Meals on Wheels Gets $1,000 to Help Feed Clients' Pets

received a grant of $1,000 from the Banfield Charitable Trust to help feed senior clients' pet companions.

Meals on Wheels of Northampton County also received a grant.

As a public charity, Banfield Charitable Trust focuses on keeping pets and their owners together, according to a release from Meals on Wheels, which has offices in South Whitehall. The Trust aims to find ways to prevent pet owners from having to surrender a pet, which can be a heartbreaking decision. 

Recognizing that many homebound adults share their meals with their pets, Banfield Charitable Trust partnered with Meals on Wheels Association of America to help fund pet programs, the release said.  

Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County and Meals on Wheels of Northampton County have been providing pet food, for free, to their homebound clients since 2005, thanks to pet food contributions from Philips Feed in Bethlehem and help from the Animal Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley.

The local Meals on Wheels will use the $1,000 grants to provide specific brands of food that clients request and pet-related items such as cat litter, pet medications and gas reimbursements for volunteers who deliver pet food.

Pam Bechtel, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County, and Joanne Bergeron-Nenow, executive director of Northampton County's, said pets play an important role in the well-being of numerous clients, providing companionship and health benefits. They said they are grateful to the Trust for the grant that will allow Meals on Wheels to provide additional services to clients who have pets.