate your privileges to the Food Bank until you show proof of a scheduled appointment date. We can help provide you with low-cost spaying/neutering options.
Questions? Call Berkshire Humane Society at +1 (413) 447-7878.