Category: Friendship Pet Food Pantry

THE FRIENDSHIP CENTER REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO THE WHOLE PERSON WITH NEW ‘ALWAYS-ON’ PET FOOD PANTRY

CHICAGO (May 18, 2026)—Building on its longstanding commitment to addressing food insecurity across Chicago’s Northwest side communities, The Friendship Center has announced a new initiative to expand its popular Pet Food Pantry, growing it from a once-per-month service into a daily offering for area pet owners.

Since 1969, The Friendship Center has been serving the greater Northwest side of Chicago by fostering hope and dignity through access to food and vital resources. Located at 2711 W. Lawrence Ave., the center serves nearly 6,000 neighbors through pantry shopping, home delivery, the pet food pantry, hot meals to go, and 1:1 public benefits support. 

The pet food pantry was started in 2013 by the late volunteer Dara Salk, who had a passion for ensuring that Chicago families and their pets would be able to stay together. As a once-a-month distribution held on the third Saturday, this program has skyrocketed in demand, distributing over 12,600 lbs of pet food in 2026 alone. 

Beginning June 1, 2026, The Friendship Center will incorporate pet food and supplies into a regular pantry visit, eliminating the standalone once-a-month pet food distribution and increasing access for all.

“We believe every neighbor deserves dignity, care, and support. By providing food, pet food, baby products, and personal hygiene essentials, we strive to nourish the whole person and strengthen our community with compassion and hope.” says Executive Director Nadia J. Jimenez. 

Jiménez adds that, “As one of the city’s only pet food pantries, we receive daily calls from neighbors in need of pet food—many requiring assistance before our once-monthly distribution. We hope to expand access so neighbors can receive pet food and supplies during both monthly pantry visits.”

The Friendship Center, part of the Greater Chicago Food Depository network, offers a client-choice model, allowing Cook County residents to shop for groceries that best suit their family from fresh produce, shelf-stable items, dairy products, meat, personal hygiene products, baby items, menstrual products, and now pet food. The pantry is open on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 12 pm – 4 pm and Tuesdays from 3 pm – 7 pm. Households can shop twice a month. First-time visitors do not need to provide an ID or proof of income, will be registered, and can shop during their first visit.

For more information about the pantry, check out this page.

To contribute to the pet food supplies, you can purchase from our Chewy wishlist or make a direct donation.

Lincoln Square Animal Hospital Shares Pet Food and Supplies Donations

Lincoln Square Animal Hospital often receives pet food and supplies from their clients and distributes those donations to other organizations and individuals in the community. They became an ongoing partner with the Friendship Pet Food Pantry (FP2) in November 2023.

Practice Manager, Sylvia has been critical at coordinating ongoing food and supply donations to our pet food pantry. Sylvia shares that LS Animal Hospital partners with the Friendship Pet Food Pantry because, “we want people who need the donations to receive them and we align with FP2’s mission of keeping Chicago families and their pets together.”

Lincoln Square Animal Hospital is located at 4501 North Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL 60625 at the intersection of Sunnyside and Lincoln in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. They serve around 800 pets every month.

Sylvia shares, “we want our clients and patients to feel at home and welcome. As pet parents ourselves, we know precisely how important yours is to you. We take pride in our client service and we design treatment protocols that are tailored to your pet’s specific needs. Our staff takes pride in helping our fur patients.”

Thank you Lincoln Square Animal Hospital for your ongoing commitment to our community and helping Chicago families and their pets stay together.

Providing Better Support with our Partners

The most humane and effective way to get the outdoor cat population to a manageable level is through Trap- Neuter- Return (TNR) services. The Friendship Center Pet Food Pantry compliments the Tree House Humane Society’s TNR program in many ways.

Cats congregate in areas where there are resources, and many caretakers end up caring for more cats than they can support. While many colony caretakers have a hard time affording the full scope of needed care, out of deep compassion, they continue to dedicate their funds and time to help the cats they encounter. Tree House does what it can to stabilize the colony’s numbers through its no-cost, on-the-ground TNR program.

Due to the speed at which a colony of cats reproduces, the numbers can get out of hand. It is not uncommon for people to start seeing a few cats first, and then for that number to skyrocket. Sometimes, the number of actual cats in a colony is much greater than what the caretaker even realizes. There are many times where we are called onto a site with 10 cats or more! After we treat a colony to stop the chaos of quickly reproducing cats and the focus turns to the colony’s immediate care, these amazing people are often faced with a scary reality: loving the cats like their own but not having enough resources to feed them adequately.

When I volunteer at the Pet Food Pantry, I see many of those same clients I’ve worked with receiving the help The Friendship Center provides. It warms my heart to see people who I know pour their heart into the care of the cats, have a resource to turn to in difficult times. Because of programs like The Friendship Center’s Pet Food Pantry, caretakers have a place to get support and some financial relief. 

Tree House Humane Society partners with The Friendship Center by sharing pet supplies such as food, collars, beds, litter, and other essential items. With the amazing space and program at The Friendship Center, together we can assist many more pet-friendly community members than if each acted alone.  

-Olivia Radziszewski

About the author:

Olivia leads the TNR efforts at Tree House Humane Society. She has always been interested in helping and supporting animals. As well as has been a foster in many organizations in the Chicagoland area. Having worked in human services as well, she is grateful for the opportunity to bring two together by participating in programs like The Friendship Center Pet Food Pantry. 

How The Friendship Pet Food Pantry Started

The goal is that no pets are abandoned or surrendered to shelters because they can’t be fed.

About ten years ago, several small north-side pantries were closing for various reasons. The 47th Ward Clergy Council formed an exploratory committee to determine if that activity left the community’s food insecure population without sufficient resources. I was on that committee, and as part of that process we visited a pantry, Care for Real, that was feeding hundreds of people each week. But that organization also offered a monthly pet food pantry, and I was inspired by what I saw! It was run by a lone, determined volunteer: Bark Bark Club owner Patti Colendera.

Later that year, the North Park Friendship Center was preparing to open a second location in Lincoln Square. Together with Betzi Poole, Heidi Bush approached their Board and pitched an all-volunteer group offering a monthly pet food pantry at the facility. The thinking was no one should choose who in a family goes hungry, pets included.

One year later, in 2013, The Friendship Pet Food Pantry became a reality. We secured donated storage space to hold extra inventory at Stay, a neighborhood pet hotel, and were soon awarded a grant from Banfield of 25,000 pounds of pet food. We opened our doors that month and haven’t missed a month since!

To receive pet food and supplies, only Chicago residency and proof of pet spay/neuter status are required. If needed, we offer referrals for those surgeries & have an arrangement with PAWS for a reduced rate, as well. When we have surplus pet food we can’t distribute for whatever reason, we share our bounty with other organizations – who often reciprocate. We continue to be blessed by dedicated, generous pet lovers who volunteer their time, donate food, supplies, and help raise money (especially for the always requested cat litter!) and can’t thank them enough.

It’s humbling to see what we started a decade ago has grown into something that served over 800 pets last year. Pets are beloved members of a family – I can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

-Dara Salk

About the author: Dara Salk is one of the founding volunteers of the Friendship Center Pet Food Pantry. Since launching it in 2013, she has been a driving force behind its growth, creating relationships and finding pet food to distribute across Chicago and its suburbs. A longtime community activist, Dara has also helped found Forward Chicago, been a member of Riverbank Neighbors, 47th Ward Council, Green Council, and Senior Council, and served as the community outreach director for 47th Ward Alderman Ameya Pawar.