When I first hatched the idea of the Blogathon back in November, a new commenter I had just gotten to know a little bit sent me a note saying, “Hey, I got plenty of dog food. If you want to eat some for your blog let me know.”
I told him to send me his most bland vegetarian dog food. A couple of days later, a can of Evanger’s arrived, along with what he later confirmed to be the most disgusting flavor he could dig up from his warehouse: unagi and seaweed. “Feel free to try this one instead,” the note said. Har har.
Needless to say, I went with the vegetarian one.
About halfway into the blogathon, I received an e-mail from Anthony, who had already made a generous contribution to the blogathon. “I’m matching your contributions,” he said. I got confused. I get confused easily. “You mean my own personal contribution?”
“I mean whatever is contributed during the blogathon,” he said, “I will match that.”
“Oh,” I said, then, “What do you want in return?”
“Nothing,” he said, and meant it. Because of him, the $2250 you all raised turned into $4500 for the shelters.
We started talking over e-mail, and I learned about Anthony Holloway and his website, k9cuisine.com. When I told him about one rescue very close to my heart, Humane Society of Tijuana, Anthony offered to ship 2 pallets of dog food from the midwest out to San Diego for the rescue, free of charge, just because it was something he wanted to do.
It took 4 SUVs and 8 volunteers to pick all the food up from the shipping dock and transfer it to storage, where it filled the entire facility. When HSTJ does a sterilization clinic for the community, they hand out pet food for the residents, many of whom feed the animals scraps. This time, the people were able to go home with full bags of super-premium dog food:
Anthony didn’t make a big deal of it, and never said anything about me promoting it on the blog, because it’s not why he did it. But since this is the week of Be The Change, I figured he wouldn’t mind if I shared this as an example of what individuals are doing to make a difference.
K9Cuisine has a blog called “Dog Food Dish”, and one of their featured bloggers, Roxanne Hawn, has declared today Dog Food Action Day with some great suggestions for people to get out there and support their local shelters and food banks by donating a bag of dog or cat food. Many shelters are happy to accept opened bags as well.
I think a lot of times we decide not to do something because we are paralyzed with indecision about how to go about it, feeling obligated to do some grand gesture. “All I can do,” we think, “is this one little thing, and that isn’t enough.”
Whatever you do- is enough.
*sniffle*
Simply amazing.
I so ā„ K9Cuisine. Anthony and his wife Kate are the real deal. I respect their honesty and integrity. Great people through and through. I was thrilled to spend some time with them at Blogpaws. Great post, DrV!
And we so appreciate that donation! It has been put to good use. Please pass along a hearty thank you to Anthony from us, and thank you as well!!!
I bought/won one of the K-9 Cuisine gift certificates in the Hounds for Haiti auction. Their service is excellent with fast free shipping on orders over $50 — which is great when buying heavy pet food! Nice to do business with a “good” company!
š
And that is why dog people just simply ROCK. How amazing and wonderful of K9Cuisine.
Thank you all for your very kind comments. I feel very lucky to be a part of something that is so fundamentally good. When DrV and I discussed this donation she told me Humane Society of Tijuana was dear to her heart. The contributions go directly to those in need. There is no huge fundraising apparatus and no paid staff. Just a bunch of people volunteering to help those neediest among us. I now use this as a model for other donations. Thank you DrV for all you do. You are truly an inspiration to us all.
Yes, that is us! HSTJ is very much a grass roots organization. Dr. V has been really great to us and has even volunteered her time with us in the past, so she knows the organization well. It was overwhelming to get such a huge donation, but I can’t emphasize enough how wonderful it was. Rest assured those bags of food went to a great cause!
Amazing , Pet people rule
Absolutely! What a great story. I <3 animal people!!!
Anthony and Kate are terrific. Thanks for spotlighting their efforts.
Couldn’t agree more! After learning about K9Cuisine through your blog and following them on twitter, I have seen what a first-class organization they run. They are what all companies should strive to be. They know (and have a passion for) what they sell, their customer service is excellent and they give back. Kudos to K9Cuisine. You have my business! (Just placed on order on Wednesday, BTW, and it’s being delivered today! Free!)
What a really worthwhile project!
Good to hear about it.
Anthony is awesome and so are you Dr. V!
Amazing , Pet people rule