CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It was 10 years ago when the staff at Care For Real decided they had to do something more for the people they were already helping with food and clothing.
“We heard stories over the years, how they were trying to make decisions of, ‘I have limited resources—do I eat this food myself or do I give this to my pet?’”
So, Care for Real Executive Director Gregory Gross says the organization opened a Pet Pantry, based in Edgewater, that helps people feed their dogs and cats.
“Because we’re one of the few pet pantries in the city, we see folks coming from all over,” Gross said.
For all Care for Real’s services, they have twice the number of new clients they had last year.
“I’m thinking of a young family who were afraid that they were going to have to give up their family dog, and they were afraid of having to do that because of the impact on their children,” he said.
There also was a family struggling to feed their service dog. The Pet Pantry helped them, too.
“It just inspires us every day. This is why we do what we do, so we don’t have to see families broken up,” Gross said.