Coventry pet shop owner's brilliant Christmas project as they 'go the extra mile'

A pet shop in Coventry has been going the 'extra mile' of donating pet food parcels to food banks to help struggling animal lovers. Purdy's Pet Shop in Radford has been putting parcels together for nearly a year after hearing from owners who were finding it difficult to feed their animals.

Since launching the parcel scheme, the team at Purdy's has donated around 215 pet parcels and has a target to reach 250 by Christmas. The donations from customers help the team put together a week's worth of pet food to send to food banks within Coventry.

Purdy's Pet Shop owner Rebecca Harrington said she wanted to 'do something about it' when she found out people were struggling. She told BBC CWR: "They’ve got to make a decision sometimes on whether they feed themselves or their pets. My staff and I just thought this isn't right."

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For more information about Purdy's Pet shop, follow their Facebook page here.

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Rebecca reached out to The Trussell Trust, an anti-poverty charity working with food banks to ensure that everyone can be free of hunger. She reached out to see if food banks in the city provided pet food, who said they don't do pet food parcels regularly but were willing to work with the store to provide them.

She added that people could enquire about the pet food parcels at a food bank. Volunteers would contact the shop, and a parcel would be sent out within a few days. She said she'd 'love to reach 250 parcels' by Christmas and said it is amicable if people chip in.