A resource for animals is now available in the Verona Municipal Building.
Kelli Rodriguez, borough councilwoman and founder of 412 Animal Rescue, opened a pet food pantry for animal owners in need in partnership with Etta’s Blvd Doggie Daycare. She also donated a chip scanner for the pantry to help locate the owners of lost pets.
“It’s just something for the community,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez used to host the pantry at her home until relocating it to the borough building in March along with the donated scanner.
“I went to council over a year ago (to suggest adding the scanner to the building),” Rodriguez said.
She initially thought the relocation would bring more people to the pantry since it’s a public space. She said that hasn’t been the case. The pantry has seen fewer visitors. Rodriguez suspects people may be intimidated to come to the municipal building since it shares space with the borough’s police department.
“I thought people would prefer it in a public place,” she said.
As a rescue founder and operator, she’s on call nearly round-the-clock for rescue calls. A publicly accessible scanner will hopefully lighten the call load.
“I thought this was the best way to help and save some time,” Rodriguez said.
She said the scanner’s placement in the building — the entryway between the outdoors and the rest of the municipal building — is the safest for the animals in case one gets loose while being scanned.
“I was going to put it outside of my house, but I thought ‘we’re going to lose a cat or a dog,’” Rodriguez said.
The pantry features cat litter and food for cats and dogs, some special dietary needs and other general food.
The project has become a bit of a community endeavor. In addition to 412 Rescue and Etta’s, Acclimation Brewing in Verona offered their equipment to move larger donations to the pantry.
Anyone interested in donating to the pantry can contact 412 Rescue for instructions.