MEALS FOR PAWS
The Iredell Council on Aging is launching a heartwarming new initiative in partnership with their existing Meals on Wheels program. Introducing Meals for Paws!
This thoughtful program is designed to support older adults who rely on Meals on Wheels by also providing essential food and supplies for their beloved pets. Many seniors face the heartbreaking decision of choosing between feeding themselves or feeding their furry companions. Meals for paws helps eliminate that difficult choice, ensuring that no one - human or animal - goes hungry. It's a powerful step toward preserving the health, happiness, and companionship that pets bring to their lives.
The Animal Hospital of Statesville is proud to support this compassionate effort by hosting a pet supply donation drive throughout May and June 2025. We invite our wonderful community to join us in making a difference!
Here's how you can help:
Donations can be dropped off in the Animal Hospital of Statesville lobby anytime during regular business hours from now until June 30, 2025.
Thank you for supporting our senior neighbors and their cherished pets. Your kindness and generosity will truly make a difference - on paw at a time!
With the help of staff and clients, we have collected items for Food for Days for quite a few years now. Food for Days provides food in backpacks for local kids who may not get a meal on the weekends. Can you imagine? Each month, Food for Days collects a different item. While some of these may not seem as nutritious as you might want, these are items that kids will actually EAT, filling their bellies when they may not get anything else. They are easy-to-make food items that are appropriate for kids to make themselves.
As you can see, each month has a specific food item that we are collecting. These items may be purchased and placed in the basket in our lobby – it's on the top of the shelves where the cat food is kept. You'll see a sign, or just ask! Each month, we'll remind everyone which item we are collecting on FB, but this list will remain on our website as a reference for you.
Please help us feed local kids. As you may know, Animal Hospital of Statesville is very involved in community projects throughout the year.
As always, thank you for your generosity. We know we ask much of you, but no more than we ask of ourselves. We try to help those that can't help themselves. In this instance, and in the instance of our Quarters for Laundry drive, the kids are the ones who benefit. Let’s make 2024 a better year for our community’s kids of all ages!
For more information visit: foodfordays.org
Quarters for Laundry
One of the needs that Tonya Reid, who was the District Homeless Liaison for the Iredell-Statesville Schools, has made us aware of is the need for local homeless students to have clean clothes to wear to school. To that end, we are collecting quarters for Tonya and her “crew” of helpers to use to make sure those kids are sent to school with fresh, clean clothes. We have a big jar on the desk in the front lobby to donate your quarters to help her accomplish this important, but, dare we say, often overlooked issue that faces our community’s homeless students. We’ll be keep the jar up indefinitely, so gather up your quarters and stick them in our big plastic jar! Our staff is donating, as well as clients who come in, have a few quarters, and just pop them in the jar! They will add up quickly! In the video accompanying this write-up, two of Sarah’s daughters – Sarah, who was once one of our Client Services Representatives – robbed their piggy bank of their savings and generously donated their hard-won quarters - $20-worth, to be exact - to help out other kids in need! It’s a great lesson for kids to learn about charitable giving. It feels good to us, and it benefits others and makes them feel better, too! We have 2 cups on our counter - one at check in, and another at what we call retail. Please consider gathering up your quarters to help Tonya. She is no long the liaison, but STILL donates her time (and money) to do "her" kids' laundry so they can be clean and ready for school.