Latest / Conservation Stories / When Families Struggle, Pets Feel It Too

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When Families Struggle, Pets Feel It Too · Conservation Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:09
  Speaker B: This is Tillery Timmins Sims, and I'm glad you're back again for another episode of Conservation Stories. Conservation Stories is a podcast that's brought to you by the Sand Hill Area Research Association. I'm really thankful our audience has grown and our interest continues to expand, and that is evidenced today by our guest. So I've asked Erin Irwin of the Daisy Project to join me. I heard about Erin through another local business that is doing some great work, Missy's Resale. She's located in the east side of Lubbock. And I'll let Erin do a little more about her connection there. But Erin, thanks for joining us.
• 0:54
  Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:56
  Speaker B: So before people wonder, like, how this has any impact about what, what we do here at Sarah. So a lot of folks that listen to us and myself lived on the farm for many, many years. And we often are the maybe unwanted host homes to dogs that people and cats that people do not want. And they dump them a couple of miles out of town and they wind up often at farmhouses. And those houses are fewer and fewer now, not as many places, not as many people live out in those areas. So that's kind of not exactly your gig. But we're talking about the animals that people have that people are trying to take care of and maybe to prevent some of this abandonment issues. So, Erin, give us a little bit about yourself. You. Are you from Lubbock?
• 1:50
  Speaker A: I am from here, yes. I moved here many, many years ago. Yes.
• 1:54
  Speaker B: So what, what have you, what are you, what is your life? You got family, kids?
• 2:01
  Speaker A: Yes, I am married. I have two adult kids. And then by way of marriage and family, I have two teenagers at the moment, so. Oh, wow. Yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker B: Two teens at home.
• 2:16
  Speaker A: Yes, yes. They're 15 and 16.
• 2:18
  Speaker B: So, yeah, that's a busy stage of life. Busy stage of life. Well, tell us about the Daisy Project.
• 2:26
  Speaker A: So the Daisy Project. We founded the Daisy Project. My husband and I did this in April of 2025. So we're less than a year old. Our mission is to help families feed their household pets. There's a lot of rescues out there. There are a lot of rescue organizations, Trap, neuter, release. There really is not anyone that feeds family pets. And so our idea, our hope is to help people, you know, during those tough times so that they are not looking to re home, they're not looking to go dump their animals. They're not looking to, you know, give them away. And we're just trying to help them out, give them a week or two of Food to get them by as it's grown. We want to include, you know, more things that we can help with, but that is our main goal is helping feed these pets that are in people's homes.
• 3:27
  Speaker B: So how did you. How did you maybe realize that this was a need?
• 3:35
  Speaker A: Well, it. This all started with my daughter Haley, about 12 or 13 years ago. She had moved out on her own. She had her son, he was little, and she'd gotten her first dog. And her dog was named Daisy. And that she just loved this little dog next to her son that was just the love of her life and was crazy about this little dog. And at one point she just said, I want to bless somebody with a bag of food. And then it kind of just became a little more. And, you know, yes, I'm. I can buy you a bag of food. And from there she created what she called the Daisy's pet food assistance group.
• 4:27
  Speaker B: Oh, okay.
• 4:28
  Speaker A: So I was with her on that. And she went ahead and established it as a, you know, a non profit. We fed animals, sometimes we delivered, sometimes we let people come pick up. It was, you know, basically the same thing. And she did that for about a year. And then it realized there was just a lot of. A lot of work that went into a nonprofit.
• 4:56
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 4:57
  Speaker A: So. So that was where we originally founded this. And then this has been something that's been in my heart for the last five years. We talked a little bit. My daughter Haley, unfortunately lost her life in a car accident in April of 2020. And from the day from just about afterwards, I just kept saying, I'm going to do the Daisy project. I'm going to do the Daisy thing again. What a horrible year for you.
• 5:27
  Speaker B: 2020 was a bad year for everybody, but really bad for you.
