The Tulsa Human Rights Commission on Oct. 20 presented its Compassionate Tulsa Award to Terry Byrd for more than five years of volunteer work rescuing pet food from disposal and distributing it to shelters and people in need.

The award recognized Byrd’s effort, begun in 2019 after he learned pet food at the Tulsa Food Bank was being discarded or given only to animal shelters that could collect it. “He started picking up the food in his truck and rebagging the torn items in the smaller portions for homeless shelters and other smaller rescue groups,” the commission said during the presentation. Commissioner Gary Paluso, who introduced the honoree, described the program as preventing or relieving suffering.

The commission’s presentation noted that Byrd built a network of recipients that includes Loaves and Fishes Pantry, Bridging Hunger, Operation Prison Ministry, Domestic Violence Intervention Service (DVI$), Merchant of Homeless Ministry and several rescue groups. Those volunteers now work out of an Asbury Church volunteer event, and donations from Long Southern Agriculture have supported the effort, the commission said. The presentation said Bryd’s group and volunteers estimate they have kept “over 100 tons of pet food out of dumpsters and gifted into the hands of people who otherwise might not be able to feed their pets.”

Byrd spoke briefly during the ceremony. “I’m totally surprised — the first month we did this, we may have rescued 1,500 pounds and now you heard we’re up over a 100 tons,” he said. He added that rescued pet food also helped stretch SNAP dollars for households that otherwise might feed pets from the same food budget.

Gary Paluso and other commissioners encouraged nominations for future Compassionate Tulsa honorees and said nomination forms are available on the commission’s website. No formal vote or policy action accompanied the award presentation; the ceremony was a recognition item on the agenda.

The commission will continue accepting nominations for Compassionate Tulsa and said it seeks both sustained acts of service and single extraordinary acts for future awards.