Oklahoma homeless outreach benefits dogs, cats, too

In a feature titled “Under a bridge, come to the feast,” The Christian Chronicle highlighted the Night Light Tulsa homeless ministry organized by Park Plaza Church of Christ members.

Mike Nicholas and Sarah Grounds wash the feet of Dak Young and Crystal Haney under an interstate bridge in Tulsa, Okla. (PHOTO BY BOBBY ROSS JR.) That story earlier this year noted:

Tulsa animal control officials found out about the ministry and began dispatching an officer to the bridge — not to round up the guests’ dogs and cats but to distribute bags of pet food.

“If there were more things like this, it’d be a better world,” animal control officer Pete Theriot says of Night Light Tulsa.

Recently, the Tulsa World reported on an organization launched by Theriot and other animal welfare officers called “Feeding the Pets of Tulsa’s Homeless”:

When social service groups throw open their doors to the homeless and needy, the longest line is for the food.

But not just people food.

The second longest line at Night Light Tulsa, a weekly offering of dinner and living necessities for homeless or needy people, is the pet-food line.

Every week during the last year, city of Tulsa animal welfare staff handed out about 850 pounds of dog and cat food, said Susan Stoker, animal welfare field supervisor. 

“Not a cent comes out of the city budget,” Stoker said. “We don’t have a budget for it. This program is 100 percent donations driven.”

Read the full story.