Orange County Animal Services to Hold Second Pet Food Giveaway

Drive-thru Aimed at Residents Impacted by COVID-19

Orange County Animal Services is preparing to make available more than three tons of FREE pet food at the South Econ Recreation Center on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 for pet owners financially impacted as a result of COVID-19. The South Econ Recreation Center is located at 3800 S. Econlockhatchee Trail in Orlando. Orange County residents are welcome to select up to two bags or cases of food on a first come, first served basis at the event, which begins at 12 p.m. No appointments are needed.

“Back in June we distributed more than 700 bags of pet food, moving some of the recipients to tears by this act of kindness as it meant the difference between their pets staying in their home or being surrendered to the shelter,” said Diane Summers, manager for Orange County Animal Services.

Summers thanked the two sponsors of the event who saw the need for a second pet food giveaway event – Don Mealey, from the local family of auto dealerships, and Paul Wean, founder of Pawsitive Shelter Photography.

“The sponsors’ generosity is overwhelming, as the giveaway will keep a lot of pets and their owners together during these very challenging times,” added Summers.

Orange County Animal Services partnered with Hill’s Science Diet to obtain the food for this event, which includes adult cat food, kitten food, adult dog food, small bites dog food and cases of wet dog food.

“Pawsitive Shelter Photography is, sadly, ending its operations. However, on behalf of the many volunteers that have worked to make our mission for Orange County’s homeless pets a success over the past nine years we are pleased to make a contribution of all of our remaining cash to this pet food give-away and thereby address two relevant issues facing our community: animal welfare and income inequality,” said Paul Wean, founder of Pawsitive Shelter Photography. “We thank the staff of OCAS for the opportunity to have partnered with them over these many years and we thank the Orange County community at-large for their response to our animal photos and our efforts to rehome needy pets.”

Through this event Orange County Animal Services aims to help hundreds of pet owners, some of which may be on the brink of having to surrender their pets due to financial limitations.

Those interested in learning more are invited to visit Orange County Animal Services’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/orangecountyanimalservices.