Group Offers Pets Meals

VOLUNTEERS DELIVER DOG, CAT FOOD TO THOSE IN NEED

By Caleb Fort

Posted: November 30, 2009 at 3:34 a.m.

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ROGERS — Dora Barnum thinks she would be in a nursing home if she didn’t have her dogs and cats.

And she said she wouldn’t have been able to keep her animals without the help of Animeals, a service that delivers pet food for animals whose owners qualify for Meals On Wheels.

“I would have tried to afford it, but I wouldn’t have been able to,” said Barnum, 85.

Barnum lives near Garfield with her two dogs, who require special food because of health problems, and two cats. She has been getting help from Animeals for about three years, she said.

A small group of Animeals volunteers delivers pet food to 18 people in Benton County, said Bobbie Aldridge, a volunteer for the group.

Aldridge said she would like to expand the program but is limited by funding.

Most of the service’s clients are elderly and live alone or with family, she said. Many of them are disabled and have low incomes.

Margaret Roehmer helped start the program in 2006. She said she was standing in line at a grocery store and picked up a magazine with a story about people sharing Meals on Wheels food with their pets.

“That means the people and the animals both weren’t getting enough,” she said.

She recruited a local vet and other volunteers. They started gathering donations and going through the steps to get the program approved by the Office of Human Concern.

When the program was approved, they started delivering food. If they had more deliveries to make than the donations would cover, they made up the difference themselves.

“Our motto was, ‘What they need, we feed,’” said Roehmer, who now lives in Illinois.

Aldridge said it’s important to help the clients care for the animals. People with pets live longer, she said.

“A lot of them, that’s kind of what they live for,” she said. “The animal is their only companion.”

Barnum said her animals provide companionship and keep her active.

“I think of myself as a glorified doorman,” she said. “I’m always getting up and down.”

Animeals provides more than food, Aldridge said. Volunteers also help with medical care and sometimes match animals with clients.

That was how Barnum got her boxer, Princess. And Animeals volunteers say they will take care of Barnum’s pets if anything happens to her, Barnum said.

“If I ever won the lottery, you know who would get most of it,” she said. “They do so much good.”

At A Glance

Animeals Information

For more information, to donate or to volunteer, call Bobbie Aldridge at 479-366-1118 or Loretta DePriest at 366-8310.

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