As we start off the year with some of the coldest weather in years spreading across the country and many families still reeling from the recession and having a hard time feeding their pets, one of the ways we can teach our children to love both people and pets is to help supply our local food banks – for both people and pets. I’d like to be able to provide a link to a list of food banks by zip codes but haven’t been able to find one all encompassing list. PetFoodPantry.org does have a lot of resources. Food banks for pets are generally associated with human food banks, and it doesn’t hurt to ask your local Food Bank or Food Pantry if they will also accept pet food. Also if you put “pet food banks” followed by the name of your town and zip code in any of the search engines, all the local information about both human and pet food pantry’s will appear. Children relate to and emphasize with others needing food. If possible, include them in looking in the pantry to select a few items to donate to a local food shelter. It might be an opportunity for them to use their allowance to buy a food product to donate. If you know your neighbors well, let the kids collect a can or two of food or pet food from the neighbors. Of course, they’ll need you to encourage them and volunteer to drive them to the food bank to deliver the food.