Columbus Humane Society receives large donation, but needs more to help community in need

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Earlier this week, the Columbus Humane Society received a huge donation of animal food and supplies from the nonprofit GreaterGood.org. A semi-truck rolled in with more than 20 palettes of goods – and each palette held 20-30 bags of 50 pounds of food.  

The shelter posted photos to their Facebook page to make the community aware, and were immediately hit with a flood of responses.  

“Within 24 hours of posting that on Thursday, we had over 400 responses,” said Brittany Williams, the Columbus Humane’s director of marketing. “We knew that we were going to get a response which is why we created an in-house team to really manage this process because we knew, but I don’t think we knew exactly how many people were going to be in need at this time.” 

It took a few days for the shelter to go through and organize all the goods from the donation. Now, it’s fitting that on National Pet Day, the shelter is beginning to distribute the goods they received.  

“We are prioritizing the individuals in the community who are in immediate need whether they have some economic impact from COVID-19 or otherwise, maybe health issues, we are prioritizing the individuals and then also making sure we have quantities for other rescues as well,” Williams explained. “We have a lot of community partners, a lot of shelters in the community, other non-profit organizations, that we also help when we get really large food donations. Some of the county shelters as well.” 

Originally there was an online form for folks to fill-out in order to apply for the assistance. Due to the overwhelming response, Columbus Humane has had to put a pause on that form.  

“I don’t think we knew exactly how many people were going to be in need at this time. So that’s why we’ve taken those precautions to temporarily shut off the form while we acquire more food and supplies and start to service the community,” Williams said. “The food we have is not going to supply every person who has already applied for assistance on our form. It’s not going to. So we need additional help and I know our community is loving and supportive and will help us.” 

There are two ways you can help. Columbus Humane has set up a drop-off bin at their location in Hilliard where they are accepting all kinds of supplies.  

“We have staff in the building every day taking care of the animals and they monitor the supply drop offs as well,” Williams added.  

You can also donate online at www.columbushumane.org. The money given will allow members of the shelter to shop for the items that are most needed.  

“We are not giving up!” Williams said. “I really want the community to know that. We are looking to serve as many people as possible so we are going to continue to acquire more supplies, more food that we can help more people. And to those people who have the means to support other people right now, we could really use those food donations.”