Pet food bank needs sponsors to achieve goal

If you have a cat or dog you know how important it is to have them as a part of your family. The bond you share should outlast any financial "bumps in the road." The Pikes Peak Pet Pantry was organized to help people going through tough times feed their pets so they wouldn't have to give them up. Please help us help pets and their owners.

I am a volunteer with the Pikes Peak Pet Pantry, which provides temporary food assistance to pets in the Colorado Springs area and emergency pet food assistance to the state of Colorado. I am helping them raise money towards the purchase and maintenance of a company vehicle. Our distribution growth has been tremendous, going from 20 pounds in September 2007, when we started, to 944 pounds in April 2008. In order to meet predicted demand, we need a large vehicle such as a truck, van, or SUV that would allow us to pick up large quantities of pet food.

A donor, who asked to remain anonymous, is going to be giving us a 700+ pound donation every 2-4 weeks. However, this donor is located in Denver, Colorado and will not be able to deliver the food they offer, so it is up to us to retrieve it. Denver is over 70 miles away and our president's car will only hold 300-400 pounds of food. Other volunteers are not willing to make the drive using their vehicles and with fuel prices being as they are, we would prefer to make only one round trip. This amount of pet food would allow us to serve everyone that comes forward for temporary assistance. We wouldn't have to turn anyone away due to an immediate shortage and we could spread our good fortune to local area animal rescues. Below is a chart showing the distribution growth of the Pikes Peak Pet Pantry from September 2007 to April 2008:

The vehicle we are looking at is a used 1995 Ford F150, 2 wheel drive, long bed, with 107,000 miles. The owner is asking $2,650 but we are offering $2,500. He has given us 3 weeks, until May 27th, to get the funds together or he will sell the truck to someone else. The faster we get the amount needed the sooner we can be reassured the truck is ours and immediately put it to good use. We are asking for an additional $500 on top of the purchase price to take care of title, taxes, license plates, and maintenance. One may see photos of the pantry's activities and pets we have helped by going to our web site pikespeakpetpantry.org, then to the menu option 'PHOTO ALBUM.' Once we purchase our vehicle, we will post photos of it in our album.

SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM:

We are working on having a surprise for a donor after the funds are collected. We offer a sponsorship program with 4 different levels. They are:

Our site is listed in Google, in over 30 search engines, and on several animal related web sites. We were also mentioned on a local TV station after releasing a press release. Our brochures are distributed throughout Colorado Springs and we constantly strive to increase the exposure of our sponsors. The advertising will stay on the vehicle for as long as the pantry owns the vehicle and as long as the decal(s) or magnet(s) withstands the wear and tear of being outdoors.

Please email us at staff1@pikespeakpetpantry.org or call (719) 217-9528 for further details. Please be aware that we are in the process of filing for our 501(c)3 nonprofit tax-exemption status. However, at this time any donations are not tax deductible. All funds collected will go towards the purchase and maintenance of a vehicle, whether it be immediate or in the future.