A Pet-Friendly Church in New York State | Dogalize
The Grace Episcopal Church of Lockport, NY (near Buffalo), has shown to love God’s creatures, irrespective of whether they’re humams or animals. In addition to providing for people in need, in fact, they also provide for pets.
They created a pet food pantry for the members who need help keeping their animal companions fed, and will give homeless animals a place to stay. And once a month, parishioners are welcome to bring their pets to the Sunday service.
Reverend Cindy Sever told: “Many in the congregation wanted to serve our neighbors, but didn’t know how to begin. As we talked to people in the neighborhood, we asked what the church could do to be helpful to them. The overwhelming answer was that we could help with pet food. People said their pets were their family, sometimes their only family, and they couldn’t afford to feed them.”
The pantry, which run entirely on donations – no money comes from the church budget – besides of poviding pet food and accessories, offers several more services:
- A veterinarian providing free basic exams for pets, offering advice and answering questions for pet parents.
- Facilities such as coffee, other beverages and snacks, since the pantry is also a social space for our neighbors.
- Pet funerals or memorial services
A one-of-a-kind assistance which, hopefully, could inspire many other congragations.
Federica Lauda
Source: lifewithdogs
Photo: Joe Videra, Lockport Journal