The Caplan-Bensley Foundation's (CBF) overall goal is to help families in need nourish their beloved pet-dogs at home and keeping them out of a shelter.
Our Jazzy’s Place initiative was established in 2013 to provide individuals and families in need, along with their canine companions, a safe, comfortable and well-nourished life on earth.
The program’s primary objective is to make complementary dog food available to those facing difficult times, so that no family ever has to abandon their beloved pet. Both owners and their lifelong pet-dogs can now live comfortably together, thereby “Saving both ends of the Leash”
Jazzy’s Place supplements human food banks with dog food. Food bank contributors can now have greater confidence that their donations will benefit both families and their pets in times of hardship. Now families will not have to take food off the table to feed their pet-dogs.
CBF believes the most efficient and cost-effective distribution channel to help those in need is through the Feeding America program and their network of regional Food Banks supporting local food pantries.
This structure provides an optimized distribution method for delivering dog food to families in need, and is fully compatible with existing human food distribution and accounting practices
By establishing proper audit and controls, we are best able to channel grant awards to participating pantries for the benefit of individuals, families and their pet-dogs.
This program has since been adopted and successfully implemented by a number of food banks, and continues to add members. Food banks across the country have been adding new pantries each year expanding their base of dog food recipients.
In cooperation with the Colorado Pet Pantry, we are helping a much larger number of individuals, and families with their pet-dogs. The Colorado Pet Pantry partners with local food banks and pantries, churches, and other nonprofit groups to leverage clients that have already been vetted, significantly reducing work and administrative costs.
Most food banks are space constrained and prioritize feeding individuals and families especially during this time of food inflation and insecurity. The CBF is seeking to establish complementary initiatives similar to the Colorado program, that would provide a wider audience of families in need to receive dog food.
Future initiatives will be introduced aimed at greatly increasing the number of food banks participating in the Jazzy’s Place program.
One initiative is to establish a network of suppliers where food banks can purchase short-expiration dog food at drastically reduced prices. This would allow for its rapid distribution and free-up additional space for human food.
Another complementary dog food distribution program would provide delivery and auxiliary storage to further alleviate space constraints and maximize human food distribution.
These initiatives will result in feeding a greater number of households with pet-dogs, thereby fulfilling the CBF's mission of "Saving Both Ends of the Leash".
When people experience hardships, they often are forced to choose between feeding themselves or their pet. By giving grants that provide dog food to those in need, Jazzy’s Place provides an immediate and lasting solution to those individuals and families facing this dilemma.
Keeping dogs out of shelters not only saves the life of the dog, but also brings a huge relief to the owner who can enjoy living with their canine companion and continue to receive the great benefits of that bond. This enables dog-owners to care for their beloved lifelong pet for the remainder of its life, rather than going to a shelter, or being homeless with an unknown fate.
”Bring me your hungry, your poorly nourished, your vulnerable dogs,
seeking to be protected, fed, loved, and to love.
These devoted, affectionate souls in this harsh unforgiving world.
Send them, the unfed, the helpless, the less fortunate, to me”.
Inspired by the Emma Lazarus sonnet on the Statue of Liberty.
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