• 5:31
  Speaker A: It was April of 2020. So we were like six weeks into Covid and yeah, it was. It would have been horrible anyway. And then you throw Covid in there and. Yeah. Trying to find a funeral home to do a funeral because most of them weren't. And. Yeah. So, but, you know, I guess this was always just something that I wanted to do for her because she did. She was all about the animals and all about helping everybody. Whether she. Whether she had the way to do it or not, she was going to find a way and she was. She was going to make it happen. Yeah. So I'm. I've been talking about it for five years, and this April was the fifth year anniversary, and I just. Five years seemed like a big number. Yes. I just said it's time and I just sat here one day, and I had. I filed with the state and created a Facebook page, and my husband and I went and bought a bag of dog food and sat in the parking lot, and that's what we did. So, you know, sometimes ready, fire, aim is how you do things. And that's definitely what we did. We did ready, fire, aim. And so now we're. We're figuring things out, but it, you know, it. It is. It is so needed and. Yeah.
• 7:06
  Speaker B: So how much. How much do you. Are you keeping kind of keeping track record of some data on. On the impact that you're making, like the amount po of food that's given away every week? And.
• 7:20
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I just finished up our applications in our spreadsheet for 2025. So from April 25th to December 31st, we gave around. We gave out about 6,000 pounds of dog food. We gave out close to 2,000 pounds of cat food. So we've done that. We're early into this year, and we are just starting to keep our numbers. But I know that Tuesday we gave out. Just Tuesday alone, we gave out about 150 pounds of dog food in one day.
• 8:00
  Speaker B: So when, you know, it's not even. Like, for me, there's a lot of people that foster dogs and cats, and, I mean, they're just doing this out of, you know, the goodness of their own heart, and they're not intending to keep the animals. They're really rehabbing them and making them where they'll be good pets for other families. And that's a huge thing. Do you guys find that those people
• 8:24
  Speaker A: are needing food and come to you? Well, we kind of had to draw a boundary there because there. There was what. What we were running into is we'd have tech students that would go get a pet. Oh, yeah. Want to keep it while they were in town. They may not find a home for it, and they were sending it back to the animal shelter or sending it into a lot.
• 8:48
  Speaker B: That happens way too often.
• 8:50
  Speaker A: It does. So we definitely have a problem. We do have a situation. So we really. In the beginnings, we were more lax. And then we realized we just. We really needed to have that boundary of who we can definitely provide food to. I try to provide a lot of resources, but every. Every animal organization is just as strapped as we are. But I do try to refer people to other organizations, but we really try to focus on. Because a lot. Well, a lot of the people that foster, they're fostering. I shouldn't say a lot. There are several that foster for Other organizations and those organizations should be assisting them with food. Yeah. So what we had, what we have done is we have just. I just make sure and ask people, are these fosters are looking to re home or are these fosters that are yours that are going to be, you know, foster fails and you're going to keep. Because we will feed the ones that are going to stay in your home forever. And that's. Yeah, that's really what we are focused on is those people that plan to keep the animals forever, that way they are not getting rid of them. So. So we're trying to stop it before it gets to rescues, you know.
• 10:10
  Speaker B: Right, right.
• 10:12
  Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
• 10:14
  Speaker B: So I, That's.
• 10:17
  Speaker A: It's interesting.
• 10:18
  Speaker B: You know, I actually never had heard about that situation at Tech until I was in a pet store one day and they, they have this like, no return policy because they said, you can't imagine how many students will come and buy pet. Try to keep it in the dorm.
• 10:35
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 10:36
  Speaker B: When it's.
• 10:37
  Speaker A: And then they can't.
• 10:38
  Speaker B: And so then they want to bring it back and they're like, no, you can't bring it.
• 10:42
  Speaker A: Yeah. And that's just, that's not fair to the animals at all. And it's. It's not okay. But yeah, we had several people that came in the beginning and she said, well, she's fostering. And I said, well, who is she fostering for? And she says, no, I'm just fostering this animal. And I said, well, what are you going to do with it? Well, hopefully I can find a home. Hopefully, you know, and I really. She was a Tech student and I was like, oh, we can't. Oh, yeah, right.
