Community pet food pantry honors dog’s memory

The story of Hank’s Bark Box starts like many do – with a chance encounter.

“If you’ve ever been to the SPCA, or any rescue for that matter, you walk up and down the aisles and dogs are barking and it’s chaos,” said Mark James. “I turned to look down one aisle that seemed empty, but for whatever reason, I decided to walk down there. In the end cage was this little dog about eight weeks old, sitting on the floor, not barking or saying a word, just looking up. That was the dog we adopted.”

Despite his quiet beginnings, Hank didn’t stay a silent soul for long.

“He would bark at the wind, mosquitoes, other dogs, the garbage truck, it didn’t matter. He barked and barked and barked,” laughed James. 

Then Hank developed cancer, never making it past eight years old. Of all the dogs he’s had over the years, James said Hank was special. He wanted a way to honor Hank that would also benefit the community. James, a guitar maker, thought about putting his wood crafting skills to work.

A photo of the late Hank on display in Mark James’ guitar workshop

“I came up with this idea of a pet food pantry, but I quickly shelved it because I thought this had to be overdone. They’re probably everywhere because you see people-food pantries all over the city.”

After a little research, James quickly realized that St. Pete lacked a neighborhood pet food pantry that anyone could pull up to and utilize 24/7.

“There are some larger organizations and rescues that you could go get pet food, but usually it’s one day a week during certain hours. Some of them require you to fill out paperwork to show that you were unemployed or that you’re gainfully seeking reemployment, so many hoops to jump through just to feed your dog,” James said.

“It’s been my experience that the average person takes better care of their pet than themselves. They’re potentially forced with the decision, ‘Do I feed myself or do I feed my pet?’ and oftentimes, they’ll feed their pet. But there comes a breaking point. Then what ends up happening is the pattern of losing the pet, the shelters and rescues become overcrowded, and even worse, the pet loses their owner and the owner loses their pet. And for what? A bag of dog food?”

From this dilemma and the love of his late dog came Hank’s Bark Box, a free roadside pet food pantry box located at 6511 3rd Ave. South. James built and installed the box in 2021, then headed to the store with his wife Heather to purchase a few bags of dog food to fill it. To their surprise, the bags were gone by the next day.

“In short order, we found out the need was absolutely overwhelming,” James said. “We kept buying food, but interestingly enough, something happened that we never expected or planned for. People started reaching out to us, asking us if they could put some food in there. It just didn’t occur to me that people would want to do that.”

Now, James said he receives dog and cat food donations from all over the world. The James’ created an online wish list, and donations arrive daily in honor of late pets, from charitable organizations and local businesses, and from people who don’t live in St. Pete but feel inspired by what the James’ have created.

“In two years, we have put 27 tons of food through a wooden box that’s three square feet,” James said. “It’s hard to believe.”

“We refill the box four to six times a day depending upon the need, so we’re going through roughly 35 five-pound bags of dry food every single day, seven days a week, plus canned food on top of that.”

James said people come all hours of the day to receive donations, no questions asked. He said he’s received messages from people who pick up food for their neighbors or grab donations to give to homeless cats and dogs.

Because people often come at night to grab donated cat and dog food from Hank’s Bark Box, Mark James added solar-powered lights to the front.

“If it weren’t for the people of this community making the donations, we would never be able to keep up with the 27-ton volume that we’ve created over the last few years,” James said. “It’s the community that makes this thing run, not us. It’s the city of St. Petersburg and the surrounding communities. If I make a post on Facebook and say, ‘Hey, we’re kind of out of cat food,’ boom, within days or even hours, we have cat food on the porch. They answer every single call.”

James said Hank’s Bark Box has evolved over the years with the addition of lights on the front and solar-powered fans to keep the food cool during the hot summer months. What’s also changed is James’ outlook.

“I’m historically not a people person. I looked for the worst in people rather than the best in people. But that has changed significantly. People, you realize, aren’t all bad.”