Full Bowl Feeding Program

06/07/2024

On route to feed some hungry pooches in the North!! 🐶 🐾

05/12/2024

Happy Mother's Day from the Full Bowl Feeding Program! Today, we celebrate not only the mothers of two-legged creatures but also the amazing dog moms who nurture their pups with unwavering love. Your dedication and care make the world a better place. Wishing all mothers a day filled with love, joy, and appreciation! ❤️

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In other news, two shipments of nutritious dog food have headed north to support communities in need. Shout out to our community contacts who have taken on the responsibility of receiving and distributing to the animals! Your compassionate nature is inspiring! We also thank our friends at Murillo Mutts Respite & Refuge along with the folks at Pet Valu for your kind donations towards this cause 💕

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Over the coming weeks we will continue to grow our inventory and distribute to those in need. With every shipment and delivery we're ensuring that our furry friends receive the nourishment they deserve. Thank you for supporting our mission‼️

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05/03/2024

🐾 Guess who's back? Our Full Bowl Feeding Program for our furry friends returns after a two-month hiatus! 🐶🐱

We're wagging our tails with excitement to announce the relaunch of our program, ensuring that every paw gets a nutritious meal. Our team has been working tirelessly to prepare and we couldn't be happier to see those happy tails wagging again.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting a beautiful pup named Titus. Titus is a beloved dog whose owner was rushed to the hospital for an emergency visit. Though our focus has been providing food to remote northern communities, we have a soft spot for anyone who reaches out for help. While Titus’ owner recovers in the hospital, we will be there to provide kibble and support for the wonderful folks looking after this lovely dog. The goal - keeping pets and families together.

Whether it's a stray cat in need of a warm meal or a playful pup waiting eagerly for their bowl, we're here to provide support and nourishment. Because every little meow and woof matters to us. Stay tuned for our next shipment that will be heading up to feed strays in Poplar Hill.

Thank you for your patience and unwavering support. Let's keep those bowls full and those tails wagging!🐾❤️

03/04/2024

‼️ IMPORTANT UPDATE ‼️

Hey there, wonderful community! We're here with some updates from Full Bowl Feeding Program. 🐾 🐶 🦴

Firstly, check out the dogs in Deer Lake enjoying some full “bowls”. 😊😆 We are so grateful for the community members who kindly offer their time and energy to make sure the animals are taken care of and fed. Hats off to you. ❤️

Secondly, we have an important development to share with you. 💬

As much as we love serving our furry friends and their communities, we're having to take a short hiatus throughout the months of March and April in order to revamp our program!

Over the next 60 days we will be working behind the scenes to create new and exciting connections, revamp our logistics, secure kibble donations, and brainstorm new ways to make Full Bowl Feeding Program paws-itively amazing!

Please rest assured knowing that we are still 100% committed to this program and to its success! While we sort through this transitional phase, our volunteers will continue to help with other organizations to ensure that there are still full bowls for our furry friends in remote Northern Ontario.
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We remain very hopeful for the future of Full Bowl Feeding Program! Thank you all for your ongoing support and understanding. Stay tuned for the re-launch in May, and get ready for an even brighter future with Full Bowl Feeding Program!

❤️ 🐶 🐾

02/20/2024

❤️ 🐾 We hope you all enjoyed Family Day weekend!! We’re right back to it at Full Bowl Feeding Program 🐾 🐶

Though it’s no secret that our focus is and always has been feeding the northern dogs, there are also times we get to make a tailored accommodation and help out our furry feline friends ‼️🐈😻😸‼️

Similar to dogs, without access to veterinary care in remote northern communities the cat population can be nearly impossible to manage. Consider this: while dogs generally go into heat twice a year, cats can experience a heat cycle every 2-3 weeks within a single mating season, resulting in more frequent and numerous litters. While other like-minded organizations work hard to fill gaps in spay/neuter services, Full Bowl Feeding Program will be here to help in the meantime by keeping their bowls topped up. This mix of both dog and cat kibble will surely fill some hungry bellies!

❤️ 🍲🐈‍⬛ 🍖🐶 ❤️

*kibble provided by Northern Reach Network*

02/13/2024

Dog food on the move to Deer Lake, Ontario!

🚚💨 🍖 🐕 🐾

02/11/2024

💝Donor Appreciation Post 💝

🐾 We are incredibly grateful for our compatriots at Northern Reach Network who have been instrumental in ensuring the success of our program! 🐶🍽

Their historical and ongoing donations of kibble to Full Bowl Feeding Program (and Feeding Program for the Northern Dogs) has been a lifeline for the North, ensuring that we can continue to meet the nutritional needs of animals who rely on our services. Additionally, the provision of storage space has allowed us to effectively manage and distribute the donated food, helping maximize our resources in these early days.

Did you know that Northern Reach Network has played a key role in feeding dogs all over Canada? From Nova Scotia to Manitoba, their donations have touched the lives of many. What started as a mission to feed foster dogs in care, has grown into a food hub for animals far and wide. Not only do they donate large quantities of kibble to our program, they also provide to drive-in communities, other rescues, food banks, church hampers, spay/neuter programs, and more!

Thanks to the support of Northern Reach Network, we can continue to make a tangible difference in the lives of northern dogs. Together, we are ensuring that no bowl goes empty and that every dog has the nourishment they need to survive. We are profoundly grateful for their donations and look forward to continuing our shared mission of compassion and care. 🐾❤️

Check out their website at https://northernreachrescuenetwork.com

Northern Reach Network is a non-for-profit organization that was founded by the late Darlene Vezina in 2014. We work closely with our local Humane Society and other animal organizations, to support both people in Thunder Bay as well as First Nations Communities. We provide dog and cat food, medicati...

