Current Collection Drives
Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive
June 17 - July 28
Donations Collected at Franklin Sussex Automall
Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative is founded on a Concern for Community and a belief that we all have the power to change the world. To many in our communities, their pets are a part of their family. There are many animals in our area who are without owners and need support in order to have the opportunity to find their forever homes. At the present moment, local shelters are seeing their populations of animals rise. During the summer months of July and August, shelters like Father John's Animal House typically see the highest need for supplies to support these animals.
Sussex Rural previously asked its members for their help in collecting supplies for Father John's Animal House in early 2020. Thanks to the generosity of our members, this supply drive collected over 330 pounds of pet food, along with a plethora of other items such as pet toys and other supplies, office supplies, and cleaning items.
To beat this number, Sussex Rural is inviting all members of our community, not just those who are members of SREC, to contribute! From Friday, June 17th to Thursday, July 28th, we will be collecting pet supplies to donate to Father John's Animal House. The primary drop-off location for donations is the front desk of Franklin Sussex Automall, at 315 NJ-23, Sussex, NJ 07461. Small donations will also be accepted at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's office to be combined with the main donation pool. Please note when donating food: for dietary reasons, chicken or turkey flavors are preferred for primary protein source.
We began this supply drive with a collaboration with iHeart Media Sussex's Pet of the Week segment with Steve Allan, filmed at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's office on June 16th. We not only shined a spotlight a dog and cat from Father John's looking for their forever home, but also shared with viewers details of our supply drive. We began the drive by presenting donations courtesy of Amy's Animals in Wantage.
Donations will be collected until the morning of Thursday, July 28th. Following this, we will be a part of another Pet of the Week segment, filmed at Franklin Sussex Automall, to present all donations to representatives from Father John's. We hope that you join us in supporting the animals at Father John's through your donations. Recently, Father John's has ben a force for good in our community by partnering with local townships to take in animals from their pounds after five days to keep them out of kill-shelters. They are also currently expanding their in-house spay-and-neuter program. Father John's works with other charitable organizations to meet need, and shares excess supplies with local food banks and other animal shelters which may have a greater need - so if you have another local animal shelter you prefer to support, your donation in the Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive may still benefit their efforts and support the community as a whole.
Look below for a list of requested items from Father John's. These are the items they have the highest need for at this time, so please prioritize these goods if you are considering donating.
Want to share information about this drive? Click here to download a flyer!
Past Collection Drives
Holiday Food Drive 2021
While our office remains closed to the public, we at Sussex Rural Electric once again sponsored a collection drive. We called on our members to make donations of nonperishable, shelf-stable, and canned food items to benefit the Sussex County Division of Social Services' food pantry. This collection drive ran from November 1st, 2021 to December 16th, 2021. As the holidays grew nearer and temperatures began to drop, it was all the more important to provide essential food items to those in need.
Members were able to stop by our office with their donation items. While our lobby was closed to the public, members arriving with food items could ring the doorbell by the main entrance and leave their donations in our vestibule once buzzed inside by our member services staff.
Father John's Animal House Collection Drive
After hosting several successful donation drives to support underprivileged members of our community, SREC shifted focus to helping another group that needs support, animals without homes. From February 6 - March 5, 2020, Sussex Rural Electric hosted a supply drive to benefit Father John's Animal House in Lafayette. We partnered with iHeart Media to make this possible. We hosted Steve Allan and the 102.3 WSUS team at our office to film episodes of the Pet of the Week, featuring animals from Father John's, to start and end this collection drive.
At the end of the month-long collection, it was clear that our members pulled off something amazing! Overall, we collected over 330 pounds of pet food, along with a plethora of other items such as pet toys and other supplies, office supplies, and cleaning items. We are proud to have also presented the good people from Father John's with a check for $1,000 from our community action fund. This comes from a fund of capital credits that have remained unclaimed by former members. Since we cannot reach these members and we are a not-for-profit organization, we choose to reinvest this money back into the community when we can.
We are proud to support great, local organizations like Father John's Animal House. If you are looking to add a new furry friend to your family, please consider adopting an animal from a shelter instead of buying one from a pet store. You can find more information about Father John's Animal House at https://www.fatherjohns.org/.
Holiday Toy Drive
In 2018 and 2019, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative has hosted a toy drive on behalf of Family Promise of Sussex County. We collected donations of toys and new or lightly used winter clothing for the children and families of our communities who have or will experience homelessness. Families now comprise as high as 35% of the homeless population. 1 in 5 homeless people is a child.
During these drives, we have called on our membership to help make these children's holidays a little brighter, and they answered that call! After the collection ended, we had over 80 individual gifts that Family Promise could give to a child in need. We rewarded our members' kind donations with a free four-pack of LED light bulbs.
Donations were distributed as gifts to local children at Family Promise of Sussex County's annual client Christmas party.
Stand Down for Veterans Clothing Drive
In May of 2019, we hosted a supply drive to collect clothing items for our county's population of homeless veterans. The new or lightly used clothing, as well as hygiene and toiletry items, donated by our members was distributed to these veterans at Pass It Along's Stand Down for Veterans event. This event welcomes homeless military veterans and in addition to clothing offers them free haircuts, warm meals, access to resources such as medical, legal, and mental health consultation.
At the end of the collection, our members had donated over 600 pounds of clothing and hygiene items to be given to veterans at this event! We are incredibly proud to have such generous members. As a reward for our members' kindness, we gave away a free four-pack of LED light bulbs for every donation.