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How Pet Businesses Are Helping Each Other After Hurricanes Helene and Milton

Indies and brands alike unite to help affected businesses and pet parents after the storms.

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A landslide from Hurricane Helene hit Barkers Anonymous in Hendersonville, NC.

It’s been a devastating past month for those impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton. In the PETS+ Facebook Community, independent pet retailers and service providers across the country are asking how they can help their fellow indies and pet parents impacted by the storms. We’re sharing efforts here, and will continue to add campaigns as we verify them, as well as examples of assistance being provided and ideas for how to do the same.

Comora Tolliver posted on Facebook about the damage Helene has done to Barkers Anonymous, her training center and boutique in Hendersonville, NC. A landslide from the storm destroyed the building.

In true indie style, Tolliver has popped up in a parking lot across the street from her former business to fill special orders and provide other much-needed supplies to pet parents in her community. If you would like to donate to rebuild efforts of Barkers Anonymous, she has set up a gofundme. As of Friday morning, it had raised $10,565 of its $50,000 goal. Tolliver is also donating supplies to area rescues.

Dogma Bakery in Arlington, VA, partnered with NAN Distribution and Verus Pet Foods to help pet parents in South Carolina. Owner Sheila Raebel says, “We asked NAN Distribution what food they had that they could sell us for $2,000 to send down to South Carolina after the hurricane. Verus sent us at least $10,000.” The store partnered with Lucky Dog Animal Rescue to deliver the food to pet parents in need.

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All Pets Considered owner Alison Schwartz shared this idea in the PETS+ Facebook Community in a thread about how indies can help fellow pet businesses affected by the storms. “My suggestion is for us ‘unaffected’ stores to suggest our customers purchase gift cards at our friend-stores in affected areas. They can, in turn, forfeit the gift cards to purchase pet food and supplies for affected customers.” As we learn of them, we’ll share here stores that have such options available as well as contact information for those that only sell gift cards in store.

Please email pamela@petsplusmag.com to be included in this post. We will verify all requests before sharing them.

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