When Josie Crist kept seeing social media posts from desperate pet owners seeking spare food for their animals, she knew she had to act. Now, thanks to her partnership with local nonprofit Familiar Hearts Animal Society, Germantown's first pet pantry will open its doors this month, offering everything from food to flea medication for struggling pet owners.

"Unfortunately, everyone that's putting this together can't constantly be buying supplies out of their own pocket," said Crist, who runs the Germantown animal community Facebook page and organized the pet pantry. "I have eight cats and two dogs and foster bottle babies and other cats, so I can't do it all on my own. It really comes down to the community stepping up to help."

The first pet pantry event will open at Germantown Boys and Girls Club at 25 W. Penn Street on March 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The group hopes to make it a monthly or bi-monthly event, providing pet food, cat litter, flea and tick preventative and other essentials like collars and leashes.

Familiar Hearts, a local non-profit with a network of foster homes providing temporary care for rescued pets until permanent families can be found, stepped in to help after seeing Crist's social media poll seeking volunteers and donations.

"The mission of my organization is not only to rescue animals and get them into good homes, but we want to target some of the causes of animal abandonment in our community through doing community support and outreach and education," said Aminda Edgar, founder and executive director of Familiar Hearts.

Edgar formed Familiar Hearts in 2021 after decades of rescue work. The decision came after noticing a worrying trend: increasing crowding at local shelters had become so severe that animal control was telling people to hang onto rescued strays because there was no room. "We realized there was a desperate need for another rescue," she explained.

Through her years of work, Edgar has seen firsthand how the cost of pet care can lead to abandonment. Even basic nutrition can be a significant expense - according to Purina, a dog weighing between 26 and 50 pounds should eat between 2 and 2-⅔ cups of dry dog food a day. 

"Dog and cat food is very expensive, even if you're looking at the lower-end bargain things," she explained. "Vet care is another cost that people get intimidated by. So it's one of the biggest reasons that people do abandon their pets, I believe."

She's witnessed particularly heartbreaking cases: "I used to go out in the community and take part in cat trapping and things, and you wouldn't believe how many people throw a cat out just because it has fleas."

That's why Crist emphasized that the pantry will be a "no judgment zone."

"We want people to know that we just want to help. We want people to know that we love their pets as much as they do, and we will do whatever we can with these pet pantry events to help them," Crist said. "We're not going to force them to get high-end food because it's better than the cheap stuff, and shame them because they can't afford the nice stuff, or shame them because they ask a question that people think they should already know the answer to."

The organizers are now seeking both donations and permanent locations to host the pantry. 

"We're looking for businesses or places who might be open to hosting us on an ongoing basis," Edgar said. "We're always looking for partnerships, or maybe we even rotate locations, maybe in the summer it's in the park."

Those interested in donating can find drop-off boxes at Fairmont Bark at 7627 Germantown Ave., Weavers Way Across the Way at 608-610 Carpenter Lane and Weavers Way at 328 West Chelten Ave. or donate directly to Familiar Hearts at familiarhearts.org.