• 11:10
  Speaker B: You know, I'm sure somebody's thought of that too. But it might be interesting to, you know, to see what Tech is doing. If there's organizations on campus that are maybe helping these students find homes for these animals or, you know, teaching some responsibility.
• 11:28
  Speaker A: Exactly. Yes. That. Very much so that they, they could probably use their services as volunteers at the animal shelter if they needed to be involved, rather than take that animal out, return it back, send it to somewhere else, that kind of thing. So, yeah, that's. That. I, I worried about that. But yeah, yeah, it's. It's not okay. Right. So.
• 11:50
  Speaker B: So I think this is interesting because really you're. You are preventing, you know, further overflow really, into these shelters by, you know, helping families that, you know, we don't. I think a lot of us don't think about. We have pets. I've got a couple of cats and that I've seen my kids struggle through. Like, you know, I've. I've sent many a pound or two of animal food to my kids as they, you know, through the years as they've become adults, you know, and. Because those, those. When people are in those situations, you know, life is tough. And a lot of times those pets bring so much joy and comfort to the members of that family. May not be older people, they could be kids. You know, that's a vital. To me, part of a child's, you know, life growing up is that experience with an animal. And, you know, that those, those parents want to be teaching their kids, you know, to be responsible pet owners as well. And those kids, they need to have the opportunity to have pets, too.
• 13:00
  Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. We have, we have my daughter's dog, the dog that she had, a different one. Not. Not the namesake lady. Have another one that she had whenever she passed away. And this dog means the world because we. We raise our grandson, we raise her son. Yeah, this dog just means the world to all of us because, yes, she wants this special baby, you know, so. Oh, yeah, I had posted on our page the other day about pets and mental health, and we have. We have our three rescues here in my house. And yeah, they're. They mean everything to us.
• 13:41
  Speaker B: Right, right. So it's not that, you know, and I think that's another thing to, like, the difference between a rescue and a foster. A rescue is one you're keeping and the foster is one that you're looking for a home for. And you guys are, you know, got, you know, people that have those rescues can. Can apply for this food.
• 13:59
  Speaker A: Yes, yes. If you have a rescue animal that is that you took in, he is. They. He or she is now your pet. Because, you know, one dog was my daughter's dog. Our middle dog was dumped on a friend's mom's porch. And then the third one was some acquaintances. We had their daughter brought home this dog. They never bonded with him. He lived in their backyard. He's a basset hound. And I have always wanted a basset hound. And I said, I will absolutely take this dog in and love him. And I do. So these are all my rescues, but they're going to live their life with me. So those are. That's what we want to encourage responsible pet ownership. We want to make sure that they can keep their pets in their home. Yeah, it's great if people want to foster and like you said, rehabilitate these dogs and find them new homes, but they need to be prepared for that journey, or they need to work with an organization to do that. We're a very small baby nonprofit, so we're not quite funding level to where we could manage all of that, But a lot of rescues do get. They qualify for other donated foods that we don't qualify for. So that's where we kind of have to draw that line and set those boundaries. And one of the other things that we have started doing with 2026 is we have people fill out an application, and I ask them to list all their pets, whether it's one or 10. And then we tell them, okay, you've got, you know, we'll provide food for six animals or four animals or whatever's on the list now. But if you accumulate more animals, we cannot continue to provide food for these
• 15:54
  Speaker B: animals because you get in a horrible kind of situation.
• 15:58
  Speaker A: Yeah, we had several people that, because we were helping them, they thought they could just show up and get more animals and get more food, which put a strain on our budgeting. And it really. That's not. That's not what we're intended for.
• 16:14
  Speaker B: Right.
• 16:15
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 16:15
  Speaker B: Don't you learn a lot in that first year?
• 16:17
  Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I never even wanted to do applications because I wanted to just be able to go to the community and help everyone. But we had to. We want to be able to eventually get into other services where we can help with shots and we can help with spays and neuters and things like that. So I really think it's important for us to build that file on that family with those pets. But for the time being,
• 16:44
  Speaker B: you know,
• 16:45
  Speaker A: this is what we're doing in our application with as many, you know, listing the number of pets. So.
