10/19/2026
This is good news for NYC families and their pets. 🩷
YES: Mamdani just made sure no New Yorker has to choose between feeding their family and feeding their dog.
Starting this week, 22 city-funded food pantries across all five boroughs are handing out free dog and cat food.
It's the first time the city has ever done it. Families can now pick up food for their pets on the same trip they make for their own groceries.
"No New Yorker should have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pets," Mamdani said.
The city put $500,000 toward the pet food and is also funding spay and neuter services with the City Council.
This fixes a problem pantries see every day. The city's social services commissioner said people will skip their own meals before letting their animals go hungry. When money runs out, some families end up surrendering pets they love to shelters that are already overcrowded.
Staten Island's hunger task force asked the city not to leave the borough out. Two Staten Island pantries are on the list.
A Bronx animal rescue group said the program will help keep families together as the changes to SNAP hit home. That's Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, which made the largest cut to food stamps in American history.
The pet pantries run through the same program Mamdani tripled funding for earlier this year, which now supports more than 700 food pantries citywide.
Washington is cutting food aid. New York is finding ways to make sure even the dog eats tonight.
THANK YOU, Mayor Mamdani!
