Families love their pets; and over time, their bonds grow even stronger. But when hard times and financial hardships befall them, they often have to make the incredibly tough decision to give up their beloved animals because they can no longer afford to feed them.

But now, thanks to Fairfax-based nonprofit Britepaths, they won’t have to give up their animals because Britepaths has added pet food to its SNAP Gap Pantry. And on Sept. 30, it held a special ribbon cutting in celebration.

SNAP is the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that gives food benefits to low-income individuals and families to bolster their grocery budget. But among the items it doesn’t cover is pet food. So it’s only fitting that food for cats and dogs is now available in Britepaths’ SNAP Gap Pantry.

As a result, families can continue to care for their pets while meeting their own household expenses. This special pantry helps bridge the SNAP funding shortfall and addresses a critical, community need by enabling families to stay whole.

Before cutting the ribbon, Britepaths Executive Director Abra Kurt spoke to those in attendance. “Today is actually National Pet Hunger Awareness Day,” she said. “We know that shelter surrenders of animals are up 43 percent this year, primarily for economic reasons. And it’s an issue that touches our families, our clients. We know this from direct feedback from our clients, and we wanted to expand the pantry to offer pet food.

“We’re starting with dog and cat food. And on our client-intake forms, we’re now asking the question, ‘Are there companion animals in your household? If so, how many and what kind?’ And if we see that our clients are telling us that there are other needs, we can adjust [for them] as we go.”

Kurt noted that Britepaths had a “wildly successful” Stuff the Bus event in September, making it possible for the nonprofit to cut the ribbon celebrating the addition of pet food to its pantry. “We collected more than 700 pounds of dog and cat food at Stuff the Bus,” said Kurt. “And our Fairfax City Mayor, Catherine Read, brought in two more bags of dog and cat food this morning. She’s a dog mom, as well.”

Besides that, said Read, “I’m a former board member of Britepaths. And I love the fact that Britepaths continues to be focused on the clients you serve and that you’re asking different, better questions – because it all comes down to what you know to better serve people. You ask them what they need. I only wish we’d thought about this years earlier to ask people about the pets in their homes.”

“There are so many benefits to having pets – for children, for parents – whatever your pet is,” continued Read. “And tuning into families’ needs and helping support families with pets is so important. I’m so proud of the organization for doing this. I definitely want to be a part of it, and I hope there will be other partnerships and coalitions for businesses in the City who also want to help.”

For example, she said, they could be collection points for people who want to donate pet food for Britepaths’ clients “who have food insecurity for both themselves and their companion family members. So kudos to everyone here – this is a great idea.”

“I know we have a lot of pets in our staff families,” added Kurt. “Our Board President, Karen Wheeler, is also a dog mom, I’m a cat mom, so this touches all of us in so many different ways. And the power of our love of animals to bring people together is one of the reasons why we’re all here today – to cut the ribbon for our client families.” 

After the ceremony, Aisha Ali, Britepaths’ senior director of development and communications, discussed the importance of offering pet food there. “Britepaths has always met clients where they are, and that’s constantly changing and evolving,” she said. “So we’re always seeking feedback from the community about what they need now – and we know pets are part of the family.”

“In addition to providing things SNAP doesn’t cover, our SNAP Gap Pantry is focusing on [non-covered] things like diapers, laundry detergent, and hygiene and toiletry items, and pet food is part of that,” continued Ali. “But besides just providing pet food, we’re also helping keep families whole and avoid the trauma – especially for kids – of having to surrender a pet because the family can no longer afford to feed it. That’s like getting rid of a family member. So we’re really happy, and we can’t wait to see what happens next and how we can continue to grow and evolve with our community.”