We started in 2011 when the founder, Connie Swackhammer, received donated pet food from a closing pet store. She wanted to help those in need. People really didn’t understand it. They would often ask her “Why do you want to help the homeless and poor take care of their pets when they can’t even take care of themselves? Why would you want to do that?” Her answer was that many of these people are in a temporary situation, temporarily out of a job, domestic violence or divorce, a roommate moved out and they can’t afford the rent anymore and others are chronically homeless -chances are they have already burnt every bridge they have. Regardless of their living arrangements, the love and bond between the person and their pet is the same love and bond between you and your pet. This involves unconditional love, loyalty, mutual respect and admiration. She was told that there wasn’t a need for this service, but she quickly found that this was not true. Now we have Faithful Forgotten Best Friends (FFBF).

During the first couple of years, FFBF provided folks with pet food twice a month. We would ask for donations, frequent pet stores and ask for any outdated food they had, go to the Walmart and pled for broken bags they couldn't sell, and asked every friend we had. After collecting the food donations, we would take the bags of food to our original location, which was the back of an old church parish, and mix all the food together. We parceled the food out into individual bags so every pet could have enough food for the week. The pets were hungry and the folks who came in for our services were giving their own food to their pets. We had senior citizens splitting up their small daily meal that was delivered to them, making it a meal for two or more. The pets in homeless camps were eating anything they could find, carcasses, garbage and even leaves. When their owners went to a soup kitchen for their one meal for the day, they would bring back their “hobo bag” and share with their “best friend," their pet. Due to the love for their pets, neither the owner or pet were getting the nutrition they needed.

We came to realize that if the owners couldn’t afford food for their pet, we were certain the pets were not receiving the much-needed veterinary care to live a healthy life. We worked towards being able to provide basic “wellness care” in addition to donating food. The goal was to be able to vaccinate the pets to prevent deadly diseases and help with minor procedures we could do in the one room we were allotted in the parish building. If a pet is healthy and vaccinated, getting into a place to live is much easier, noting that the ultimate outcome would be to help the people and their pets get off the streets. In the meantime, FFBF had the simple aim of promoting the human-animal bond by keeping these animals medically well and with their loving pet parents.
 

When FFBF first started, we were serving 11 homeless pets with only pet food. Now we serve over 500 pets with pet food, basic veterinary preventives and wellness care.

 

Faithful Forgotten Best Friends is a 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit organization of volunteers. There are no paid employees. Everyone here donates their time to help those in need. We are focused on improving the quality of life for the pets of Franklin County’s underserved and vulnerable populations (homeless, senior citizens, veterans, etc.) through educating their owners, providing pet food, basic veterinary care, vaccinations, microchipping, and assistance with spay and neutering. We provide this support in a judgement free environment for individuals and families who are committed to the health and wellness of their pets and desire to keep them.​