02/08/2024

🌟 Keeping the Momentum Alive 🌟

The response to the launch of 🦴 Full Bowl Feeding Program has been nothing short of incredible!

The overwhelming generosity and support to help our program get off to a good start has kept us very motivated! Here is a snapshot of our second shipment. 75 bags of kibble, labelled and ready to make its way into the next remote community. 🛩️

We will be working hard over the next couple of months to make sure every community we partner with receives a large load of food as soon as possible. 🐶 🐾

Let’s keep the spirit of kindness alive and continue to make a positive difference in the lives of animals. Together, we can create a brighter, healthier future for all. Thank you for standing with us in this important cause!

*kibble provided by Northern Reach Network

02/07/2024

🐾 It’s official! 🐾

We are thrilled to announce that our first delivery to a remote northern community is complete! Thanks to your support, we were able to provide nutritious meals to our furry friends in need. 1145 pounds of kibble is on its way to Eabametoong (Fort Hope). We look forward to seeing the wagging tails and happy faces of these pups. It reminds us why we do what we do. Together, we're making a difference, one bowl at a time. Thank you to NAPS and Air Bravo for arranging the transportation, and to Northern Reach Network for supplying the kibble for these deserving dogs !🐕

Stay tuned for more updates on how we're spreading joy and nourishment to dogs everywhere! 🐶❤️

02/05/2024

At Full Bowl Feeding Program we believe in working smarter, not harder! 🦴 🐶

Though there are days we spend hours “hand bombing” donations, today was not one of them! The lovely folks at Northern Reach Network’s storage facility used their heavy equipment and helped us to load up quicker than ever. We are now all set for the food to get to Gardewine! ❤️

Thank you to Peter and John, the dogs appreciate it…. And so do our backs! 👍

02/02/2024

Prep has begun here at Full Bowl Feeding Program!!

After a meeting with our partners at Gardewine North earlier this week, we are now beginning the process of moving food! Once we have a large enough load, the food will be transported to Gardewine North. From there, it will shipped to a North Star Air hanger, where they will fly it into a community free of charge. We are SO grateful for this!! Our program would not be sustainable without the ongoing support from these companies.

We must also thank Northern Reach Network for donating the extra bags of food to our program to feed the northern dogs! We wouldn’t be able to do it without you. Partnership with rescue is an essential component of our program. More to come on our partnership with Northern Reach and how they have come to be one of our biggest supporters. ❤️

Our first load will be heading to a community where many strays are being fed by a kind human, who cannot reasonably afford to continue supplying all of these mouths with food. Until there is space in rescue, or a spay/neuter clinic opens up, the options for these animals are slim.

🦴 Full Bowl Feeding Program aims to support the north by supplying these strays with nutrition. No one needs a hangry dog, let alone a hangry pack.

Stay tuned for more updates as next week unfolds!

Photo: Say hello to one of our finest helping paws, Ducky, a 6 year old husky with an attitude! She is always around to help whenever there is food involved 🐶 😆

01/31/2024

How it all began…

A message from the founder of the original feeding program - Daniela Balletini Heerema.

❤️ ❤️ 🐶 ❤️ ❤️ 🐶 ❤️ ❤️ 🐶 ❤️ ❤️

“In 2012, Leigh and I were volunteering with a local rescue. I would send up crates to bring in dogs from northern communities. We would always include dog food in the crates before shipping them out. From this came an idea to hold an initiative called “Christmas for the Northern Dogs”. We collected food to be shipped up and also money to pay for the shipping. We had a couple of contacts and sent to them. The response from this was tremendous and thus came my idea of starting a permanent program to help feed dogs in need up north.

The feeding program began in mid January of 2013. I asked Leigh to help and with that we started our long running feeding program for the northern dogs. At first we did what we could and shipped when we had food and money. I kept trying to find a way and in early 2014 while going through the phone book (of all things) and saw a smiling man in an ad for Cargo North (now North Star Air). He was standing in front of a plane, holding a dog. Well, that was it. I called him up and soon after we were in the North Star office making plans for shipping dog food north. Shortly after this, a friend suggested going to Gardewine about shipping the food out of Thunder Bay to the North Star hangers in Pickle Lake and Red Lake, ON. Gardewine said yes and we were set from that day on!! Cargo and shipping to the hangers were all free of charge.”

Daniela and Leigh ran the feeding program from 2013-2023.

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🦴 Full Bowl Feeding Program is proud to continue the work of these amazing founders. We recognize the importance of this program and the ever growing need for access to dog food in the north.

01/30/2024

🐾 Exciting News! 🍽️

We are pleased to introduce our Full Bowl Feeding Program (formerly Feeding Program for the Northern Dogs), a dedicated initiative committed to providing essential nutrition to dogs in remote northern communities. 🐾🍲

Our program, based in Thunder Bay, operates by shipping donated food to support our furry companions in remote fly-in communities. Join us on this mission to make a significant impact on the well-being of these dogs and their families.

Stay tuned for updates on our efforts, volunteer opportunities, and heartwarming stories showcasing the positive influence we are making in the lives of our four-legged friends. 📆 Let's unite in compassion and contribute to the health and happiness of dogs in northern communities!

01/30/2024

Without access to veterinarians, dog populations are difficult to control. This leads to stray animals with no one to pay for their meals. When resources are scarce, animals can get desperate and conflict may result.

🦴 Full Bowl Feeding Program will work alongside our community partners to help distribute food to not only people’s beloved pets, but the strays who might starve without.