Free dog and cat food at NYC pantries: 6 Manhattan sites start Oct. 19
Starting Oct. 19, six Manhattan pantries will hand out dog and cat food alongside groceries. Here are the addresses, uptown to downtown.
New Yorkers who rely on a food pantry will be able to take home dog and cat food along with their own groceries, as six Manhattan pantries start handing it out for free on Oct. 19. Roughly half a million dollars in city funding pays for it.
The six sites are spread across Chelsea, Midtown, East Harlem, the Lower East Side and the East Village. No extra stop is needed: the pet food comes from the same pantry where residents already pick up groceries. Across the five boroughs, 16 more pantries are taking part.
Where to get free pet food in Manhattan
Starting Oct. 19, these six pantries will offer dog and cat food. They run from the northernmost site to the southernmost:
- New York Common Pantry, at 8 E. 109th St. (between Madison and Fifth avenues)
- St. Clemens Food Pantry, at 423 W. 46th St. (between Tenth and Ninth avenues)
- Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Pantry, at 296 Ninth Ave. (between West 28th and West 27th streets)
- The Father’s Heart Ministries, at 543-545 E. 11th St. (between Avenues B and A)
- Trinity’s Services and Food for the Homeless, at 602 E. Ninth St. (between Avenues C and B)
- The Lower Eastside Girls Club, at 402 E. Eighth St. (between Avenues D and C)
Hours and stock differ from site to site, so check with your pantry before you go.
Why the city is paying for pet food
With food, housing and other bills stretching household budgets, the city wants to spare pet owners a hard choice between feeding their animals and covering their own basic needs. “No New Yorker should have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pets,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
Spay and neuter services are getting city money too. They can lower what owners spend on pet care and cut the number of unwanted animals that land in shelters.
Separately, the Mamdani administration has tripled baseline funding for Community Food Connection, the city program behind more than 700 food pantries. It has also budgeted $78 million in fiscal year 2027 to distribute food.
Quick answers
Which Manhattan pantries will have free pet food?
From Oct. 19: New York Common Pantry, St. Clemens Food Pantry, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Pantry, The Father’s Heart Ministries, Trinity’s Services and Food for the Homeless, and The Lower Eastside Girls Club.
Do I need to go somewhere else to get the pet food?
No. It is handed out at the same pantry where you already get groceries. Hours and stock vary, so check with the pantry first.
