Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe offering increased support to South Lake Tahoe community

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe (HSTT) has been providing increased support to the South Lake Tahoe community, distributing hundreds of pounds of cat and dog food along with numerous other services.

The food distribution from when HSTT shut down to the public due to COVID are as follows:

Dry dog food: 1719 lbs total ~ 171 lbs a week

Dry cat food: 178 lbs total ~ 18 lbs a week
Canned dog food: 636 cans ~ 64 cans a week
Canned cat food: 467 cans ~ 47 cans a week
Cat litter: 130 lbs total ~ 13 lbs a week

These figures encompass the distribution from April 3rd to June 15th and are based on the average over those 10 weeks (almost 2,000 lbs of dry food, over 1100 cans of wet food and 130 lbs of litter.)

HSTT started providing services to South Lake Tahoe in early 2019 and opened up an office location in December 2019. HSTT is proud to be the only nonprofit animal welfare organization in the South Lake area providing programs and services—including community spay/neuter, vaccine clinics, vet assistance, pet pantry (free pet food), education, and pet therapy.

“The number of application submissions for our community spay/neuter program continues to grow every week,” said Mariel Berei, South Lake Tahoe programs manager. 66 spay/neuter vouchers have been issued in 2020 so far. In 2019 HSTT issued 63 spay/neuter vouchers in total. CSN has grown tremendously in South Lake and expects to only grow more as word of the program continues to spread. HSTT has given out $1,385 as part of their emergency vet assistance program so far in 2020, which helps certain members of the community with vet bills.

HSTT has also started an education program, Pet Pals, this past school year in South Lake. It is a virtual education program in response to all schools in the area practicing distance learning. The lesson plans were sent out once a week to all local teachers and were used by several of them in their weekly lesson plans.

“Since opening our doors in South Lake Tahoe last year, the demand for our services has been consistently increasing. We are honored to support the community with much-needed resources in caring for their beloved pets,” said HSTT CEO Stephanie Nistler. “However, funding for this program is limited and we need help if we are to continue to provide services in South Lake Tahoe. We looked forward to holding fundraising events and getting to know the community this year, but the COVID-19 crisis has eliminated that possibility. The only way we can raise money for our South Lake Tahoe program is to directly ask the community for donations.”

Donations will go directly to HATT's community spay/neuter, vet assistance, and pet pantry efforts. Find ways to donate here: https://hstt.org/ways-donate.