Georgetown Edition | September 2024

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BY PARKS KUGLE

Furrbaby Food Pantry oers a variety of pet-related items in its self-service room.

Available items at Furrbaby Food Pantry include wet and dry pet food, dog leashes, harnesses and collars.

Korri Bindl started Furrbaby Food Pantry to provide community members with pets a resource for food and supplies.

PHOTOS BY PARKS KUGLE‚COMMUNITY IMPACT

Furrbaby Food Pantry helps keep families intact

Founder and owner Korri Bindl started Furrbaby Food Pantry as a way to provide community mem- bers with pets a resource for food and supplies. From the beginning, she said the mission of the nonprot organization was helping to keep families—including four-legged members—united during dicult nancial times. About the owner Bindl rst fell in love with animal care while working a part-time job with the Williamson County Animal Shelter. It was at the shelter she discovered a need for a pet-food pantry, providing food and much-needed supplies. The shelter is unable to use some donations, such as open bags of food. With a desire to keep these donations from going into the trash, Bindl took a small bag of food home and wrote a post on a Georgetown community Facebook group, o„ering it to anyone in need. “Basically, my inbox was ‡ooded. I had a whole bunch of di„erent stories of people telling me what has happened to them and how much this little bag of food could help their family at this time,” Bindl said. “When I realized that there is a need in our community I began doing a [pet-food pantry] from my front yard.” Originally, Bindl would leave bags of food on her porch for people who’d reached out for assistance. As Bindl’s front-yard food pantry grew and people donated di„erent items, she began organizing

supplies into categories, such as bowls and toys. She also began nding other sources of donations, including damaged items from Costco and other big box stores. Then, she partnered with di„erent bou- tiques, including Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, which provided the pantry with bulk food orders. In December, Bindl expanded from her front yard to a brick-and-mortar location at 1603 Northwest Blvd., Georgetown, that’s sta„ed with roughly 10 volunteers. What they oer Furrbaby Food Pantry o„ers a variety of pet-re- lated items in its self-service room, with dry food being the only item that requires an email request prior to pick up. Currently, the food pantry serves about 300 people a month. These items aren’t limited to Georgetown or Williamson County residents, and are available Sun.-Fri. from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. to anyone in need as well as people fostering kittens and puppies. Donations are accepted 24/7. Furrbaby Food Pantry also works alongside Helping Hands of Georgetown when it provides sack lunches to people experiencing food inse- curity in downtown Georgetown as well as other local food pantries in Leander, Liberty Hill, Bartlett and Jarrell, Bindl said. Additionally, Furrbaby Food Pantry holds monthly education courses that provide pet owners free training advice.

Bindl rst fell in love with animal care while working with the Williamson County Animal Shelter.

Bindl said the mission of the nonprot organization was helping to keep families united during dicult times.

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1603 Northwest Blvd., Georgetown www.furrbabyfoodpantry.org

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