🐾 Calling All Advocates: Help Us Make the 2nd Annual Delco Loves Animals Meeting a Turning Point

🐾 Delco, it’s time to step up.

This is not just another meeting — it's a CALL TO ACTION. Delco’s animal welfare system is broken, and it’s affecting all of us — whether or not you consider yourself an “animal person.” The state of shelters, strays, and abandoned pets is a community issue that impacts public health, safety, and compassion.

Delco Loves Animals is more than a Pet Food Pantry. We're gearing up for a major event before the end of 2025 — our 2nd Annual DLA Meeting, which will kick off with a powerful press conference.

After a year of tireless work behind the scenes, Delco Loves Animals (DLA) is preparing for our 2nd Annual Meeting and Press Conference — and we need your help, expertise, and connections to make this our biggest, boldest, and most impactful event yet!

🚨 What We Need Right Now

• 📍 Help us find a venue
• 📢 Volunteer for campaign & media outreach
• 🎥 Assist with livestreams & documentation
• 📅 Attend the event and bring others with you
• 💬 Share this post and spread the word

✊ Let’s Make History — Together

If you've ever felt powerless watching suffering animals, or frustrated by the lack of real solutions, now’s your chance to be part of something real. DLA is building momentum — and we want YOU on our team.

Last year’s meeting at The Spayed Club was packed — it was standing room only. That overwhelming response made one thing clear: people care, and we’re not alone in this fight. But this year, we’re aiming higher, and we need a bigger venue, bigger turnout, and an even bigger voice for the animals of Delaware County.

We’re assembling a volunteer campaign team to help make this event a success. Will this be more like a rally? Maybe. Here's how you can get involved:

🏢 Location Scouts - 📍 Help us find a venue

Our first task is urgent: find a larger venue to host the press conference and public meeting. We need a space that can handle a significant crowd — ideally with media access, parking, and livestreaming capabilities. Know a community center, school, church hall, or public space that fits? Let us know!

🎥 Media & Event Support - 📢 Volunteer for campaign & media outreach and assist with livestreams & documentation

We’re looking for volunteers to:

1. Contact local TV news stations and reporters
2. Help coordinate press coverage
3. Handle Facebook and YouTube livestreaming

4. Take photos and videos at the event

🏛️ Outreach to Elected Officials

We want this moment to be seen and heard across Delco — and beyond. We need help reaching out to:

1. Everyone in Delco involved with animal rescue
2. Humane World for Animals
3. Governor Josh Shapiro
4. Local municipalities
5. Delaware County Council
6. State Representatives and Senators
7. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon 

8. Candidates for local and state office

9. Those involved with animal rescue, TNR, shelters, animal control services, etc. 

We’re inviting them to attend, speak, and listen — because animal welfare IS a community issue that demands political will and public accountability. If the Delaware County Council was able to create a countywide Health Department even though each municipality has its own, then why can't they create a countywide Animal Welfare Department? If anyone knows why they can't, please let us know. So far, we haven't found the answer.

🐶 Why This Matters — To Everyone

This isn't just about animals — it's about the kind of community we choose to be.

Delaware County's animal welfare system is broken; it has stretched to its breaking point: underfunded, overburdened, and failing far too many. As a result, everyday residents have stepped in to fill the gap — often at great personal cost. They're overwhelmed, exhausted, and drained physically, financially, and emotionally. This isn’t sustainable — not for them, not for the animals, and not for our community.

Even if you're not an animal lover, these issues impact public health, community safety, and how your tax dollars are used. More than that, how we treat the most vulnerable — including animals — reflects who we are. Turning a blind eye to suffering isn't just a policy failure; it's a moral one.

We can do better — and we must. It's time to demand real, systemic change. That starts by showing up, speaking out, and standing together for a more compassionate, responsible future.

If you've ever felt powerless watching suffering animals, or frustrated by the lack of real solutions, now’s your chance to be part of something real. DLA is building momentum — and we want YOU on our team.

💬 Share this post and spread the word

It's about time we, as a community push for a permanent, caring, ethical, and humane solution for the animals and residents of Delco.

Feeding Pets, Fueling Hope: A Look Back at Sunday’s Pet Food Pantry

 

🐾 Full Bellies, Full Hearts

This past Sunday, our community came together once again to make a real difference — not just for pets, but for the people who love and care for them.

At our Pet Food Pantry event, hosted generously by Collingdale Councilman and Firefighter Steve Zane and the Collingdale Firehouse, we were able to provide essential supplies to local families in need. Thank you to the Glenolden Wawa for providing refreshments! And Thanks to the kindness and support of The Spayed Club*, Purr Love*(collaborators and donors), our faithful donors and volunteers, countless pets will have a few full bowls and full bellies.

🥫 What We Provided:

• Dog and cat food

• Treats

• Cat litter

• Basic pet care supplies

For many families, these resources are more than just helpful — they’re a lifeline that allows them to keep their pets through hard times.

