Meals on Wheels, and Paws

March 17, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. – A program originally designed to help those who have trouble feeding themselves has begun to also include those people’s animal companions.

The Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society has teamed up with the Amherst Senior Center to provide much needed food for elderly residents’ animals through the senior canter’s Meals on Wheels program.

The humane society considers it their mission to better the lives of animals and their human companions.

“We do so by protecting the human-animal bond through programs that provide a safety net for keeping at-risk animals in their homes,” said Leslie Harris, executive director of the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society.

She said that by providing the much-needed food allows low income and house-bound people to spend more money on life’s other necessities. It also has the added effect of preventing people from abandoning their pets due to an inability to feed them.

Starting December, the program fills animals’ bellies from a surplus of pet food donated to the humane society.

“This partnership is a wonderful example of community activism and collaboration,” said Patricia Ford Yurkunas, director of development at Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society. “Our pets are members of our family, and for so many seniors, a lifeline.”

She hopes the program will set an example for other communities – and calls have been coming in asking if the existing group of volunteers can extend their work into neighboring areas.

“This program is one more way for the humane society to help animals and people in need,” said Harris.

To find out more about the efforts of Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, go to dakinshelter.org.

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Cori Urban of The Republican contributed to this story.