BJ Gray says she has a soft spot in her heart for children, animals and the elderly.

Everyone else, she said, can take care of themselves.

For years, as a volunteer at a local food bank in Wells County, Gray used to get requests from clients for pet food, but there was none to be had. So Gray and a loosely organized group of good-hearted volunteers started scrounging up pet food donations any way they could.

When food bank clients asked about pet food, they would be given Gray’s phone number, and she or one of a couple of other volunteers would find a way to get help to the pet owner.

One volunteer in particular was good at rounding up food and keeping the pet food program rolling, Gray said.

She seemed to have a route she traveled, and she regularly produced lots of donations, even horse feed and rabbit food from time to time.

But, alas, that volunteer moved to California and her sources of donations dried up.

The pet lovers also faced another challenge. When people make donations, they often like to deal with recognized non-profit organizations because, among other things, their contributions can be tax-deductible.

Gray and the others who volunteered weren’t part of a formal non-profit organization. The group tried to find an organization that would let it use its non-profit status to get contributions, but it wasn’t successful.

The local food bank turned them down.

“I don’t know why,” Gray said. “The message came down from the president,” something about liabilities.

The local animal shelter couldn’t help them either.

Gray and other volunteers got permission to use a local 4-H building as a storage and distribution point for pet food they could accumulate, at least. When summer came, though, and the 4-H’ers needed the building, the pet food stash had to move out.

As a last resort, they found a storage unit. The owner agreed to give them six months’ free rent, and the volunteers paid for another six months, giving them a home for a year.

That little storage unit was the only resort for people who needed help feeding their pets, at least in Wells County.

Today, left to their own devices, lacking non-profit status and having trouble spreading the word about her mission, Gray and her fellow volunteers feel something like Mother Hubbard. The cupboard, that storage unit, is bare. It sits virtually empty, picked clean by pinched pet owners except for some dog treats.

Gray has approached plenty of stores about helping, asking for dented cans or torn bags. But every major retailer has an established connection for donations. One large grocery supports a shelter in Adams County, and another supports a shelter in Allen County, so Wells County is sort of left out in the cold.

One church, Hope Missionary Church in Bluffton, recently announced it would accept donations for pet food for the pantry.

Gray (I am not related to her, by the way) is a realist, though. Dogs and cats aren’t going to be high on many people’s list of priorities when times are hard, unless you’re a real dog or cat lover.

She also knows that some people will take advantage of anything free, even if they don’t need help. Gray herself is skeptical of people who show up looking for free food for what she calls fashionista dogs that cost several hundred dollars – Chihuahuas, Yorkshire terriers and so on. If you can afford one of those, she says, you can afford to feed it.

“I can figure out who’s trying to shuck and jive me,” she said.