A Petite Pet Pantry is now in place outside Woodside FootGolf, next to Woodside Community Church on Morgantown Road. Submitted photo
A Greenwood animal rescue nonprofit’s plan for a pet food pantry is now a reality.
Leann’s Animal Rescue has placed a Petite Pet Pantry outside Woodside FootGolf, next to Woodside Community Church at 1811 S. Morgantown Road in White River Township. The pantry operates similarly to little free pantries placed in other areas of the county, where residents can drop off and take items no questions asked.
The pantry is a dream of Leann Lawson, the owner of Leann’s Animal Rescue. With the rescue, she takes in animals that are at risk of euthanasia, trains them and makes sure they are spayed or neutered and given vaccinations. Once they are healthy and ready to adopt, she matches them with an adoptive family based on the animal’s personality and needs, she said.
The Petite Pet Pantry stems from these efforts, Lawson said.
Initially, the plans were for the pantry to be placed at Independence Park and Lawson had been working with the Johnson County Parks & Recreation to accomplish this. However, these plans changed due to an insurance issue, she said.
A Johnson County attorney had asked her to place the county as an entity on her liability insurance, but the cost to do so was “astronomical,” Lawson said.
“It’s crazy the amount of obstacles I had to go through to try to get to that at Independence Park,” she said.
So she looked elsewhere, finding a location right down the road at Woodside. The box was placed last Wednesday and stocked halfway, Lawson said.
She’s already had to refill it once since she placed it. It’s already halfway empty again, she said.
Lawson is very thankful to Woodside for allowing her to place the box there. They also have a “Sniff Spot,” where a dog owner can pay a few dollars for an hour of fenced playtime, she said.
“That’s very cool for the community,” Lawson said.
With the first box placed, now Lawson’s focus has turned to getting a second box. She is working to raise $400 for another box to be placed at either Sarah T. Bolton Park in Beech Grove or in Morgan County, Lawson said.
Those who may want to help with Lawson’s efforts can go online to leannsanimalrescue.com, where there is information on donations and volunteering. People can also go to her Facebook page, Facebook.com/LeannsRescue.
“I will continue putting those out as as much as the community wants me to so,” Lawson said.
