Local pet food pantry is empty

Town Cats of Morgan Hill Needs Food For their Shelter Animals
THERE ARE MANY holiday food drives that provide families with care packages of food for their human family members but often it is the four-legged family members that get overlooked. Town Cats of Morgan Hill provides much needed relief for many of these families, but this year is proving to be a very tough year.
The holiday season stretches every family’s budget thinner than usual, and for some of our local, low-income families it turns into a dreadful time of making tough decisions:  what to cut in order to survive the holidays with a little cheer. That is why our food pantry is in even greater demand during this time of year and why we are concerned that we do not have enough supplies on hand to provide Bay Area families with even the smallest of relief during what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.
Some of our foster families can only foster when food and supplies are given to them. There are colony caregivers who use their own funds to feed community cats throughout the year and turn to us when their budgets are strained as well. Many individuals are out of work or have other reasons for asking for assistance; we don’t question it. We honor these families and feline caretakers with whatever assistance we can provide because they are fighting our fight right alongside of us every single day. They are making sure their pets are safe and our community cats don’t go hungry. They are our everyday heroes.
Executive Director Patricia Abreu says, “We have had some success in our fundraising this year and we are truly grateful for the kind support. We continue to explore new avenues for funding but the reality is that we are limited by our resources and we are operating at a deficit. We do not want to turn anyone away from our food pantry this winter.”
From March 2015 through October 2015, we have distributed 2,035 pounds of dry cat food and 220 pounds of canned cat food. After a recent plea for donations on Facebook, we received an outpouring of donations from amazing donors like Morgan Hill residents Marco Pagani and Laura Socolovsky who adopted their two cats from us in 2013.
They are so happy with their beloved cats, Gattuso and Lexi, that they wanted to give back to other homeless cats waiting for adoption. Marco and Laura graciously went out, purchased and delivered cat food to our shelter where they spent some time with our resident cats—who by the way, inspected and approved of all the gifts.
Others on Facebook responded
as well and packages of food have been ordered on Amazon for delivery next week. These wonderful gestures of kindness feed the cats as well as our souls, and we are eternally grateful
to our community of supporters and cat lovers.  
“We don’t know where all the money we need will come from for 2016,” says Patricia Abreu, “but the kindness and generosity of people like Marco and Laura, and our Facebook friends, give us hope.”
We work to alleviate the suffering of stray, abandoned, unwanted, and feral cats in Santa Clara County. We sponsor innovative programs to help cats in traditional shelters in our county, as well as community cats who live outdoors.  We educate the public about the cat overpopulation problem, and provide people with the tools to become part of the solution. Town Cats supports individuals who want to help through aggressive spay/neuter and cat care programs, and by providing vet care and cat food to low income cat guardians, fosters, and families. Our shelter staff and volunteers work tirelessly to find permanent, safe, and loving homes for the homeless house cats and kittens in our care.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Town Cats to help us continue our work in the community. Donations can be dropped off at any of our adoption centers during operating hours on weekends or at our shelter in Morgan Hill; please contact the shelter directly for details
(408) 779-5761. We also ask that any families in need of assistance contact our shelter.
Monetary donations can be made at www.towncats.org/donate