Dogs And Cats At Chicago Shelter Treated To Donated Take-out Food
Some shelter animals in Chicago are getting some tasty take-out to munch on.
Ted Lownik, a part-time pizza deliveryman, had the idea of donating leftover food and scraps from the restaurant to animals in need at the Animal Welfare League shelter.
He first got the idea when he brought leftover pizza scraps to his own dogs and saw how excited they got.
Lownik then asked Animal Welfare League if he could bring leftover food from the restaurant that otherwise would have been thrown away. The animal shelter graciously accepted the donations.
Lownik then approached the owner of Barraco’s pizza and told him what he had done and hoped that he wouldn’t get mad. The owner said, “Keep it up.”
Since March 23, Lownik has made the trip from his home to the animal shelter bearing food every single day — he only has missed one day. He has brought a total of 4.6 tons of beef, pizza scraps, gravy and other food to the 1,000 cats and dogs at the Animal Welfare League Shelter.
This 67-year-old artist said he started donating food after he heard the Animal Welfare League had to destroy most of its pet food after the pet food recalls.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
October 31st, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I love this idea and it is GREAT for the pups to get the leftovers that are still fresh and I know how happy it makes them. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!! More food establishments should follow this example across the nation. There is plenty of good food to go around and some of the shelter workers should know what to cull out of the leftovers before feeding. As long as the cooks are not using any ingrediants that are harmful to the dogs.
October 31st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I read an article in teh late 90s about people who would take left over food from things like sporting events and concerts (where they have to feed entire crews that put up and dismantle the stages), and take them to homeless shelters.
this country wastes so much food. imagine if every restaurant donated foods to appropriate venues (homeless shelters, animal shelters, etc) how much we could do towards eradicating hunger.
October 31st, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I know that many grocery stores throw out food which is past best before dates, which would not be suitable for human shelters, but could still be a boost for animal shelters. Some stores will at least have a frozen section for such food for pet owners.
October 31st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
As so often is the case, one problem with donating food to humans in shelters, etc. is the fear of lawsuits if anyone should get sick. So most places prefer to just not risk it, they throw away leftover food. Sad. In some areas there is a movement of people who pretty much live off what they find in dumpsters– perfectly good food, household items, all kinds of stuff. Yes, we are an extremely wasteful society. I know of several businesses who sustained damage, mostly water or smoke damage, in nearby fires and in order to collect insurance they had to throw out EVERYTHING. One was a high-end childrens’ toy store. All those perfectly good toys, hauled off to the dump, what a waste. I hope someone rescued some of them and put them to good use. Thankfully, more medical “trash” is being saved and sent to countries where it is desperately needed.
October 31st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Many restaurants, caterers and stores donate to the Chicago Food Depository:
http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/site/PageServer
Something like a few pizzas would be used by them, but I bet that some homeless shelters would take them as well.
Maybe you could start something like this in your community (on a much smaller scale of course).
October 31st, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I think it’s a great idea. I just hope they know not to include food that contains onions, grapes, etc. that dogs can’t tolerate.
October 31st, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I agree that it is a great thing that he’s doing….I only hope that the dogs are being fed these leftovers as a TREAT and not their whole diet. As much as we pet lovers think of them as our “kids,” they still need a balanced diet of a good grade of kibble.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:05 am
A wonderful idea!!!
November 1st, 2007 at 3:51 pm
This is a wonderful idea, however, it is a sure bet that these scraps of human food contain ingredients that surely can cause health hazards to dogs and cats. I would be very surprised if many of these scraps have the ingredient of onion which is hazardous to both dogs and cats and can cause deadly risks. Is there anyone checking for this? This could be a great idea turned tragic in no time.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:45 pm
A “balanced diet of a good grade kibble” is far inferior to raw/cooked human-grade meat. There is nothing natural about kibble; it is as far removed from the animal world as halloween costumes.
With that being said I am also concerned about what exactly is being brought to the shelter. Pizza (sauce, olives, gravy) contains a lot of salt which can further dehydrate a kibble-fed animal.