Project Companion is our add-on pet food Pantry. We aim to keep pets within their senior homes due to the mental health benefits having pets provides to seniors as a whole, but especially to low income and medically at risk senior citizens in our communities.
The project will find seniors within our youth members neighborhoods that are in need seniors with pets (cats/dogs) and set up emergency food and pet food deliveries to those households.
We were able to serve over 600 senior households over 6 months with monthly pet food and pet accessories (litter, treats, toys) and partnered with DoorDash to provide access to seniors without adequate transportation.
Through this project we learned the importance of this service. It went from a general idea of why WE thought it was important to real world examples of WHY it was and is important to the seniors we serve.
We are making Project Companion a permanent service, instead of a temporary or one off project.
Our favorite part of the project was seeing the surprised happiness of seniors who received pet food for the first time and the gratitude of receiving food for their companions every month.
We are always evolving and finding ways to reach people in need in the ways they need assistance.
