Purina has been helping pets and people in need since its founding 130 years ago. Each May, the company takes a day away from work to serve its more than 30 communities across the country.
On Thursday, May 23, nearly 2,000 employees at Purina's St. Louis headquarters took part in the company's 23rd annual Purina Cares Day adding to the more than 1,300 factory and sales associates across the U.S. who volunteered in their communities throughout the month of May for this annual effort.
To support neighbors struggling to put food on the table and in their pet's food bowl, Purina teamed up with the St. Louis Area Foodbank to host a drive-through food pantry event at Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis. Purina and Foodbank volunteers loaded boxes into vehicles, providing 29,000 pounds of free food to more than 300 families, including the family pet.
Additional Purina employees participated in a variety of service projects both on and off the Purina campus to support pets and people in need.
Volunteers teamed up with the LaSalle Park Community Association to clean up landscaping and streets as part of a beautification project in the residential neighborhood near Purina's headquarters in St. Louis. More than a dozen associates with trained Duo Dog Touch Therapy Dogs visited local high schools to ease stress and support students' mental health during final exam time. Other service projects included updating local animal shelters, participating in a riverfront cleanup, building bicycles for area youth and creating care packages for the local unhoused.
Outside of St. Louis, over 1,300 associates at 24 of Purina's factories and seven sales offices volunteered their time to create pet-enrichment toys, fleece blankets and adoption kits for local pet shelters; assemble care kits for area homeless; and renovate local dog parks and pet shelters.
"Purina Cares Day is a great example of Purina's values and our commitment to being a good neighbor in the communities where we live and work," said Kim Beardslee, Director of Community Affairs at Purina. "Our associates look forward to volunteering their time and talents to help make a positive difference in the lives of both pets and people in-need."
Purina Cares Day is one of many ways the company supports those in need each year. Guided by the belief that pets and people are better together, the company donates more than $30 million annually in financial grants and Purina pet food and cat litter donations to pet welfare agencies and nonprofit organizations across the country.
