11/30/2025
Opening Hank’s Bark Box has changed me in ways I never expected. When we first placed that wood box in our front yard, I thought we were simply helping families feed their pets during tough times. What I didn’t realize was how deeply it would connect me to the people around us, neighbors I might never have met, stories I might never have heard, friendships I never could have imagined.
Over time, I’ve come to know a few folks who donate regularly. Some give when they can and some give far beyond what anyone would ever expect. These aren’t just donors, they’ve become part of our extended family. We share quick conversations about their moments of kindness that stay with me long after the pantry door closes. Through Hank’s Bark Box, something beyond friendships have grown, real, meaningful bonds that remind me that community still exists in the most incredible ways.
One of those friendships weighs heavy on my mind, and it’s a reminder of just how profound this journey has been. There is a person who has donated faithfully, almost without fail. Weeks went by recently without seeing them, but I never expected the reason for their absence.
Then this weekend I saw them dropping off a donation. I went outside to say hello. They apologized, APOLOGIZED!, for not being around. Then they told me why, they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and the chemotherapy every two weeks has been so debilitating that they simply couldn’t make their usual trips to donate.
And yet… they told me that “as luck would have it,” they were able to skip treatment this week, and their first mission, their ONLY mission, was to go to the store and buy food for Hank’s Bark Box.
I stood there with no words. I mean, how do you respond to that? How do you put into sentences the weight of someone who is facing something so terrifying, so life-altering, and still thinks of others, still thinks of the pets and families we serve, still feels compelled to apologize for being unable to donate?
This is the community we have built. This is the heart that lives inside Hank’s Bark Box. It isn’t just a pet food pantry, it’s a place where people look out for each other, where compassion shows up in ways you’d never expect.
I’m genuinely humbled, I’m grateful and I’m forever changed by the people who have walked into our life because of this little wooden box.