The Sooke Pet Food Bank will continue to keep furry friends fed this fall, after a generous donor threw them a thousand bones. On Aug. 8, the Paws at Home Sooke Pet Food Bank took to Facebook for help. The unthinkable had happened – they had no dog food. “The need has just grown and the donations have slowed, and for the first time since we started the pet food bank, we ran out of dog food,” said Linda Watson, president of Salish Paws, which operates the Paws at Home Sooke Pet Food Bank. The pet food bank began during COVID-19 in conjunction with Salish Paws. At first, it handed out portioned Ziploc bags of dog food. Later, they partnered with Sooke Bosley’s, which conducted multiple fundraisers for the pet food bank. For a time, they were even able to hand out entire bags of dog food, but since then, their supplies have dwindled. To make up for the shortage, Watson asked locals to donate cash or dog food at Sooke Bosley’s to help the food bank through this time of need. While she was optimistic the community would step up – and many did – she did not expect a single $1,000 donation – but that is what she got. “I just got a message through our Facebook page from someone saying, ‘I’d like to donate some money.’ We said, ‘Absolutely, we’re grateful for it, and we’ll take a picture of the receipt,’” Watson said. “When the e-transfer came through, it was for $1,000. I actually messaged the person back and said, ‘Are you sure this is the amount you meant to send?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, 100 per cent. Please take it and do what you need to do with it'.” Upon recieving the donation on Aug. 17, Watson then dashed to Bosley’s and asked to be shown every red-stickered bag of dog food on sale, hoping to stretch the money as far as possible. A thousand dollars’ worth of discounted food went a long way. “It all depends on how many people show up at the food bank, but I’m feeling really good that we are at least good for the rest of September and October,” she said. “We’re not going to be able to give away big bags like we were in the past, but we’ll be able to do extra-large Ziploc bags and give people whatever they need for the week.” Watson said the donation brought tears to her eyes. It comes at a time when she knows many in Sooke are struggling. “Living in Sooke is expensive, shopping in Sooke is expensive. I often go into the grocery stores and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how people with teenage boys are feeding their families with the price of food',” she said. “I think a lot of the time it comes down to: we buy groceries, or we make a donation. People are just really struggling right now.” Watson was not able to reveal the identity of the donor but said she hopes others will be inspired. She also hopes to let people know that the bar to help is not that high. “It doesn’t have to be anywhere near what this wonderful woman did. You can go into Bosley’s and buy a can of cat food that costs $1 – just add $1 to your bill. We don’t need the most expensive stuff in the store. We just need to know that we’re feeding the community.”
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