0222: Colorado Pet Pantry with Eileen Lambert

Eileen Lambert, the founder & Executive Director of Colorado Pet Pantry tells us how they’re helping families and pets stay together.

Colorado Pet Pantry’s social media:
CoradoPetPantry.org
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Celebrate 5 years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com, or shopping on our BarkYours.com page.

From the Dog Words archives:
0202: Science Writer Emily Anthes
0219: American Ninja Warrior Roo Yori
0215: The Canine Stars with Keri Caraher & Ethan Wilhelm
0207: Kansas City Animal Services with April Moore
0116: Pet Resource Center of Kansas City with Scott Cotter

Watch friend of Dog Words Roo Yori compete on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior coming up June 28. There’s still time to support Wallace the Pit Bull Foundation’s capital campaign to purchase property by pledging to Roo’s Ninja for Dogs fundraiser at RooYori.com.

Celebrate 5 years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com.

Music for this episode is provided by alternative string duo, The Wires. Visit them at TheWires.info. Learn fiddle and cello-fiddle online — even if you've never played before — from Laurel Morgan Parks and Sascha Groshang at FiddleLife.com.

The transcript for this episode is available on the Dog Words Buzzsprout page: Buzzsprout.com/840565.

Make a donation at RosieFund.org or through our Facebook page. You can contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com. Also check out our page on BarkYours, the online mall with gifts for people who love their dogs.

Rosie Fund online:
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Transcript

EILEEN  0:03 
So often I'll hear people say, "Well, why does that person have a pet if they can't afford to feed it?"

And my instant response to that — after I calm down — My instant response to that is, "In the last 15 years, have you ever struggled with money?"

PHIL   0:21 
I'm Phil Hatterman and this is Dog Words Presented by Rosie Fund.

Today, Eileen Lambert, the founder and Executive Director of Colorado Pet Pantry tells us how they're helping families and pets stay together.

If you're new to Dog Words, in each episode, we explore the world of dog care and companionship. "We save each other," is the motto of Rosie Fund, which simply means the more we do for dogs, the more they do for us, and they already do a lot. If you love dogs, you'll love Dog Words.

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Go to the podcast page at RosieFund.org to share your thoughts. Please download, follow, rate, and most importantly, share Dog Words. Celebrate five years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. So far in 2021, we've sponsored 30 dogs. Help us reach and surpass our goal. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com or buying our note cards and shirts on BarkYours.com. Links are in the description. Your donations and purchases help fund the Rosie Life Starter Kits that make sure these senior and harder-to-adopt dogs have some of the items they'll need in their forever home.

Please follow Rosie Fund on social media. Subscribe to the free Rosie Fund YouTube channel that offers great videos of Rosie, Peaches, and shelter dogs, including some exclusive content like the sweet KC Pet Project dog featured in our latest post.

Remember to watch friend of Dog Words Roo Yori compete on NBC's American Ninja Warrior coming up on June 28 and support his Wallace the Pit Bull Foundation's capital campaign to purchase property by pledging to Roo's Ninja for Dogs fundraiser. Details are at RooYori.com which is linked in the description.

Science writer Emily Anthes joined us back in February for a fascinating discussion of her book The Great Indoors - The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape our Behavior, Health and Happiness, which is now available in paperback. Dogs make an appearance in this book and much of her other writing. A link to her episode is in the description.

Next time on Dog Words, Wes Keeling from the Sector K9 Foundation talks about protecting communities one canine at a time.

The mission of Rosie Fund is to provide humans with the resources and education they need to give senior and harder-to-adopt dogs a better life. Thank you for joining our mission.

Joining us from Boulder, Colorado is the founder and Executive Director of Colorado Pet Pantry, Eileen Lambert. Welcome to Dog Words, Eileen.

EILEEN  2:58 
Thank you so much for having me.

PHIL   3:01 
You were brought to our attention by the canine stars. And I've already told Keri Caraher that if she ever needs a reference as a booking agent, feel free to use my name. She's gotten us lots of guests, sent us in a lot of wonderful directions. And one of those directions is to Eileen and Colorado Pet Pantry. First of all, tell us what Colorado Pet Pantry does.

EILEEN  3:27 
Thank you so much. Colorado Pet Pantry is a statewide pet food bank. And we have 100 pet food banks throughout the state of Colorado once a month. And we help people to keep their pets in their homes.

