Hays Pantry: Kickboxing and kitten food, the community hub that does it all!
Hay Avenue began working with the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home when Social Impact Officer, Suzanne, reached out for support to help meet the demand for pet food at their Community Pantry. Initially, the pet food bank formed part of the weekly Community Pantry event, but as the demand grew, they decided to move it to another day.
Now the pet food bank is hosted every second Thursday, as it’s difficult to meet demand when hosted weekly. Suzanne says, ‘it’s an effort for people to come out to us, and we were just running out [of pet food] too quickly each week. We don’t want to make promises we can’t keep.’
The pet food bank serves 50-60 households every two weeks, and they always run out of supplies. The demand is huge.
Suzanne tells us that they run three other events at the same time as the pet food bank on a Thursday morning, as overlapping events like this helps attendees find out what’s going on at the Hub and see how accommodating each activity is.
On a Thursday morning, the Hub hosts a boxing group, a coffee morning, a mental health workshop and the pet food bank. At least half of the people who access one of these services also access another service.
At the same time as the pet food bank and these other activities, they also have drop-in advice clinics.
Martin offers benefits advice, helping people understand what support they’re eligible for and giving income-maxing advice and Carol gives employability advice such as CV writing.
Suzanne says that working with the pet food bank has made her realise just how important pets are to people’s lives. ‘I understand it now, [pets] give people company, purpose and pride.’
She recalls one customer whose two cats are her ‘family and her children’. When one of her cats sadly passed away and her grief was too much, Suzanne was able to help her organise a cremation and pick a box. Suzanne knows that she would happily give up her own food to feed her cats. ‘She’s socially isolated, by herself and her pets are her family, without pet food banks she couldn’t afford her cat.’
She’s not alone in her dedication to her pets.
‘I hear over and over again that by accessing this food, people can now afford to feed themselves – before they would have had to hungry or give their pets up’
Hay Avenue Community Hub and pet food bank are doing a wonderful job of supporting their community however they can, but Suzanne reminds me; ‘As nice as it is that we can provide the service, we shouldn’t have to’.
Meeting demand for support is a constant effort, and the impact of these services goes so far.
So how can you help?
Suzanne says; ‘Donate! If you see a donation bin in the supermarket, drop something in if you can, encourage your workplace to do a pet food drive or even just get a basket in the lobby.’