Prince William SPCA van to pick up pet food donations

The shelves at the pet food pantry are often bare at this time of year, so the Pet Adoption on Wheels, or P.A.W. Express, van will be driving across the county on Saturday to pick up pet food donations.

The Prince William Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently purchased the van with a $154,565 Petco Foundation grant. The organization will use the van to pick up the donations at area Petco stores in Dale City, Woodbridge and Manassas, said Prince William SPCA president Melissa Korzuch.

The PWSPCA founded the food pantry in 2009. Since then, hundreds of family pets have benefitted from the free food their owners got at Manassas City Animal Adoption Center at 10039 Dean Drive.

The pantry serves as a short-term  solution to help families feed their pets when "times are tough," stated a PWSPCA press release.

Korzuch said the van, which will eventually travel across the county helping to get animals adopted, will only be picking up food this weekend.

The PWSPCA is waiting for the completion of some paperwork, administrative tasks and training before it will begin the adoption process, Korzuch said.

"We're kind of the middleman between the shelter and Petco, so while we're waiting for that happen, we want to get the van out into the community so people know what it is and look for it in the next month or so," Korzuch said.

The goal will be to fill the 26-foot van with food, Korzuch said.

"What we'll do is open all the cages and put all the pet food in there."

The ultimate goal will be to take the van into the community at least once a month to find  owners for the animals.

In the meantime, people who are interested can follow the van's progress  during the food drive via  PWSPCA's Twitter and Facebook pages.

The van is scheduled to be at Unleashed by Petco, at 14900 Potomac Town Place in Woodbridge, between 10 a.m. and noon; the Dale City Petco at 4167 Cheshire Station Plaza in Dale City, between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. and the Manassas Petco, at 10800 Promenade Lane in Manassas between 3 and 5 p.m.

Stop by at any one of these locations to tour the van and drop off donations for the pet food pantry.

The pantry, which receives no subsidies from state, city or county agencies and relies entirely on the public to stock its shelves, can use almost any wet or dry pet food for dogs and cats. The pantry will also accept bird, rabbit and other small animal food. Cans, pouches and smaller bags of food are preferred so more families can benefit from the donations. However, large bags of food will be accepted, the release stated.

"We see a dramatic decline in donations to the pantry in the late winter months," Korzuch stated in the news release. "This pet food drive will help keep the shelves stocked."

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reacheda t 703-369-6751.