PHIL   3:41 
We had the Director of the Animal Services Division of Kansas City, Missouri, on a few months ago. April Moore was on and she was talking about Keep 'Em Together Kansas City, which is a program that Kansas City has that instead of an Animal Services Officer just going out and writing a citation up for somebody or taking their animal away they look at ways to keep that animal in the home because it's better for the family. It's usually better for the animal. And, in the long run, it's less of a tax on resources than to put a dog into the system and have that family get another dog that's gonna end up in the system. It's like, "What can we do to stop this cycle either through educating or giving this family the resources they need?" And Colorado Pet Pantry does that. Tell us how you got started with this?

EILEEN  4:34 
Yeah, so like you were saying, I mean, this is a trend in animal welfare. And I feel like we were at the beginning of it and we didn't know it was a trend. But a lot of organizations are trying to create these programs that do keep the animals in their homes and try to figure out what kind of outreach, what kind of resources can we do so that the pet never needs to go into the shelter system in the first place. And animal shelters are looking at these kinds of things, as well. So we started in 2013. And the way we got started was I was volunteering at our local animal shelter here in Colorado. It's called Dumb Friends League. And they have an amazing training program and amazing shelter in general. And I was volunteering there and noticing the animals coming in. And I'm an inquisitive person. So I would ask, especially when I saw people who were sad about bringing their animals in, I just thought, "Well, gosh, like, what can we do to have this situation not happen?"

PHIL   5:33 
They're not someone who's tired of this animal, "This animal is a nuisance. I'm just unloading it."

EILEEN  5:38 
Which happens. But there's a lot of situations that are not that. And the last thing they want

PHIL   5:45 
It's the last thing they want to do.

EILEEN  5:47 
Right. Yeah, I mean, they've got tears in their eyes. That they don't really want to do this. But they also feel like they're in a corner because they also need to pay rent, they need to feed their kids, they need to do all these other things, pay their utilities. And so what I learned was that there's top three reasons why people relinquish their animals. And number one is housing, which, you know, gosh, we're in that right now, right? With everything, housing costs. So you know, that's hard, you know, because the landlords are able to increase the pet deposits or say no pets. And that makes it really hard sometimes for someone who's low income to keep their pets. That one's a really hard one to solve. Veterinary cost is the second one. It costs money to have a veterinary practice. And you know, so that's another one that's like, that's hard one to solve. Third one is pet food and supplies. And that one, I thought, "Gosh, that's actually sounds solvable to me." Because I know that I have several things in my pantry that I could donate because my dogs didn't like it. I didn't like it, whatever. There's probably some food and some treats and collar and a leash and a bed that I could have donated. And so to me, I thought, "Gosh, you know, I'm only one of millions of people. And if, if I have this stuff in my pantry, so does everybody else who owns a dog or a cat." And that was the idea. Let's just take all the stuff that people have, that they don't need, and don't want, and get it to the people who do need and want it. And that's the concept we started on. And in the eight years that we've been in existence, we've only had to buy food one time. Otherwise, we get the food donated. And granted, we started slow. We started with one pet food bank a month and gradually increased up to the 100 that we're at now. But we don't have to buy food because there is enough food. It's just a matter of collecting it and keeping it out of the landfills. And we talk to the stores. We talk to the brands and say, "Hey, do you have food that's short dated? Do you have food that is the bag slightly damaged and they don't want to sell it?" And that's what we get and use.

PHIL   7:51 
Helping with those items, which would cost someone money to buy on their own, also then helps with the other two issues that you've addressed. The housing and veterinary care. Now you have more money to address those.

EILEEN  8:08 
Absolutely, then that's exactly right. And we hear that all the time from, you know, if I'm at a pet food bank, someone will say, because a lot of times, you know, people have, you know, they don't like to ask for help. That's, we just don't like to ask for help. And so we'll have people who say, "Gosh, you know, like, I really feel bad about coming to get a bag of food, but I really need to pay my rent." And my response is, "Please pay your rent. You absolutely need to pay your rent. You need a home. Your family needs a home. Your animal needs a home. I want you to pay your rent. And not only do I want you to come this month, but I want you to come again in two months, because I want you to actually have a chance to get caught up."

PHIL   8:46 
And once you get caught up, once you get your head above water, then you can start planning for the future and figuring out, "How do I extricate myself from this situation that makes it difficult to take care of my family or my dog." And a lot of times — and this is what we talked about with a Keep 'Em Together KC — a lot of times the challenge is something temporary. Someone is between jobs or they've had an unexpected medical expense or their dog has an unexpected medical expense. And if they could address all those issues right now, in two months, three months, whatever, they'll be okay. But if they don't address it, then it snowballs and it's gonna be years, if ever, that they are able to get back to even or even ahead.

