AniMeals Aids Service Dogs of Wounded Warriors
Helen Woodward Animal Center was founded in 1972 by Helen Whittier-Woodward with a goal of rescuing and sheltering abandoned animals and promoting humane animal care through education and community outreach. With over 40 years dedicated to the mission of “people helping animals, animals helping people,” Helen’s vision has expanded into an organization like no other with 12 unique programs focused on services devoted to animal welfare and improving the relationship between people and animals. Now, in a new partnership with Wounded Warriors Battalion West at Camp Pendleton, Helen Woodward Animal Center is extending its reach to some of the city’s most deserving individuals – our military heroes.
Celebrating the healing bond between animals and people, Helen Woodward Animal Center can boast a conservative number of more than ten million animals saved or assisted and over one million people served throughout San Diego County, Southern California, the nation and the world through programs such as: Pet Adoption, Humane Education, The Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays Campaign (encouraging animal adoption over the holidays in partnership with over 4,000 rescue facilities across the globe), Pet Encounter Therapy (bringing the unconditional love of animals to more than 25,000 clients in healthcare facilities across San Diego each year), Therapeutic Horseback Riding (assisting approximately 50 special needs adults and children every week) and AniMeals (providing food for the pets of over 500 homebound San Diego clients each week with the help of partner organizations like Meals on Wheels), among others.
Helen Woodward Animal Center’s AniMeals program began on a small scale in 1984 when a Meals-On-Wheels volunteer contacted the Center to express concern that some of his elderly and homebound clients were feeding portions of their own meals to their pets. Unable to afford food for their furry family members, they opted to forgo healthy portions of their own meals rather than give up the companionship of their beloved friends. Helen Woodward Animal Center made arrangements to provide regular pet meals to those clients and over time it became evident that a great need for this service existed in other communities, as well. Now, with the dedication of over 50 volunteers, the program regularly provides meals to just over 700 pets throughout San Diego County each month. The program is free of cost to all recipients and is almost entirely volunteer-run and donation-based.
The idea to extend this program to the military seemed like a natural fit. “This is a military town,” stated Helen Woodward Animal Center President and CEO Mike Arms. “We are honored to serve these men and women anyway we can. Keeping them with their loving pet companions seems like the very best gift we can offer.”
Thanks to a partnership with natural pet food company Blue Buffalo, Helen Woodward Animal Center’s AniMeals program began providing high quality pet food to wounded military clients with service dogs through the Recovery Care Coordinator Office (RCC) and the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) this year. Arrangements are also underway to assist additional clients through the the Semper Fi Fund (which provides more long term help for soldieries that are no longer in “active recovery” and have entered more of a maintenance stage of living with disability).
“It means so much to all of us at Blue Buffalo to provide food to these amazing dogs and their heroic owners,” said David Petrie, Vice President at Blue Buffalo. “These military veterans have dedicated their lives to us and we are extremely happy to keep their loving companions healthy and well fed.”
The response from military clients currently receiving assistance through AniMeals has been heartwarming and encouraging. For many of these men and women, post-war recovery requires downtime that has led to feelings of isolation and often their service dogs become a major form of comfort.
The fear of losing these beloved companions can lead to anxiety, panic attacks and deep depression. The AniMeals program is helping to put these fears to rest. Only a few weeks ago, Helen Woodward Animal Center received news that an individual who had worried about losing his service dog before receiving assistance from AniMeals was now doing well, suffering fewer panic attacks and had taken his first step since returning home.
His beloved service dog was by his side to cheer him on.
About Helen Woodward Animal Center
Helen Woodward Animal Center is a private, non-profit organization where “people help animals and animals help people.” Founded in 1972 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Center provides services for more than 57,000 people and thousands of animals annually through adoptions, educational and therapeutic programs both onsite and throughout the community. Helen Woodward Animal Center is also the creator of the international Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive, the International Remember Me Thursday™ campaign and The Business of Saving Lives Workshops, teaching the business of saving lives to animal welfare leaders from around the world. For more information go to: www.animalcenter.org.
About Blue Buffalo
Blue Buffalo, located in Wilton, CT, is the nation’s leading natural pet food company, and provides natural dog food, natural cat food and treats under its BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics and BLUE Freedom lines. Paying tribute to its founding mission, the company, through the Blue Buffalo Foundation for Cancer Research, is also a leading sponsor of pet cancer awareness and of critical studies of pet cancer, health, treatment and nutrition at top veterinary medical schools across the United States. For more information about Blue Buffalo, visit the company’s website at www.BlueBuffalo.com.