• 16:51
  Speaker B: Wow. Speaking of pets, my cat is. Is joining us here in the background. So I hear that everybody, I'm home today. And so this. This recording is not nearly as professional as it is. I apologize. As when we're in the studio, like, no one was here to remind me to turn my phone off.
• 17:11
  Speaker A: I know mine went off too. So it is completely okay.
• 17:16
  Speaker B: But we're just kind of. So we're kind of winging it today without our jackalope creative people to help us out.
• 17:21
  Speaker A: But.
• 17:23
  Speaker B: Well, tell me then. Tell us how.
• 17:26
  Speaker A: How do you guys.
• 17:28
  Speaker B: You're pretty new, so been gotten some experience in the grant world over the last year. Have you dipped your toe in that water? Which is very.
• 17:43
  Speaker A: Well, I've looked. I have looked at grants. I have researched. I've reached out to companies. I. I'VE been in a lot of nonprofit groups and a lot of them are like that. You know, you really need to have at least a year, preferably three years under your belt. So we haven't really gone into a lot of that. We're actually extremely fortunate that the community has been so good to us. And when we took this on, my husband and I specifically paid off vehicles so that we could free up about $700 a month that we could spend on dog and cat food. So we have done that. I, we've made that and just in order to get it going. So a lot of it. In the beginning we were, we were self supporting. I had some very, very generous people in the beginning that helped right in the beginning really get us, get us started, help me be able to do all my paperwork because to me I was like, I could file for my five, my, you know, nonprofit status or I could buy a lot of dog food. I can't do both in My husband are not well off at all. So I, I do not work. I homeschool our child, our 16 year old, our grandson. We're not well off, but this was just, it's, yeah, just a priority that we made. But so we were very fortunate in the beginning. And you know, we've partnered with some organization, some businesses here in town that have just been so good to us. Yeah, it has been a miracle. It's been wonderful. So we've been able to every so often my husband and I'll pitch in for, you know, 100 bucks. We can go buy 200 bags or 200 pounds of dog food. And that's really, that's good for a week or two. But for the most part we're really fortunate with the, just the community and what we do now.
• 19:49
  Speaker B: Oh, that's, that's amazing and that is really great. Well, I'm, I'm thankful that, that there's businesses that have stepped in and gotten involved. And you, it sounds like you guys have all the social media stuff so people can find you and, and know all that. They know how it can give and that kind of stuff. You've got all that set up?
• 20:10
  Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, we're on Facebook and I always, I post on there the most and then I found the nextdoor app is actually really good as well. And I, I use that quite a bit and I don't even know how I stumbled upon it, but I remember I posted one day about giving out food and the next day we had, oh my gosh, we gave away like 300 pounds of food in a day. And I was like, oh, gosh, we've got to plan better for this. So, so we do that. We have a website under construction. But I, I, none of us are really good at website design, so it's taken us a while, but we're working on that so that we can, we're trying to set it up where people could have like a reoccurring monthly donation. Sure. And then we also, what we've done recently in having our space at Missy's resale shop, we have a pay what you can pantry area.
• 21:05
  Speaker B: Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah.
• 21:08
  Speaker A: So I went and searched and find collars, leashes, sweaters in bulk in for decent prices. And we usually, if I buy, you know, 15 collars for $15 and we said pay, you know, a dollar or two what you can afford for a collar, we at least break even or we can make a little bit of money that goes straight back to buying food. So yeah, yeah, I don't want to do anything that's expensive. I, I looked at collars yesterday for my dogs and of course they were super cute and they all would match. But, you know, the cheapest1 was $9 and some people don't even have that, so.
• 21:53
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. And, you know, I don't know, I've seen even unused collars at Goodwill and stuff.
• 22:03
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 22:06
  Speaker B: So people want to make donations of those kind of things. Do you guys take donations for like, beds or, you know, things that haven't been used or that have been gently used and can be cleaned and reused?