EILEEN  9:37 
And we've seen that to be really true during COVID. There's lots of people who had never asked for help before. And our food banks were double, triple as busy at the height of COVID in 2020. We were so incredibly busy because people had lost their income. Even if the loss of income was temporary, 70% — I think that's the number — 70% do not have very much money in savings. I don't remember the exact statistic. But humans were not ready for COVID as far as our savings account, as far as being ready to suddenly lose your job, even if it was a temporary furlough. And we were super busy, I know the human food banks that we partner with also two, three times busy. Yeah, we got to see this in real time. And what I've been telling people is we were exceptionally lucky to have started the Colorado Pet Pantry eight years ago, so that we were ready for 2020. I'm glad that we weren't trying to come up with this idea last year. That we already had the infrastructure, and that felt really good to be able to hit the ground running and to help all the families that needed to feed their animals and keep their animals during such a hard time for everyone.

PHIL   10:51 
And the people who are in a position to give, don't have to find, "How do I get this to someone who could use this dog bed, this leash, this extra bag of dog food that I'm buying?" There's this clearing house for it. So how does the distribution work? Are you a central location, or do you set up drive throughs around the state?

EILEEN  11:16 
We have a warehouse here in Denver, Colorado, but then we have locations throughout the entire state. And so just depending on the location, a lot of times we have some sort of storage in that location. We have volunteers that are in that location. And we just have different ways that we get the food out to each of the branches. And the good thing is, you know, each of our food banks is just once a month. So we have a whole month to figure out logistics for each of the locations. And we have a whole team of volunteers that works on each individual location. So it's several brains at once working on this. So every food bank just kind of has their stash of food, and their volunteers. And then the food bank is always on the same day every month. So like the third Thursday of the month. So we just set up our food banks are, you know, between two and four hours. And most of our food banks are drive thru, right now. So people just basically we're partnering with human food banks. So they drive through, get their human food and then also get pet food. As we start to kind of get out of COVID, we'll see if we start to change from the drive thru model. But I actually like the drive thru model, because we just can take this 30 pound bag of food and put it directly in the trunk of their car. And it's easy for everyone.

PHIL   12:36 
Yeah, it's easier for the distributor. It's easier for the collector. There are a few things from COVID that I think have opened our eyes to we've always done something this way. Why? We've been forced to try a different way. You know, this different way is actually a little easier. This is actually a little better.

EILEEN  12:58 
Actually, we've had several improvements just based on having to find a different way that where we can be contactless. And contactless just means that you're kind of taking out some of the process.

PHIL   13:09 
You're eliminating moving parts. And if you're not gaining anything from that moving part, the process is almost by definition going to be more efficient.

EILEEN  13:18 
Absolutely. Yeah.

PHIL   13:20 
I was going to ask how people find you. But it sounds like one of them is if they already know they need the human food bank, then they're also being alerted to there's this service. But not everyone knows that there's a human food bank available and not everyone who needs the pet pantry needs the human food bank. So how do people find you?

EILEEN  13:42 
Our website — which is ColoradoPetPantry.org — we have a events calendar. And that shows where we are on each individual date. And we have 30 pet food banks that are open to the public, such as like what I was just describing to you. And we have another 70 that are not open to the public. And that's where we get the pet food. And we work with other groups that already have their own distribution model. So the example that everybody would understand is Meals on Wheels. They don't need us riding along with them. And so they already have their distribution model. So we just give them the food and they get it out to their clients that need it. So we have 70 examples of that. And then 30 where people just show up, get in line and we'll get them food. And it's just all up on our website. And a lot of times once people realize which human food banks we're partnering with, and what days since we're always there on the same day of the month, it becomes pretty expected. You know that you're going to go there again next month.

PHIL   14:42 
Your website will be linked in the description for this episode as well as links to your social media because I see you are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. So people in, certainly in Colorado but all over the country because there's people all over the country who have friends and relatives in Colorado.

EILEEN  14:59 
Right. Yeah, and in a lot of things, you know, a really common question will be, "How do I get this pet food or this dog bed to you." And on our website, there's a button that just says, "give." And then there's under that there's a list of locations where things can be dropped off. And we're always looking for new drop off locations, we have at least 100 drop off locations throughout the state. So we try to make it easy for people to donate as well and do a little cleaning up of their pantries.

