project maddie lives

Earlier this week I got the sad news that Project Maddie - the pet-food food bank that is the brainchild of my friend Kim Ford (a/k/a Dharma Seeker) - was forced to shut down. PM supporters were hoping it wasn't true, or would at least be a temporary situation.

Temporary it was. One great article in the Toronto Star, animal-lovers rising to the occasion, and Project Maddie lives to see another day. And hopefully, many days.

Wellesley St. E. apartment building fire in September that displaced more than 1,200 people has claimed another victim” a pet food bank that helped supply food to the building’s pets is closing.

Project Maddie — which delivered about 900 pounds of cat and dog food to the Wellesley Community Centre, which had been temporarily set up to help residents who had been forced out of their homes — cannot meet its operating funds, says director and founder Kimberley Ford, who lives in Oakville and works as an insurance company underwriter.

Supplying food to the pets of the Wellesley apartment residents wiped out the supplies in the food bank, said Ford, who did all the deliveries to Toronto in her 2000 Mazda Protégé. Most of the food was donated by a commercial retailer and consisted of food past its expiry date, which is still safe for consumption but cannot be sold.

Ford estimates that Project Maddie helped about 300 pets from the fire and another 200 since she started the organization last April. It helped people at risk of losing their pets due to short-term financial instability, as well as seniors and people living with disabilities on fixed incomes.

People would contact her through the website by sending emails or leaving phone messages asking for help.

Ford was able to replenish through more commercial donations of pet food and now has 300 pounds, but there is no money to pay operating costs to cover the cost of a postal box, run the website, www.projectmaddie.com or pay for gas to deliver food.

More here, plus click through for a great pic of Kim and two family members.

Many thanks to Star reporter Valerie Hauch, and to La Zerbisias for helping to make this happen.