Summit County Pet Food Pantry

During a time of nationwide pet welfare crisis following the pandemic and its subsequent financial challenges, community members have been unwillingly forced to surrender their pets to the Animal Shelter. As a result, our Shelter’s capacity and resources has been decreased and the function for which they were designed has been compromised.

As reported by Summit Daily News, in 2023, the Summit County Animal Shelter saw a record high of 157 pets surrendered, 72 of which occurred in four months. Sadly, pet surrendering continues to persist in our county and the Summit County Pet Food Pantry is striving to make greater quantities of pet food available and its distribution more equitable.

Summit County Pet Food Pantry is a licensed 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2024 and is committed to keeping pets at home with their families. We do this by supplying pet food to those presently experiencing financial hardships. Our Founder, Suzanne Ackley, said, “We just want people to be able to keep their pets at home, and one basic way of doing that is to offer food.”

In our short operating period, we’ve partnered with community members, local businesses, other local animal welfare organizations, local Veterinary offices, the Summit County Chamber of Commerce, Town of Silverthorne, Alpine Bank, and corporate pet food companies. We continue to seek out local businesses who are willing to host our donation boxes or be a venue for our charitable events.

We hope that by starting this pet food pantry, the number of surrendered pets in Summit County will decline, and families and their pets will flourish in our community.