PHIL   15:30 
Clean up your pantry. Lightly used dog bed or leash. We donated a collar that our dog Peaches had to our local shelter because we got a new one with her name on it. So she didn't need the old one. And if your dog outgrows some of their sweaters, or clothing, there's a home for all of this. Let's talk about you for a minute, Eileen. You said that you were helping in a shelter and saw this need. How did you end up helping in the shelter in the first place? Had you always been a dog person or a pet person?

EILEEN  16:05 
Yeah, I became a dog person in my adult life. And I have worked mostly in non-profits throughout my adult career and just decided that I really wanted to work with a non-profit but also with animals. So I started trying to figure out what my path would be. The door was already open where I was trying to figure out what is it that I want to create. And then when I was doing the volunteering, I just saw there was a potential need. And then I talked to everyone I know and ask them what they thought about this idea. I went and talked to human food banks and animal shelters and different animal owners and just trying to figure out, "Was this a crazy idea? Would this work?" And what really happened is the people I expected to say it was crazy didn't say that. People were saying, "I want to help." So when I started the organization in 2013, we went into it with a really good set of volunteers. Because there were already a bunch of people who said, "As soon as you do that I want in." And that's really how it's grown over the years. It's just people hearing about it and saying, "That sounds great. I want you to help my community." When they say that I say, "Okay, yeah, that's great. Let's do it, you know. And let's go talk to the human food bank, see if we can partner with them. Let's figure out the transportation of the food." And it really becomes a big team effort. And I'm very flexible person and I just try to figure out what can we do. If there's some people who are willing to do it in their community, I want to support them and make it happen.

PHIL   17:44 
There's a lot of people that want to help but not a lot of people who know how to get started. And I think you're a perfect example of this. You had an idea. And you knew to get started, I just need to start talking to people and setting things up and figuring this out. That there's not a pre-packaged pet pantry model that I just download from the web and start rolling with it. But once you created this entity, all those people who wanted to help now have the avenue to do it. So...

EILEEN  18:20 
Absolutely.

PHIL   18:20 
...if you have an idea, and you don't know how to get started, find someone who does. That person's out there. And certainly if you're wanting to get started, but you think you're all by yourself, start talking to people and you find out you are not by yourself. There's a lot of people who want to help you.

EILEEN  18:35 
That's right. And when I started the organization, I didn't know, first of all, that pet food banks existed. And I didn't know of any other pet food banks. And once I started that, I realized, well, there's actually a Facebook group out there for pet food banks. So I quickly joined that. And there's pet food banks dotted around the nation. It hasn't become a huge thing, yet. But it's growing for sure. But there's pet food banks in most of the states. Sometimes they're operated out of an animal shelter. Sometimes they're independent like we are. Sometimes it's an animal rescue that's doing it. But it's not exactly a new concept. But it's a concept that I would love to see take on even more, because the need is definitely out there. And you know, one thing that people don't realize is you can't buy pet food with food stamps. So if someone's in need, they don't have the ability to buy pet food, chances are they're giving their human food to the pets. So this need is everywhere. If someone doesn't have access to pet food, they need that access. So anyone that feels inspired to start a pet food bank, I would just say, "It's needed." This is an idea that needs to be everywhere in order to help all the animals and keep them out of the shelters.

PHIL   19:46 
And I'm all for helping the animals, obviously, because I have a foundation called Rosie Fund. But this also helps the people. Not just because it feeds their dog, but because it — I'm gonna sound hokey here — it feeds their soul. If your animal is taken away from you, or you have to give it up, anyone who's listening to this either has a dog or loves a friend's dog, and knows how devastating that would be. The emotional value, the health benefits of just having a pet in the home. And we can address that with a bag of dog food or a bag of cat food.

EILEEN  20:23 
Exactly. Right. So often I'll hear people say, "Well, why does that person have a pet if they can't afford to feed it? And my instant response to that — after I calm down – my instant response to that is, "In the last 15 years, have you ever struggled with money?"

And 100% of the time they say, "Well, yes. I had that time when my husband went in the hospital or I had that time that I lost my job." And I'm like, "There you go." All you have to do is in 15 years, you know the lifespan of an animal, if you've struggled with funds, you've been in the exact same situation as the people we're serving. And we're just trying to make it not as hard.

