image source, Sophie Mason
A Helping Paw relies on donations to feed up to 200 pet owners a month
- author, Jo Lonsdale
- duty, BBC News, North East and Cumbria
A pet food bank is opening a second base because it can’t keep up with demand, its founder says.
A Helping Paw, based in Ashington, Northumberland, provides food parcels for around 200 pet owners each month.
Many are from North Tyneside, so the charity is opening a second storage and collection point in Whitley Bay.
Tyesha Muncaster, 25, said “it’s like we can’t stop”.
image source, Sophie Mason
Tyesha Muncaster says demand for A Helping Paw’s services has increased tenfold in just two years
A Helping Paw was set up in 2022 by Ms Muncaster after she put up a post on social media offering to give away cat food she didn’t need.
“The response was just crazy and kind of took off from there,” he explained.
“At first we were helping about 20 or 30 families a month, but now it’s at least 200.”
The service is collection only, so if someone is struggling they can message the charity which will provide an emergency food parcel for a dog, cat and most other pets.
Ms Muncaster said some of the stories she heard were “depressing”.
“People tell us they don’t eat themselves so they can afford to feed their pets,” he added.
“A lot of requests come from North Shields and Wallsend so it makes sense to have a base in Whitley Bay.”
image source, Tyesha Muncaster
Helping Paw buys in bulk from supermarkets using cash donations
The Whitley Bay base is now operational and the first collections will start this weekend.
“I work full-time and the charity takes up every spare hour I have,” added Ms Muncaster.
“But I know how I would feel if my two cats didn’t have access to food, I just don’t want anyone to feel that way.”
