Paulding Animal Shelter waives adoption fees for food donations to support student weekend backpacks

A public commenter told the Paulding County Board of Commissioners that the Paulding Animal Shelter has partnered with a nonprofit to collect food for student backpack programs and will waive adoption fees during August and September for people who bring in qualifying food items.

According to the comment recorded in the meeting transcript, the shelter is accepting shelf-stable items such as boxes of macaroni and cheese, pudding cups and cereal bars. Donations will be used to support weekend and holiday meal needs for students enrolled in the backpack programs at Herschel Jones Middle School and Paulding County High School. The commenter said the program is intended to ensure students have nutritious meals on weekends and during school holidays.

The speaker identified the partnering nonprofit as “A Buddy’s Hope” (spelled in the transcript as both “A Buddy’s Hope” and “A Buddies Hope”). The county speaker did not provide specific counts of how many students would be served, a precise distribution plan, or whether the school system formally administers the backpack program; those details were not specified in the meeting record.

The comment asked county residents to take donated food items to the Paulding Animal Shelter during the August–September drive in order to have adoption fees waived. No formal vote or county action was recorded in the meeting to authorize or fund the drive; it was presented as a community announcement during the public-comment portion of the meeting.

The county meeting record did not identify the person who delivered the announcement by name; the transcript records the comment during the public-participation segment.