The students at Emily Howland Elementary School aren't having a typical food drive. They are trying to help the Pet Food Pantry, based in Auburn, by collecting food for hungry dogs, cats and other domestic animals.

“This is an exciting project,” said school principal Mary Lou Cronin. “We want to fill our lobby and storeroom up with pet food, and we'll have our custodian deliver it.”

Cronin said that the 300 students in pre-kindergarten to fourth grade select different service projects every year.

“Our themes for this year are ‘Compassion' and ‘What you do matters,'” she explained. “Everybody - the students, the faculty and the guidance counselor - is all practicing ‘What you do matters.'”

The Pet Food Pantry is run by four people, Marvin and Mary Lou McQuaid and Max and Shirley Haines.

The two women are sisters. They distribute the pet food they collect to income eligible pet owners. They rely entirely on donations from local stores and individuals, and sometimes the donations can't meet the demand.

“We're in crisis,” said Mary Lou. “We've never had a year so tough. We've served more than 5,000 people since we opened, mostly senior citizens who own cats.”

Donations are down 75 percent from last year. Some of the stores who used to give dry pet food in broken or damaged bags and boxes have tried to limit their own losses due to damage, so that supply chain has been severely reduced.

Marvin told a story how one person who benefited from the pantry returned the favor.

“One winter a few years ago, a man was laid off from his job, and he came every month to our giveaway. Then in the spring he came back. I told him the pantry wasn't open, and he said he came to give not receive,” Marvin recalled. “He had gotten his job back, and he gave us several large bags of dry dog food.”

Mary Lou explained how she and her family members came to operate this charity, which operates as a 501c3 organization.

“In 1998, I was asked by Rita Sarnicola, the founder of the pantry, if I knew anyone who might like to take the project over. I told her I would, and my family enthusiastically agreed with me,” she said.

Marvin wanted to emphasize that the hardship of the pet food pantry is also a hardship for many pet owners.

“We usually have one food giveaway a month, but this year we've only had five. There's just no food,” he said. “I've heard it said that if you can't afford a pet, you shouldn't have one. That's not usually the case. People get laid off or if they live alone, they're not going to turn their pets out. They love them. They're family to them.”

Mary Lou added, “When the economy is slow, donations go down. The price of gasoline has really hurt people on fixed incomes. Rita called me and offered to help us raise more food. She contacted Emily Howland School, and they agreed to hold a pet food drive for us.”

“We've helped Best Friends Animals Sanctuary out west, and we've adopted and supported other animals,” said Mary Lou Cronin, of her school's willingness to help out.

The school has also collected loose change for the Red Cross and raised money for a student who underwent a heart transplant.

“We called that ‘Hearts for Steven,'” she said. “We raised thousands of dollars.”