We Love Mimi Ausland, Ellen DeGeneres, HALO® & FreeKibbleKat.com!

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. Just how much food is in that big truck?

This past December, my dear friend, Caroline Golon, mama of the famed, Romeo the Cat, asked me if I could help photograph the delivery of a huge donation of dog & cat food to a few very lucky local shelters. I was glad to help and was curious to see how much food was being donated. I grabbed my nephew, Ryan, who enjoys photography too, and we made our way to Greenwich, CT to wait for the truck to arrive.

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. Some shelter in the area is going to be VERY HAPPY soon!

When a semi truck arrives, you know this is going to be a big donation. Ryan and I were amazed at how many palettes of food came off the truck for the waiting rescues. I knew that every bag would help keep shelter animals going until they found their forever homes and help the rescues be able to use their funds to cover other things, like Vet bills, instead of having to worry about finding the resources to buy food.

Mimi Ausland, who started FreeKibble.com at age 11!

As payment for my services, I was told I could donate 5,000 meals of kibble to MY favorite Non-Profit Animal Rescue or Shelter! Stunned at the thought of that much food, I asked if the donation could come to my own rescue, Kitten Associates.

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. Our shipment arrives-all 2500 cans!

As many of you know, KA is a tiny rescue (right now!), but we really go through the food because kittens eat non-stop. A case of 12 cans can last a day or two depending on how many kittens we have.

Co-Owner of Halo, none other than the most supremely awesome animal lover,
Ms. Ellen DeGeneres

I asked the folks at FreeKibble.com and Halo if we could get canned food instead of kibble, but was a bit scared to know how big that shipment would be. It turns out we'd be getting---2500, 5.5 oz cans of cat food, which, depending on how many cats are in our program, could last us until NEXT YEAR.

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. Making friends with my new palette of cat food. Did I write, PALETTE OF CAT FOOD? YIPPIE!

If we really were getting almost 900 pounds of cat food, I knew that storing it in my garage would expose it to strong shifts in temperatures and possibly spoil the food. I decided it would be better to grant some of our donation to our friends at Animals in Distress as well as to ship some out to our foster homes in Georgia and to a few select local families-in-need. Even doing all that we'd still have plenty of food for our own foster cats.

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. My car is full of cat food! Woohoo!

There WAS a “little” hitch in our plans which made for an episode of “My Backache From Heck.” The truck wasn't suited to back down the driveway because it wasn't paved. We didn't want the truck to get stuck so we were faced with tearing down the palette, moving each case of food to the garage, then re-stacking the palette in it's new location! Oops!

©2012 Robin A.F. Olson. Mine! ALL MINE! Okay, some of it is mine, the rest I'm sharing.

It took a few hours to get everything moved and I honestly would have moved it miles if I had to, I'm so very grateful to have this donation. It will mean we can use our funds to cover other costs related to rescuing cats and it will give us some breathing room and a little less to worry about. With adoptions down, donations hard to come by and more cats being surrendered and abandoned, it's very uplifting to know that there's a company out there who really CARES and wants to make a difference for cats and dogs across the country.

Because of this amazing donation, this week we'll be rescuing a family of kitties-a mama and her FIVE, 1-week old kittens. Although the kittens are too young to enjoy Halo canned food, their mama will get as much as she wants. It'll help her stay strong, which will give her offspring the best chance at a healthy future. When her kittens are ready, they'll enjoy Halo, too.

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If you want to help feed shelter cats and dogs with a mouse-click, visit Freekibble.com and Freekibblekat.com

“Freekibble.com was launched in 2008, as the vision of then 11 year-old, Mimi Ausland. Mimi wanted to feed the hungry dogs and cats at her local shelter. "There are 10's of thousands of dogs and cats in animal shelters across the country, all needing to be fed a good meal." With this goal in mind, Freekibble was created.

Today, the Freekibble Network reaches over 500,000 passionate pet-lovers. This loyal community has helped us feed over 7 million meals to homeless dogs and cats in shelters, rescues and food-banks across the country.

Thanks to our Official Kibble Sponsor, Halo, Purely for Pets, we are able to donate the highest quality, all natural kibble, for happier, healthier pets while they wait for their forever homes.

All of us at Freekibble are committed to Mimi's original dream that "Every dog and cat deserves a decent dinner". And, we're dedicated to the primary mission of feeding nutritious food to as many shelter dogs and cats as we possibly can.”