She ate cat food. Saying it so casually I almost missed it. I thought she was joking. She wasn’t. So many resources available yet so many challenges still stood in the way. And that’s why today things are different. Because she told us she ate cat food.
She commented on the quality of The Pongo Fund’s wet cat food. I asked if her cats told her how good it was. She said no, she knew first hand because she ate it too. And that’s when I waited for the punchline.
There wasn’t one. And that’s when it got real.
That’s how brutal things had become for this proudly independent grandmother who faced challenges that should not be wished upon anyone. And she was still hungry every month after the money ran out.
She explained some mental and emotional crises. Fully cognizant to recognize that some of those challenges were in her own mind. But some were not. And when it came to running out of food and being hungry, it was very real.
She pointed to her head and said “It’s not here,” then pointed to her stomach and said “It’s here.”
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” ~ Mother Teresa
The Pongo Fund was built because Hungry People Have Hungry Pets. We knew that by helping one we would in fact be helping both. And time and again the people we help have told us how much our high-quality pet food means.
It not only keeps their pets fed but it means more food for themselves as well. Because before The Pongo Fund, people were giving up their own food to keep their pets fed. When the food box filled with people food suddenly became pet food.
The cans of tuna became cat food; soup, mac and cheese and more became dog food. People went hungry because feeding their pets was more important than feeding themselves. Because pets are family too.
This time it was the same, but different. Instead of people food being shared with pets it was pet food being shared with people. But it was still food for one becoming food for two.
It wasn’t every day, just when absolutely necessary. But still, this delightful woman who I just wanted to wrap in a hug was eating cat food because she was hungry. And once I knew about it, The Pongo Fund needed to help.
My first response was to reason with her but that would not work because she was already being reasonable. She was hungry. She had found a way to eat cat food when it was the only thing left to eat. It made sense.
For the next year plus more I made sure to include her shopping with my own shopping. Adding several items each couple of weeks that I knew she needed and leaving them tucked into a corner of her front porch. I told her she was helping me research a special project and it was really great of her to let me bring her this food. She said she was happy to help.
The truth was, she really was helping me. By letting me help.
November, right now, marks The Pongo Fund’s 6th Anniversary. It was just six years ago this month, November 2009, that we opened our doors for the first time. And along the way we have become a national model for new ways to save lives and reduce shelter populations.
And since that day six years ago we’ve provided more than 9,000,000 (NINE MILLION!) super high-quality meals for more than 80,000 hungry animals.
Animals that got to stay safe at home with their families and out of the shelters. Six years of the most dedicated team of volunteers doing the work that no one else does.
And we’re not changing that. Doing our work and doing it well is the most important thing. But can we find other ways to help?
Yes, we can.
And that’s why when we open on Sunday we will not only be stocked with pet food, but we’ll also have a special table stocked with one thousand cans of high-quality people food too.
The end of the month and just days before Thanksgiving, when needed the most.
It will be Pongo For The People, Too.
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” ~Audrey Hepburn
It’s a very small selection, just five different items. But these items are the gold standard in any food pantry because they are high-protein and always in limited supply. We will provide hearty clam chowder and chicken noodle soup, organic and low-sodium mac and cheese, organic firm tofu and lots of cans of line-caught albacore tuna. We’ll likely have even more next time.
And we will share these items with a smile, knowing these are the items that meals can be built around. Or for our friends living outdoors, just eat straight from the package.
Protein heavy. Nutritious and filling. Easy to carry. These are the iron workers of hunger fighting and The Pongo Fund Pet Food Bank will have them.
And for some added fun our very own Pongo Food Savant and Lobby Manager Christian will be staffing that special table, quick to share recipe ideas with one and all. She’ll be the one with the biggest smile on her face because she’s been waiting for this day.
Close by will be Pongo Karen, our Resident Baker. Yes, The Pongo Fund has a resident baker.
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ~ Charles Dickens
For our donors please know that these food items are paid for by special donations, not general donations. And none of this could happen were it not for those of you that have taken the time to ask us to use your donations in the most creative ways possible.
Because you know that if anything happens to the people, their pets won’t have a chance. You know that you are part of this plan, that it is your donation that pays it forward.
The woman who ate her cat’s food is ok. We kept her hopeful and healthy by delivering nutritious food to her front porch for more than a year. Hope, Hearts and Hunger all connected together from brown paper bags left outside her door.
She still lives in that same small home with the front porch. And every now and then I’ll stop by and leave another bag of goodies for her and her kitties, careful to tuck them in that same corner. Just for fun. And just like before, I do it because it helps me.
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” ~ John Wesley
In honor of our 6th Anniversary from today and all through Thanksgiving Week, all donations to The Pongo Fund will be doubled. Every Single Dollar. To donate, please click the secure donation link here: https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/
Please remember that The Pongo Fund is a volunteer driven organization and we do not spend money on marketing and fundraising. We focus our dollars on doing the work that no one else does. Every day pushing forward with whatever we have to do the most good.
But without you it just would not happen. So when you give, please know you are truly making a huge difference. Your kind words are also deeply appreciated, so please always share those with us too.
That donation link again is: https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/
Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. Pongo For The People. thepongofund.org
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