FARMINGTON — Purchase of a Helping Paws pet donation package at Hannaford helps homeless animals at the Franklin County Animal Shelter.
Helping Paws is based on a similar project, Helping Hands, where shoppers purchase a box of food items for $10, and these are given to local food pantries.
The new Helping Paws provides 12 cans of cat food, three cans of dog food, a roll of paper towels and 30 ounces of bleach for the shelter.
From a display, shoppers can take a sheet or the bag up to the cashier, store Manager Tim Bryant said. For a $10 donation, the store will provide the items to the shelter. He expects to wait until 50 or more are sold in order to provide a case lot of items, he said.
Nearly 35 bags have already been sold since the program started a couple of weeks ago, Bryant said.
The program will continue through the holidays and probably into January. If this is successful, a similar program is likely to return around Valentine’s Day or in the spring when the shelter starts facing a high kitten count, he added.
When animal shelter Director Heidi Jordan heard about a similar Helping Paws program at the Hannaford in Rockland, she called Bryant to see if it could be done here, she said.
The shelter crew worked on a design and plans with Bryant for the display and donation, he said.
On Friday, some Helping Hands boxes were still for sale and sat next to the Helping Paws display.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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