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Animal Friends, Pirates Team Up To Hand Out 17,000 Pounds Of Pet Food To Owners In Need

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The pandemic has hit many of us in different ways. Like struggling to pay rent, buying groceries, and in some cases, taking care of our pets.

It has also led a lot of people to make difficult decisions. One being, should I give up my dog because I can't afford to take care of it? Animal Friends is hoping with events like today's pet food distribution, people won't be faced with that kind of heartbreaking decision.

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(Photo Credit: KDKA)

They've teamed up with the Pittsburgh Pirates, FedEx and Chewy.com for the event.

Like other distribution events, this one was no-contact, meaning people had to stay in their vehicles. But people were welcome to walk up as well, they just had to have a mask or face covering on.

Chewy donated more than 17,000 pounds of dog food for the distribution.

The event wasn't scheduled to begin until 11 a.m., but they opened up an hour earlier because people were waiting in their vehicles.

KDKA was told they had a similar event back in April, and because there was such a huge response then, they needed more space this time around.

"But, also, there are a lot of people with transportation barriers that weren't able to get to us on our campus. So that's one of the reasons why we are down here, downtown, next to PNC Park, because it's a more central location, and we think it's going to be easier for folks to get to us, whether they drive to us or see us on foot," said Cody Hoellerman, Director of Communications at Animal Friends.

For people who would like to donate items, they ask that you drop them off at their Camp Horne Road location.

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