Surrey woman helps fill the tummies of underprivileged pets
Emma started the mission to help prevent owners from giving up their furry friends amid the cost of living crisis.
A woman from Surrey has been helping fill the tummies of local pets - with the launch of her new community interest company.
Emma Williams has collected hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of pet food, to donate to underprivileged dogs and cats. The food has been distributed across the UK and abroad.
Emma told Greatest Hits Radio Surrey and East Hampshire she started the mission 'Full Tummies' to help prevent owners from giving up their furry friends amid the cost of living crisis:
"Just before Christmas last year, I decided that rescues - which are overflowing - and food banks were needing food and so I thought, in this cost of living crisis, I would try and get the public to donate animal food to designated places of which I would then store and distribute out to rescue centres.
"We managed to gather £200,000 worth of animal food which was amazing and all of that has nearly gone. So with the demand being so high, I decided I really needed to create something ongoing and I formed a CIC which is a community interest company."
Emma collects food from kind donors and businesses, and stores it in a unit, based in Fleet. She then arranges for the food to be shipped to local rescues and those most in need.
"Because of the cost of living crisis, people are giving up their animals.
"It's actually getting worse. I have a massive social media network and there's so many just saying that we're in debt and we have no food. We can't feed the animals yesterday, today or tomorrow. It's just desperate."
You can find out more at fulltummies.co.uk or donate to the cause via Go Fund Me.