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Angel's Depot new partnership with Helen Woodward Animal Center AniMeals Program will benefit low income seniors

Having been significantly involved with Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) in San Francisco for three years, I have seen first hand the power of the human-animal bond at work between low income seniors, the disabled, and their companion animals. It breaks my heart to imagine anyone having to choose to feed themselves or their beloved furry (and often only) family member. 

Today, thanks to an anonymous donor, a new partnership begins between the Helen Woodward Animal Center's AniMeals Program and The Angel's Depot, a San Diego county nonprofit serving the nutritional needs of seniors.

www.animalcenter.org

Today, Helen Woodward Animal Center’s AniMeals Program will be on-site at the Oceanside Senior Center to celebrate its new partnership with The Angel’s Depot. The heartwarming union will provide pet food to an increased number of low income seniors and is being made possible by a truly angelic donor. A former AniMeals volunteer who passed away in 2013, the anonymous donation has been made in her honor, by her family, through the beneficial coupling of the two non-profits.

www.animalcenter.org

AniMeals is a pet-food-on-wheels program that provides regular meals free of charge for the dogs and cats of home-bound elderly and disabled people. The mission of the program is to help keep people and their companion pets together by eliminating one of the logistical and financial impediments to proper pet care. The program was created in 1984 at Helen Woodward Animal Center, initially serving just 10 clients. Today the program works with five area Meals-on-Wheels centers and many other organizations, such as Aging & Independence Services, to serve more than 250 pets throughout San Diego County. The program’s only limitation on expansion stems from necessary funding and the recent, unexpected donation provided an exciting new opportunity to partner with The Angel’s Depot.


The Angel’s Depot was founded in 2006 with a specific goal of meeting the nutritional needs of seniors who are at-risk for malnutrition and living with the anxiety of food insecurity. Senior Emergency Meal Boxes are provided to 900 seniors monthly, who struggle with an average income of $765 per month. According to the San Diego County Department of Aging & Independence Services, 50,000 senior citizens live in poverty in San Diego County and the numbers are growing with an aging Baby Boom population. Devoted to the overwhelming task of providing food for these seniors, the only missing piece seemed to be finding a way to provide food for their pets but Founder and Executive Director Susan Hall was determined to do it.

Overwhelming research has shown that pets are a health benefit for their elderly owners, providing companionship, diversion, and even a reason for living. Compared to non-pet owners, those with four-legged friends at home have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, have a better sense of security, are more active, experience less depression, and even live longer.

Now, thanks to one very special donor who devoted her final years to the AniMeals program, The Angel’s Depot can at last provide for its seniors’ pets.

 

Learn more about these two amazing non-profits: Helen Woodward Animal Center and The Angel's Depot.

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