WALDO COUNTY PET FOOD PANTRY

My name is Heidi J Blood, I am the President/Founder of WCPFP. I am also an Animal Control Officer for several towns. As an ACO and an Auxiliary member of VFW Post 3108 here in Belfast, I saw a need in the community for pet assistance from both ACO work and Veterans at the VFW. I talked with several VFW members, a few animal shelters and Veterinary offices about the possibility of opening a small pet food pantry to assist elders and Veterans with their pet care needs. All whom I spoke with thought it would be fabulous to help a few elders and Veterans in our community. And the pet food pantry was born.
Our first monthly pet food distribution date was in December of 2013 and it only took us a few months to realize, the need was much greater beyond the Veteran community, so we opened up to the public. Our only requirements are absolutely no breeding of pets and all animals receiving help from us must have an updated rabies certificate on file. You must also have never been convicted of any animal related crime.
Since its beginning in 2013, WCPFP has become a much needed and sought after resource for our community pet owners. We have several programs in addition to pet food distribution and home delivery for the disabled, elderly and Veterans. We are, however, open to anyone in need.
Our hope and goal as we enter our 12th year is to raise awareness of our organization and the assistance available that we can provide to keep healthy pets at home and out of already overburdened area animal rescues and shelters. We aim to ease the financial burden for many due to the Covid 19 crisis and the continued rising costs of well, everything: by providing quality pet food and resources to our clientele. They then can use what finances they may have to address other household issues such as nutritional food for themselves, heat, medication needs and other financial responsibilities. Keeping pets at home, with proper care, better the pets and owner’s lives. Many of our clientele live alone with little to no social interaction other than their pets.
We expect this program to continue into the long term, especially during the continued state of the economy. We have become a regular resource that animal shelters, local rescues and Veterinarians rely on to point pet owners considering relinquishment, in another direction and enabling them to keep their beloved pets at home with them, happy and healthy. We do run a fine line between assistance and enabling, and we take that consideration very seriously, so we allow clients to come to the pet food pantry 6 times per year and they choose which 6 months they come that works best for their budgets. We generally see the largest clientele in the winter months for obvious reasons, (heating costs) but we do have some clientele that rely on us through other times of the year as they are seasonal workers. With that being said, sometimes, the best thing for pets and owners alike is to get the animals into rescue or shelters or sadly sometimes even humane euthanasia. We can help facilitate that as well if needed.
Our programs consist of twice monthly pet food distribution dates, supplies such as bowls, toys, treats and collars are also available at our distribution dates. We offer Monthly Home Delivery for Veterans, Elderly, Disabled and shut ins, quality flea- tick prevention, rabies clinics, a low cost spay/neuter program and other resource assistance. We work closely with many case management services such as New Hope, Maine Veteran Services, DHHS and others. We also donate pet food and litter to the Belfast Soup Kitchens free grocery store when supplies allow.
As I said, we have been serving the Waldo County pet community since 2013. And each time we were in a crunch, the community has come forward and gave us all the support they could! Folks have donated food and supplies, volunteered, advertised, shared on social media, purchased items from our Chewy, Amazon and Walmart wish lists, you name it! This community GIVES! We have been the proud recipients of Local businesses giving programs such as Belfast Co Ops Common Cents Round Up, First National Banks Casual for causes, Loyal Biscuits Fenway Fund, Bangor Savings Banks Community Matters More program and Hannaford’s Bags for a cause program.
We have been allowed to place change donation boxes in a few local stores and businesses. And we have a bottle trailer at my home in Searsmont for returnables. There are also 4 bottle redemption places in Waldo County that collect for us. They are M’s Redemption on New England Road in Searsmont, 10-4 Redemption on Route 3 in Montville, Northport Redemption on Route 1 in Belfast and Little River Redemption on Little River Drive in Belfast.
We have survived the Covid pandemic, we have survived the ongoing rising costs, we have survived the need of our services getting greater. What used to cost us about $1,000.00 a month, we are now spending over $2,000.00 monthly just to stay afloat and keep our base programs going. Most of our funds go directly to pet food purchases and veterinary costs. This cost increase is due both to the rising cost of purchasing items as we do buy about half of the pet food needs that we give out and every year our clientele is growing. Back in 2021 for instance we served over 250 pets and 137 households. In 2024 we served more than 400 pets and 175 households.
Back in Jan of 2020, we applied to become tax exempt from the State of Maine, only to find out there was no category that Pet food Pantries fit in. So, with the help of then Senator and now Belfast City Manager Erin Herbig, we introduced a new bill to the Maine Bureau of Taxation to include pet food pantries in sales tax exemption. We got final approval from the Senate and house in June of 2020! We are very proud of this accomplishment and were quick to share the word with the other Pet Food Pantries in Maine, of which there are currently only about 15.
We have recently made changes to our social media Facebook page and are asking everyone and their friends and family to become subscribers to us!!!! It’s just 99 cents a month!!!! And, if they send us their email address, we will add them to our online newsletter, which is filled with the goings on at the pet food pantry and other useful pet information. You can find us easily on Facebook to sign up.
With nearly 40,000 people living in Waldo County; if just 5% (2,000) of those people would commit to a 99-cent subscription to us every month, we can carry on! And with being able to carry on, we have a real opportunity to make life saving changes for Waldo County's pets. If 10% (4,000) were to commit to 99 cents a month, we can grow!!!! And with your help, grow we will do!!!! And new this year we have begun seeking out businesses in the area who wish to become supporters of Waldo County Pet Food Pantry. There are several levels of sponsorship ranging from $50 all the way up to $5,000
Checks can be mailed to our location at 34 Field Street Belfast, Maine 04915 Which is where the VFW Post 3108is and has graciously allowed us to operate out of.
We also have PayPal, Venmo, CashApp and Facebook pay for tax deductible donations. We are 501c3 with the IRS and are tax Exempt with the State of Maine.
Please call or email us anytime!