A Calgary charity for furry friends has lost all of its pet food donations worth thousands of dollars.
“It’s a huge loss for us and we’re still checking and cleaning out our food bank,” said Lauren Fettig, head of communications and fundraising with Parachutes for Pets. “This is a huge loss for us and we are still checking and cleaning out our food bank.”
The Parachute for Pets warehouse was full of pet food donations, when a frozen and broken water pipe gave way Tuesday night, causing a major leak.
This non-profit has been helping vulnerable Calgarians with their pets since 2019 and their food bank has never seen higher demand.
But, this water leak incident ruined their special pet and vet food, worth thousands of dollars.
“The estimated value now of the food that was spoiled and unusable is about $16,000,” Fettig said. “It’s very sad that most of that food was newly purchased from all of our fundraising efforts and our campaigns that happened in December.”
An inspection of the building on Tuesday night led the team to discover water damage and they tried their best to save as much as possible.
“The pipe outside the building here is all frozen and this pipe at the top here is the roof drainage,” Fettig revealed to CityNews Wednesday. “The pipe froze here, the water started draining and the water had nowhere to go.
“It created pressure and the pipe broke and caused all the pet food to rain down on all the shelves.”
Fettig said volunteers helped clean up the mess and the team bought new pet food with a spare budget, but the event left them feeling down.
“We’re a little bit emotional here right now,” he said. “All the hard work and all the time spent, you know, organizing, getting this food, the time we spent, making sure this food gets to the clients.
“It just puts more stress on the whole team here, especially when we have to reevaluate and potentially take money away from the various programs that we have here at Parachutes for Pets.”
He added that insurance is an option but it costs the business more in the long run, so they try to manage without it and urge Calgarians to donate whatever they can, in the form of money or pet food .
