Charities to donate 20 tons of pet food to St. Mary's Food Bank - AZFamily

Charities to donate 20 tons of pet food to St. Mary's Food Bank - AZFamily

PetSmart and PetSmart Charities will send a record-tying donation to St. Mary's Food Bank on Thursday. (Source: PetSmart))

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -

PetSmart, PetSmart Charities and St. Mary’s Food Bank are working together to feed hungry pets in the Phoenix area.

In August, PetSmart and PetSmart Charities delivered 20 tons of pet food to St. Mary’s Food Bank, making it the largest pet food donation the food bank has ever seen.

On Thursday, PetSmart and PetSmart Charities will match the record-breaking delivery. This will provide an additional 190,000 pet food meals to local pet families in need.

[RELATED: St. Mary's Food Bank serves its one billionth meal]

PetSmart has a Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program, where for every bag of dog or cat food purchased online or in stores through December, they will donate a meal to a pet in need. Through this program, PetSmart expects to donate 60 million meals to pets in need at hundreds of animal welfare agencies across North America, as well as human food banks, pantries and meal programs, where pet food is a rare offering.

Pet families who need help often must decide if they must give up their pets because they can’t afford to feed them. The Buy a Bag, Give a Meal program helps to ease the anxiety these pet owners endure.

In total, St. Mary’s Food Bank will receive 380,000 pet food meals to distribute in 2017.

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