PHIL   21:06 
And the point that came up when we had Pet Resource Center of Kansas City on, Scott Cotter, we had the same discussion. You'll have a homeless vet, and someone will say, "Well, if they can't take care of a dog, they shouldn't have a dog." That dog is keeping him alive. If we can keep them together just by feeding that dog, and in the case of Pet Resource Center of Kansas City, making sure that dog has its shots and is properly altered. If we're keeping someone sane and alive, I think that's good work.

EILEEN  21:41 
And that that is keeping the dog alive, too. They're probably doing everything they possibly can for that pet, and giving them their food and 100% of their time.

PHIL   21:55 
I encourage our listeners, of course, to help any pet rescue group or any not for profit, even if it's not related to pets. Be a part of your community. Be willing to serve, whether it's your time, your money, or, again, just following on social media helps those organizations because it gets them exposure. In the case of what you're doing with Colorado Pet Pantry, more importantly than what we can do to help those organizations is to let everyone out there know, "If you need Colorado Pet Pantry or Pet Resource Center of Kansas City, by all means, avail yourself of those services." It's for your benefit. It's for the dog's benefit, or whatever your pet is. But there are people who are wanting to help. Let them help. Eileen, thank you so much for being an integral part of Colorado Pet Pantry and for taking time to share your story with us today. Any updates you have, let us know we will pass those along. But people can just follow you on Facebook. Again, that will be linked along with your other social media in the description, and then your events calendar, which is on your website. That's gonna be linked in the description. Any final thoughts for our listeners?

EILEEN  23:12 
Well, I just want to encourage people because I know you have listeners throughout the world. And I just want to encourage people that this concept was pretty simple to bring it together. Like I said, you're just getting food that is potentially going into the landfill, and instead getting it to someone who needs it. So really, this is a logistical job mostly. And if anybody has questions on how to do it, I'd be happy to talk to them. I actually spend quite a bit of my time talking to other organizations throughout the country about how can they do this and some of the best practices. And I would love to see this idea in more and more places. Because really, every city needs this and I'd love to see them do it. And just go out and volunteer for whatever group you love because every little bit matters and our entire organization is successful because of our volunteers.

PHIL   24:04 
Well put. Thank you, Eileen Lambert from Colorado Pet Pantry for joining us today from Boulder, Colorado.

EILEEN  24:10 
Thank you so much.

PHIL   24:19 
I'm Phil Hatterman and you've been listening to Dog Words presented by Rosie Fund.

Thank you to Eileen Lambert, founder and Executive Director of Colorado Pet Pantry. Links to ColoradoPetPantry.org and their social media are in the description. There are also links to the Dog Words episodes we referenced in today's interview. If you find an old episode you like, be sure to share it with your friends.

Next time on Dog Words, Wes Keeling from the Sector K9 Foundation talks about protecting communities one canine at a time.

A big thank you to alternative string duo The Wires featuring cellist Sascha Groshang and violinist Laurel Morgan Parks for playing the wonderful music you've heard on today's and previous episodes of Dog Words. Supporting The Wires supports our mission. When choosing the music for each episode of Dog Words, I try to find something from The Wires that fits with the tone of that episode. By no means have I played every song from their catalogue. There's much more from The Wires than what you hear on this podcast. Learn more about The Wires at TheWires.info and download their music on iTunes. Check out FiddleLife.com and learn to play fiddle and cello-fiddle online from Laurel and Sasha, even if you've never played before.

Celebrate five years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. With your help we've already gotten to 30 dogs. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the website store, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com, or putting some of our merch in your cart when you shop at BarkYours. Links are in the description. Your donations help fund the Rosie Life Starter Kits that make sure these senior and harder-to-adopt dogs have some of the items they'll need in their forever home. As always, please download, follow, rate, and share Dog Words. This helps us with sponsorships then Rosie Fund can help more dogs. Support Rosie Fund by following us on social media and please subscribe to the free Rosie Fund YouTube channel. Our latest post features a sweet KC Pet Project dog looking for a forever home.

Send us your comments, questions and suggestions at Rosie fund.org. And let us know if you would like to be a sponsor or guest of the Dog Words podcast.

Thank you for listening and remember, we save each other.

DISCLAIMER: This document is a transcription obtained through a third party. There is no claim to accuracy on the content provided in this document and divergence from the audio file is to be expected. Some content may be omitted, particularly when there is crosstalk.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai