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Downers Grove, IL —
Sometime during the summer last year, Kate Quinn decided she was going to start a food pantry. Not just any food pantry, though. Quinn wanted to start a food pantry for animals.
“One day I just decided, people need to eat, their animals need to eat, I’m going to help,” she said in a recent interview.
Quinn doesn’t know what it was that inspired her, though she thinks it may have been something she heard at church. So she set out calling local veterinarians to tell them she was collecting food for pets.
She reached out to friends and people in the community via Facebook.
Then Quinn, who has four cats and a 65-gallon fish aquarium, began storing donated animal food in her basement and her closets.
“It was filling up too much of the basement,” Quinn said.
By November, Quinn’s pet project began to grow. She had to rent a storage unit to maintain all the food she was taking in.
“It sort of trickled in. I did a food drive in the first two weeks in December and I got a decent amount of food from there. I was hoping for more,” she said.
She calls what she does the Wet Nose Pet Food Pantry.
“It’s a one-woman operation. I contact all the businesses, I collect all the food, I sort it. People come to me, I give out the food. So it’s a one-woman operation and that’s me,” she said.
Quinn said she has lost track of the number of people and pets she has helped in the short time she has operated.
Many of those who have come to her for pet food do so because they’ve lost a job.
“(For) a lot of people, getting that food every month makes the difference between having a pet and giving it up to the shelter,” Quinn said.
Now fully operational, the Wet Nose Pantry is always accepting donations. Quinn said anyone interested in donating food can drop it off at Eagle Storage, 555 Rogers St. in Downers Grove, during the storage company’s regular business hours. Or, visit the Wet Nose Pantry’s website www.photographybykms.com/petfoodpantry.html for more information.
To Quinn, pets are family members. Her mission at the Wet Nose Pantry is to keep pets in families.
“I would definitely say I’ve prevented a good amount of animals from being put in the shelter,” she said.
AGE: 32
RESIDENCE: Downers Grove
FAMILY: 6-year-old son
OTHER INTERESTS: Riding motorcycles and teaching photography at College of DuPage
Sometime during the summer last year, Kate Quinn decided she was going to start a food pantry. Not just any food pantry, though. Quinn wanted to start a food pantry for animals.
“One day I just decided, people need to eat, their animals need to eat, I’m going to help,” she said in a recent interview.
Quinn doesn’t know what it was that inspired her, though she thinks it may have been something she heard at church. So she set out calling local veterinarians to tell them she was collecting food for pets.
She reached out to friends and people in the community via Facebook.
Then Quinn, who has four cats and a 65-gallon fish aquarium, began storing donated animal food in her basement and her closets.
“It was filling up too much of the basement,” Quinn said.
By November, Quinn’s pet project began to grow. She had to rent a storage unit to maintain all the food she was taking in.
“It sort of trickled in. I did a food drive in the first two weeks in December and I got a decent amount of food from there. I was hoping for more,” she said.
She calls what she does the Wet Nose Pet Food Pantry.
“It’s a one-woman operation. I contact all the businesses, I collect all the food, I sort it. People come to me, I give out the food. So it’s a one-woman operation and that’s me,” she said.
Quinn said she has lost track of the number of people and pets she has helped in the short time she has operated.
Many of those who have come to her for pet food do so because they’ve lost a job.
“(For) a lot of people, getting that food every month makes the difference between having a pet and giving it up to the shelter,” Quinn said.
Now fully operational, the Wet Nose Pantry is always accepting donations. Quinn said anyone interested in donating food can drop it off at Eagle Storage, 555 Rogers St. in Downers Grove, during the storage company’s regular business hours. Or, visit the Wet Nose Pantry’s website www.photographybykms.com/petfoodpantry.html for more information.
To Quinn, pets are family members. Her mission at the Wet Nose Pantry is to keep pets in families.
“I would definitely say I’ve prevented a good amount of animals from being put in the shelter,” she said.
AGE: 32
RESIDENCE: Downers Grove
FAMILY: 6-year-old son
OTHER INTERESTS: Riding motorcycles and teaching photography at College of DuPage
