COMFORT, TEXAS – After the floods struck the Hill Country two weeks ago, a need for dog and cat food arose. The Animal Rescue and Rehab of Comfort answered the call.
“I immediately started asking for donations online because I know the best way to reach people is through social media,” says Dayna De Hoyos. She runs the rescue and rehab which helps animals such as dogs, cats, pigs, donkeys and horses. Just like last year, after the floods, she developed the emergency food pantry, asking for dog and cat food to help those most affected. But she faced some obstacles this time around.
“There wasn’t donations coming in. There wasn’t monetary donations coming in to the comfort table and food pantry or the rescues and the nonprofits that were affected. I had about four or five thousand people donate last year financially and sending in goods and services. This year there were about fifteen,” says De Hoyos. She turned to corporations for help, and two companies stepped up, providing enough pet food to last the next six months.
“You don’t need everyone to respond. You just need two great companies, you know, Canidae and Murdock’s, and they completely fulfilled our needs or the people in the area that were affected by the flood,” says De Hoyos. One of the nonprofits that she distributed food to is the Comfort Table and Food Pantry. Susan Die is a volunteer and says the pantry is now twice as busy as usual.
“Typically we’ll have anywhere between, I don’t know, thirteen, fifteen people, you know, on a day that we’re open and with the flood, we were having 25, 30 families come in each day, so maybe doubled,” says Die.
If you would like to donate or help those affected, visit https://www.animalrescueandrehab.com/.