<\/p>\n
A charitable effort to help pet owners feed their furry family members during financially challenging times is changing some of its policies after its fingers were bitten one too many times.<\/p>\n
Sally Anscombe\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
A charitable effort to help pet owners continue to feed their furry family members during financially challenging times is changing some of its policies after being bitten \u2014 metaphorically speaking \u2014 one too many times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An incident early Thursday was a particularly nasty bite, according to the founder and supporters of The Paws & Wellness Project.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just people being greedy,\u201d said Lisa Ladely, director of Morgan County Animal Control.<\/p>\n
Kirstin White of Waverly founded the project, which began operating in January, as a way for people to donate pet food and other items to help pet owners who might be struggling.<\/p>\n
She set up lidded outdoor storage boxes in Waverly, at Joette Kennel in Virden, and at Morgan County Animal Control, 206 W. Oak St. in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
People could go to a bin \u2014 day or night \u2014 and take what they needed. No judgment, no questions.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
There was just one real rule: Take only what you need, but no more than two bags of dry food and a couple of cans.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking everything at once and damaging the setup impacts other families and pets who rely on these resources,” White said.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been uncommon for people to push that rule when it comes to the bin at the animal control office, Ladely said, noting White refills the bin each Wednesday and Sunday evening and, by the time the animal control office opens the next morning, the bins frequently are empty again.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would come in and wipe it out,\u201d Ladely said, noting animal control also began adding food to the bin to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
White estimated the animal control bin goes through around 100 pounds of food a week.<\/p>\n
Around 3 a.m. Thursday, though, security video caught a woman driving up to the animal control bin, removing all the pet food inside the bin and driving away, according to a police report.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lady took four armfuls,\u201d Ladely said, adding that it took the woman four trips to her car to carry all of it. \u201cShe took everything that was in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the woman added insult to injury.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left the lid open,\u201d Ladely said. \u201cIf there had been anything left, it would have been ruined because it rained. She didn\u2019t even take time to shut the lid on the box.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police report was filed not to punish anyone but for documentation in case it becomes a larger issue, White said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to prosecute or charge the lady for doing this,\u201d she said. \u201cOur mission is to help. We don\u2019t know who the lady is or what her story is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, pet owners hoping to pick up some dog or cat food from the project bin at the animal control office now will have to do it during business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Outside those hours, the bin will be padlocked, Ladely said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people are embarrassed\u201d to need the help, Ladely said. \u201cWe want people to come out, but we tried to let people be responsible, let it be a good-will thing, and that didn\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar problems have not been reported at the bins in Waverly and Virden and they will remain available 24 hours a day, White said, adding that those bins see less use because they are in smaller communities.<\/p>\n
Those wanting to donate to The Paws & Wellness Project can drop pet food and other pet supplies \u2014 kitty litter, food and water bowls, collars, leashes, toys \u2014 directly at one of the bins, donate through the project\u2019s Amazon wish list<\/a>, or contact White via the The Paws & Wellness Project<\/a> Facebook page or at 217-899-7373.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A Mother\u2019s Day fundraising raffle is in the works to benefit the project, and a Paws on the Pavement 5K Run & Walk is planned for\u00a0Aug. 29, during the Waverly Old-Fashioned Picnic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A charitable effort to help pet owners feed their furry family members during financially challenging times is changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,115,278],"class_list":["post-218550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}