Week 3 EOC : Making Money for Good

Bogo Bowl

"We see this one all too many times: animals who can barely walk because they are weak from lack of nutrition and water. These animals whose skeletons seem to almost pierce through their skin gobble down their food as if it's their last meal. Their skin droops off their bones due to dehydration. Surprisingly, many of these animals maintain their affection towards people. What a terrible way to live and die. Animal Control has picked up too many of these victims: alive and dead. Some victims are found dead still chained up in their own back yard. Starvation is not just caused by a lack of food and water, but by improper food, untreated disease, and parasites (like worms) - all conditions that can be controlled with proper treatment and care." (http://www.cityofboston.gov/animals/abuseneglect/starvation.asp)

BOGO Bowl is a company who makes pet food for dogs, and cats of various ages. The policy at their company is to deliver non byproduct healthy foods to animals and for every bag of food you buy in stores or online they donate another bag of premium dog food to local animal shelters and to foster families for animals. The program itself came about back in 2009 when Sara, a Pet Project founding member, helped research information to figure out what the main causes of families giving pets up was. What they found out was that the majority of pets returned to shelters have the biggest issue affording the food, and/or litter, for their pets. There are also a ton of big struggles with the animal shelters needing food and support that they don’t always get consistently. “Sara quickly discovered there are some programs to help shelters get the food they need for their charges, but not everyone is eligible and there’s not always enough to go around. And it is muchharder for pet pantries to get food support. So she wondered if she could leverage the dollars she was spending feeding her own dogs (see below) to help the pantry. Surprise! Yes, she could. And that’s how – and why - BOGO Bowl came to be.” (http://www.bogobowl.com/aboutus.asp) 

The company itself has many aspirations about keeping pets fed throughout the country and if you want to support the organization itself it is as easy as buying the pet food you already get for your dog or cat. The company even offers free shipping to its customers and risk free trials to see if your picky pet will enjoy the food itself. Perhaps the best thing yet about the company is you, the customer yourself, gets to choose which local organization your donated bag of food gets to go to. This means that you can donate food to your favorite shelter in your neighborhood. “[Sara] Henderson’s biggest goal is that no animal shelter, rescue or pantry in the U.S. has to pay for food ever again.” (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/des-moines/2014/09/30/des-moines-business-spotlight-bogo-bowl-pet-food/16399921/)