• 22:19
  Speaker A: Absolutely. If things are in like, like basically brand new, I will bring them home and wash them and then take them back up to our, our place at Missy's. Leashes and collars and things like that, they get, they get run through the washer just so they don't smell like another dog. If we have stuff that looks a little rough that is still usable, we do have a free, free bin and people are more than welcome. We got donated a bunch of the, the bags for when you take your dogs on walks. And I've been 3D printing little holders. So that's been fun too. That's just something fun I like to do. So I have those in the free bin. But yeah, shirts, sweaters, anything like that. We had a very sweet lady on the next door app that, that donated like five or six beds to us because her dogs just didn't like them and bought us several. We used those in raffles and we sold them at, up at missy's for like $10 and that let us make a big purchase of cat litter.
• 23:34
  Speaker B: My goodness, I hadn't thought about cat litter.
• 23:36
  Speaker A: We've started doing cat litter also. We, we have some of the really good kind that is like, good if they're. You're worried about cats having UTIs. But then we've been providing the basic cat litter. We let people get two bags a month. For people that are getting cat food, they can get two bags of cat litter a month too. Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 23:58
  Speaker A: I haven't had cats in year, like 30 years. So I was like, yeah, I guess we should do that. That's really kind of needed for some people.
• 24:06
  Speaker B: So.
• 24:08
  Speaker A: But I want to make sure that it's for cat people and not people trying to just soak up grease on their driveway. I want it to be for cat people, so.
• 24:15
  Speaker B: Sure. So that's interesting. You know, I know that there's some crops. I've seen cat litter now that's like wheat and soy. Some that's made from, you know, different. What you might think of as like the leftovers, you know, the waste stream of different crops.
• 24:34
  Speaker A: So we have some.
• 24:36
  Speaker B: Yeah, that'd be an interesting idea too.
• 24:39
  Speaker A: We have the paper pellets up there right now, but nobody's been a fan of them. And I'm like, y' all can just take that because nobody wants it and nobody even wants to take it for free. So I don't know.
• 24:48
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 24:49
  Speaker A: Wow. I don't know if people know whether that works or not. I don't know. But I, I just. It was donated, so we've set it out. So. Yeah.
• 24:58
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 24:58
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 24:59
  Speaker B: Because that can get expensive. And I know that like I've used even in the past when I was a three cat. I didn't admit that, but I was a three cat household. That is just too many. But then, then one of them moved, you know, with his owner, so college was over.
• 25:19
  Speaker A: So.
• 25:20
  Speaker B: But I did use for a while the, the, the bedding pellets. You know, you can buy the big, you know, 50 pound bags and you know, those are, those are good things too.
• 25:32
  Speaker A: Those are.
• 25:33
  Speaker B: It's inexpensive way. So, yeah, that's. I, I'm. That's ex. I don't know. I just, I, I met Missy and tell her kind of like where, where her location is so that, you know, people want to drop food off or things like that.
• 25:50
  Speaker A: So. Yeah. And it was just, it was. Missy is just. Oh my gosh, she has done everything. She is, she's great. So I used to shop over at Missy's at her other location. And we used to just go to a parking lot and hand out food. And I just one day was like, I've got to find a place. And then every place was so expensive. And I'm like, I just, this is not in our budget. I just can't spend this money. And I just thought, she's got this big old store. I wonder. And I just went over to her and said, can I share a space with you? And she was like, absolutely. And so we talked about, you know, payment and it's now worked out where I just, I work for her in exchange for my space. So it's a very, it works very well together. But yeah, it has been just such a blessing to be over there. And we are in an area that is so needed. We are at 55302 Ave. Q. And it's space 19. So she's in the Briarcroft. I think it's Briarcroft Office Park Shopping Center. She is directly behind The United at 50th and Avenue. Okay.
• 27:07
  Speaker B: Yeah. So she's moved since I knew. Okay.
• 27:11
  Speaker A: Yeah. So she used to be on 34th street and I think she had a location before that. But yeah, she was on 34th street when I met her. But she has become very pet friendly for us and I absolutely love it. She brings her dog to work and.
• 27:28
  Speaker B: Yeah, so I donated some clothes to her the other day. So for people that don't know she.
