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Community Corner

County Food Pantry Feeds Pets, Too

MaryAnne Ryan heads the Kendall County Food Pantry's Pet Food program, a way to ensure pets in loving homes have access to food.

As the  deals with making sure area cupboards aren’t bare, MaryAnne Ryan is out doing whatever she can to make sure Fido’s bowl is filled, as well.

Any day of the week, the lifelong animal lover might find herself in a rescue or pet supply store gathering as much donated food as possible. Ryan, who said she has more than 1,500 pets on file, volunteers for the KCFP and administrates the pantry’s pet food program.  

“This is, a lot of the time, the last option before [pet owners] surrender their animals,” Ryan explained.    

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While the pantry accepts donations from the general public, a significant part of the pet food program’s donations come from animal shelters or rescues. Those facilities prefer to consistently use the same brands of food to minimize stress on the animals. For her part, Ryan says she isn’t concerned with the brands of food that come her way.    

The food pantry gets large donations from retailers such as the Home Depot. Those places, she says, will donate things like cleaners or chemicals.  Ryan will gather any leftover supplies, and trade them to pet care facilities for more food.  

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“It’s win-win for everybody,” she said. 

She went on to explain that, in addition to being able to trade for products to keep their facilities clean, animal control agencies likely see fewer animal being surrendered. 

Ryan once had a neighbor call up and say they had a bag of cat food their cat didn’t particularly like. She happily went to pick up that donation, although the public can simply drop bags of food or kitty litter off at the shelter itself.

“Even if someone has just one small bag of food, I’ll drive out to pick it up,” she said. “I don’t ever want a client to say to me, ‘I had to give up a pet because I could not feed him.’”

Ryan, who left Commonwealth Edison about 3 years ago, said that heading in to retirement, she knew she wanted to help animals. She took the reigns of the pet food program about two and a half years ago, and has been looking for ways to help struggling pet owners ever since.

To that end, on Saturday, October 8 from 9 AM to 1 pm in the KCFP’s North parking lot (1204 N. Deer Street), the pantry will offer low cost vaccinations to pets. Those vaccinations will be donated to the pantry, though a small cost will be associated with administering them.

Food is distributed to pet owners on the first and second Thursday of each month, during the normal food distribution times. One does not need to receive their food from the food pantry to receive pet food.  

To donate, either drop food and/or supplies off inside the front doors at the , or call MaryAnne Ryan at 630-806-1184 or e-mail her at maryanneryan7@aol.com.

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