Helping families feed their pets during the holidays
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Amanda Young and Nathan Mullins tend to community needs, giving away one bag of cat or dog food per household. Kylie Garcia - CC
Amanda Young and Nathan Mullins are a young married couple who joined the Cibola community in July. Young works in the medical field and had been making work-related visits to Grants since 2018. When Cibola General Hospital invited her to join the staff full-time, Young “knew this is somewhere we wanted to be.”
Prior to their move to Grants, Young had spent some time working at an animal shelter in Chicago, Illinois before she started her Family Medicine Residency there. That experience of working with the animal shelter and seeing just how many animals are put down because of a lack of space or finances was very “eye-opening” for Young. Ever since then, her and Mullins have been taking in sickly or homeless dogs and cats to help them heal. According to Young, it was that experience, along with their love of animals, the spirit of Christmas, and recognizing the lack of resources for pet services in Grants that inspired them to come up with the idea of a pet food give-away fundraiser.
Young set the idea in motion by starting a fundraiser on Facebook where people could donate money that would go towards buying bags of dog and cat food. Within 24 hours of announcing the fundraiser on social media, the couple had already received $600 in donations. The actual event began at 1 p.m. this past Sunday, December 20, but community members who wanted to donate more pet food were given a chance to do so at 12:30 p.m. Altogether, Young and Mullins accumulated around 60 bags of pet food for cats and dogs, 30 of which they donated themselves. They also had some cans of wet food and treats as well as pet toys to give away. Community members quickly arrived at 1 p.m. and got in line to receive the free pet food. Almost all the food, treats, and toys were gone in less than an hour.
Many of the community members standing in line echoed the same message, which was that times are tough; families are struggling; financial situations are worrisome; and any kind of help they can receive to take care of those they care about, including their beloved pets, means a lot. Young and Mullins did not expect such a great turnout but felt fortunate to have the means to help. They hope that more can be done to continue giving in the future.