• 27:34
  Speaker A: A lot of,
• 27:37
  Speaker B: A lot of our resale places, the process have really, really risen.
• 27:42
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 27:43
  Speaker B: Places where you used to could go. People that like genuinely needed clothes. Include myself in that because I'm very much of a, you know, buying something that's used, but it's driven the price up.
• 27:59
  Speaker A: Yes. Except for at Missy's. Except at Missy.
• 28:03
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 28:03
  Speaker A: She does not want to do that and she wants to help everyone. And I, her and I have partnered up and yeah, we've. We've done things together to help a lot of people, but we. One particular little guy that was a frequent in our store, we. We helped him out when he didn't have a place to go, but we both have said we can't do. We can't keep doing this.
• 28:28
  Speaker B: I know.
• 28:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. She has bins of free clothing in there as well. And then her and I, the Daisy project and Missy and I, we, we all work together to keep a community pantry stocked also. So.
• 28:44
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 28:47
  Speaker A: Yeah. So we want to make sure that we are. I mean, if somebody's struggling with pet food, there's good chance they're struggling with. With regular food as well. So, yeah, we want to make that a place to help everybody, you know?
• 29:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's a big deal. We've had. We've had a couple of podcasts on the food banks and the food bank system and. And hunger and policy, you know, and it's a. It's something that unless you experience, once you see it, you can't unsee it. Say that about a lot of things, but unless you've seen it, it's hard, guys, you know, and really understand.
• 29:29
  Speaker A: Yeah, we. A lot of people had been donating dried beans, and so before. Right before Thanksgiving, I brought all the dried beans home and my husband and I made I don't even know how many gallons of chili, and we took it up to Mrs. And we fed the community and we handed out dog food. So it was a really good day. So I want to do it again. I've got some more dried beans. I want to do it again. But, yeah, we try to just keep. And I try to encourage people like, hey, there's a lot of green beans on the shelf. Your dog can eat green beans. You can add that into the dry food, too. So I'm trying to. We're trying to do a little more education along with it. You can stick a band aid on something, but I kind of want to do a little more than just sticking a temporary band aid. Right.
• 30:20
  Speaker B: Maybe training people for what to look for besides just regular pet food.
• 30:25
  Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
• 30:27
  Speaker B: So, yeah, that's. That's interesting. That's great. Well, this has been really great. Thank you so much. I mean, it's been. It's so nice to meet you and I'm excited about what you're doing, and I hope that our little community here at Conservation Stories might be willing to get on your. Your site and take a look and donate a bag or two or money to buy a bag or two. And we know where to go with things that we don't. Don't use. I. I love it.
• 31:01
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, it does. If you. If you help Missy, it helps us. When we help the community, it helps Missy. I mean, it's the whole. We need more organizations like this that work together. And I just. Yes, I agree.
• 31:14
  Speaker B: I. I really agree. Collaboration, I think, is. Is just such a huge thing. There's a million. You know, there's really a lot of non profits, and I think the more that we collaborate, the more goals we get to meet.
• 31:26
  Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. Very much so.
• 31:29
  Speaker B: Well, once again, I'M so sorry about your daughter, and I know you guys miss her every day, and what a wonderful way to honor her. Yeah.
• 31:38
  Speaker A: Today is her birthday. She would be 35. So thank you so much for making this happen on her birthday. It was very, very important to me and I. It. It means a lot to be able to do it today because it's
• 31:51
  Speaker B: Haley.
• 31:52
  Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. It's a hard day that she's not here, but sure, I'm. I'm grateful to get to do this on her birthday, so.
• 32:00
  Speaker B: Well, thanks. Thank you so much for giving us your time and. And friends, we're gonna. We're gonna link all of the places as usual so that you'll know where everything is and ways that you can also honor Haley on. On this day. That's goes her birthday and then again in April, the day that her family lost her. What a beautiful tribute. The. The Daisy project.
• 32:23
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 32:24
  Speaker B: Thank you. Here.
• 32:25
  Speaker A: Thank you.
• 32:26
  Speaker B: Thank you. And thanks, friends. We look forward to having you back again for another episode of Conservation Stories.