Dripping Springs Animal Hospital hosts food drive

DRIPPING SPRINGS — The staff at Dripping Springs Animal Hospital isn't only focused on helping pets, but it is also wanting to serve families in need.

The animal hospital is hosting a food drive to donate to Dripping Springs Helping Hands — an organization made up solely of volunteers focused on providing the community with a framework of compassionate care designed to assist neighbors in time of need.

“We want to help the families and individuals in Dripping Springs further than just taking care of their pets,” said Alyssa Flores, vet technician and social media coordinator at Dripping Springs Animal Hospital. “We [would] appreciate donations. Most of our clientele are very, very sweet and they have already started donating as well.”

Flores has been working at the animal hospital for about eight months and upon her arrival, she found that Dripping Springs is a tight-knit community and staff wants to give back.

“We just love where we are and we love our clients. We love everybody that we interact with and everything. I think Dripping Springs is a really tight community and I really admire that. And we just really want to kind of keep in that tightness like a whole family, especially with everybody being so open and friendly here,” she said. “We just want to take care of our clients that come here, as well as other people.”

She added that they try to do a donation drive about every two months, whether it's a food drive for families or gathering supplies for a neighboring shelter like they did for PAWS of Central Texas in Dripping Springs in August.

Dripping Springs Animal Hospital is accepting the following items to donate to Helping Hands.

Client favorites/most needed

• Ramen noodles

• Canned soup

• Pasta (bagged or boxed)

• Spaghetti sauce

• Canned chicken

• Spam

• Green beans

• Black beans

• Pinto beans

• Refried beans

• Bush's baked beans

• Ranch style beans

• Rotel tomatoes

• Canned tuna

• Canned fruit

• Canned corn

• Canned chili (with or without beans)

• Sardines

• Boxed cereals

• Breakfast fruit bars

• Boxed oatmeal

Children's supplements

• Granola bars

• Fruit and grain bars

• Cereal bars

• Pop-Tarts

• Fruit rolls/gummies

• Small milks

• Small juice boxes

• Fruit (four-packs)

• Vienna sausages

• Small bags of chips

• Small packages of cookies

Seasonal delights

• Canned cranberry

• Instant potatoes

• Canned yams

• Canned sweet potatoes

• Beets in a can or jar

Donations will be accepted through Sept. 25 at the animal hospital, located at 1520 U.S. 290 in Dripping Springs, in the lobby area. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/DSAnimalHospital.