Little Shelter beefs up its animal soup kitchen

Huntington-based Little Shelter Animal Rescue is enhancing its Animal Soup Kitchen Program, which provides pet food and supplies for local families in need.

Little Shelter, Suffolk County’s oldest humane society, is celebrating its 93rd anniversary this month. But instead of its usual fundraising gala to mark the occasion, the nonprofit is instead focusing on the soup kitchen program, which is designed to keep families who have fallen on hard times, from having to surrender their pets to shelters simply because they are finding it difficult to provide the basics, like pet food. The program provides local families’ pets with vaccines, spaying/neutering and pet food.

Many assisted through the soup kitchen program are seniors or disabled and not able to get out, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little Shelter’s volunteers are coordinating no-contact delivery with members of the program to ensure the pets and the people who love them so much, do not go without.

“During these unfamiliar times we are all facing, we knew we needed to be there to support the pet parents in our community who aren’t able to get out right now,” David Ceely, executive director of Little Shelter, said in a written statement. “We started this program many years ago, but now was time to mobilize and our wonderful volunteers sprang into action.”

Those interested in donating to the program can visit littleshelter.org to find out how.