Huub Sengers from Den Bosch can no longer afford the food for his two dogs. He therefore reported to the animal food bank. They have enough food, but no good place to distribute it. So there are bags full of unused dog and cat food in a shed in Gemonde. And Huub and his dogs have been forced to be on a waiting list for six months.
Huub, 59, was a truck driver for many years and was always able to cope financially. Until he had a stroke in 2014. After that, his health went downhill. A broken knee, a heart attack and a burnout.
“I give my dogs a liver pate sandwich because I can’t always afford animal food.”
“I am forced to receive benefits. I notice that this makes it very difficult financially to keep pets,” says Huub with his dog Kees on his lap. “I had the dogs before the trouble started. Then people say that you should get rid of such a beast if you can no longer afford it, but that is sheer nonsense. You do not do that.”
That Huub cannot give his pets what they need makes him sad. “That hurts. I have to row with what I have. For example, I give them a sandwich with cheap liver pate from the supermarket, because I can’t always afford animal food. At least then they won’t be hungry.”
“I know from my own experience what it is like to fall between two stools.”
And that while in a small shed in Gemonde there are pallets and shopping carts full of dog food, cat food and snacks. Yet owner of the animal food bank Shanon Scheffers cannot help many people like Huub. At least sixty owners are forced to be on a waiting list.
“We are short of space and volunteers,” she says while sorting the feed. “Our storage in Gemonde is far too small to distribute the feed to everyone from here. And many people can’t even pick it up themselves, because they don’t have transport.”
It frustrates her that she cannot help so many people now. “I was homeless for a short time with my two dogs. From my own experience I know what it’s like to fall between two stools,” says Shanon.
“Everyone can come and get something, but it’s not nearly enough.”
In order not to leave owners like Huub completely out in the cold, Shanon tries to hand out feed once every few months in collaboration with other poverty organizations. This is already happening in Oss, Eindhoven and recently also in Den Bosch. “Everyone on the waiting list can come and get some food, but that’s not nearly enough,” says Shanon from the small storage shed.
Shanon is therefore looking for a large distribution center and distribution point in Den Bosch, but she does not have the money for it. That is why she needs help from the municipality. But a majority of the city council doesn’t seem to like that. “As a result, I often have nothing to eat for my animals. I think it’s a shame,” Huub says.