The community is invited to help the pets of Sacramento area homeless people by donating toward holiday gift baskets that will be prepared by volunteers at UC Davis' William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

As part of this annual activity, students and employees of the hospital will fill some 130 gift "baskets" (which are actually decorated boxes) with canned and dry food, treats, toys, leashes and pet-care products. The boxes will be provided to the homeless clients and their dogs and cats who visit Mercer Clinic, located next to the nonprofit "Loaves and Fishes" facility for the homeless in Sacramento.

The holiday pet baskets will be assembled from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the veterinary hospital and distributed Saturday, Dec. 13, at Mercer Clinic.

"We primarily need monetary donations that can be used to purchase pet toys, which bring as much joy to the owners as they do to the animals," said Eileen Samitz, a clinical microbiologist at the veterinary teaching hospital. She noted that pet supply companies provide the pet food and some of the other items for the holiday baskets, but other donations for toys and treats come from the community.

Donations for the holiday pet baskets should be made out to "VMTH-Mercer Clinic" and sent to the attention of Debra Nelson, 102 VMTH Business Annex, Financial Services, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616. More information about the holiday pet basket project is available online at: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/clubs/mercer/donation_holiday.html.

Since 1995, the staff of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital's newsletter, "Voice," has organized holiday pet boxes for Mercer Clinic, which was started in 1992 by UC Davis veterinary students. Using vacation time, Samitz annually coordinates a team of volunteers that carries out the longtime holiday pet basket tradition.

Mercer Clinic provides the pets of homeless individuals with basic veterinary care, access to emergency care and pet food, all free of charge. It is open on the second Saturday of each month, staffed by faculty and private veterinarians who volunteer their time and supervise the veterinary students.

In addition to the seasonal holiday pet basket program, donations are welcomed year-round by the clinic, which relies entirely on donations and small grants for funding. All donations are tax deductible. Donation checks can be sent to Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless, P.O. Box 297, Davis CA, 95617. More information is available at the Mercer Clinic Web site at: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/clubs/mercer.