🙌 A Huge Thank You To:

• Steve Zane and the Collingdale Firehouse for hosting and supporting the event with such generosity and heart.

• The Glenolden Wawa for providing refreshments.

• Volunteers Stynor Carter, Denise Haley, and Kim Reid for their time, energy, and love for the mission.

• And of course, everyone who donated food, litter, and supplies — your contributions made this day possible.

💬 Why It Matters:

For many animal caretakers and pet families, these resources are more than just helpful — they’re a lifeline that allows them to keep their pets through hard times. We’re proud to be part of a community that shows up and steps up.

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📅 What’s Next?

We’re excited to announce that our next Pet Food Pantry will be held on Sunday, October 26 at The Real Church in Brookhaven! 🐾 We'll also have a table at Brookhaven's Family Day (see below for details).

📌 Flyers will be posted soon — be sure to mark your calendars and help us spread the word! Also, be sure to check our Facebook page and our blog regularly for updates and additional information.

We're collecting donations of cat and dog food, dry and canned (grain-free for cats) and unscented cat litter. We help supplement colony and stray cat caretakers and rescuers so we welcome large bags of cat food. 

We're also looking for hosts and volunteers to partner with us at future events. Whether you can provide a space, help collect donations, assist with setup, or simply want to be part of this important mission, we’d love to have you on board.

👉 Want to get involved? Reach out to us at delcolovesanimals@gmail.com or complete this form — let’s work on animal welfare together.

SEPTEMBER 27th   I   BROOKHAVEN FAMILY DAY*

Brookhaven Municipal Center, 2 Cambridge Rd, Brookhaven, PA

12pm - 4pm

OCTOBER 26th   I   THE REAL CHURCH*  **

301 Edwards Dr., Brookhaven, PA 19015

Time TBD

 *All are welcome to attend. **You must be approved to participate in the Pet Food Pantry.

👉 Interested in hosting or helping?

Reach out to us at delcolovesanimals@gmail.com or complete this form — let’s feed more pets, together. 

Together, we’re building a community where compassion leads and no pet goes hungry.

The Quiet Crisis in Delaware County

 

Delaware County is facing a quiet crisis — one that has been ignored by systems and institutions for far too long, but not by the compassionate residents who have stepped up to take action.

While official support may be lacking, countless individuals and grassroots organizations have been working tirelessly and using their own resources to save lives, advocate for change, and give animals a fighting chance. Their efforts are heroic — but they shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone. Imagine if they never got involved or worse, stopped.

While the signs are all around us, this issue has slipped through the cracks, pushed aside, and met too often with silence or indifference. But the truth is undeniable: animals in our shelters and on our streets are at risk every single day — not because they are unwanted or unlovable, but because our systems are overwhelmed, under-resourced, and outdated.

We cannot keep turning a blind eye. And we absolutely cannot continue down this same path.
The cost is too high — measured in lives lost, hearts broken, and trust eroded. It’s time we face this head-on, together. We need a new way forward — one rooted in compassion, community collaboration, and proven solutions.

But here’s the good news: there is a better way — and it’s already working in communities across the country.
Places just like ours have come together, adopted proven no-kill strategies, and transformed their shelter systems from high-kill to life-saving. This isn’t a dream — it’s a roadmap. And we have the power to follow it.

It starts with education, transparency, and accountability — but most of all, it starts with us, and that includes all of our elected officials.
Rescues, shelters, animal advocates, and everyday residents all have a role to play. Whether it’s fostering, adopting, trapping and neutering, volunteering, advocating, or simply spreading the truth — every action matters.

Delaware County can be a no-kill community. But only if we stop waiting for change — and start being the change.

Let’s rise together. For the animals. For each other. For our community. For a better future. For the next generation.

Click here for more information: https://nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit/the-animal-rescue-act

Delco Loves Animals Is on a Mission — And It’s Time for Change

 

You're going to start seeing more posts like this with videos, articles and guides.

Animal rescue is in crisis, and it's time we look into the mirror and ask ourselves the hard questions: Why, and what can we do about it?

You might remember the Frank Sinatra classic, [I did it] “My Way.” Well, “our way” — the way things have been done for years — just isn’t working. The current system is broken. It’s failing the very animals it was meant to protect. It’s time for a better way — one that saves lives, not ends them.

The groundwork has already been laid. Now it’s up to us to learn from it, come together, embrace it, get the word out — and put it into action. It's not going to be easy and it will take work, but what choice do we have? We cannot continue on the way we are, and we can't turn a blind eye to all the animal killing that's going on.

Let’s put this into perspective: Animal lovers are rightfully outraged when they hear stories of cruelty and neglect. But every single day, animals are being killed in shelters — not because they’re dangerous or terminally ill, but because there simply isn't space, resources, or a system designed to protect them.

Let’s be honest — “euthanize” is just a nicer and more palatable word for what it really is: killing.

That’s the quiet crisis we can no longer ignore. Will you stand with us?

For more details visit:

https://nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit/defining-no-kill