Presents for Paws preempts shelter's needs by collecting donations of food, blankets and many other supplies which allows Connecticut animal control officers to focus on the rescue and re-homing of homeless pets. The annual drive begins after Thanksgiving and ends just prior to Christmas Day with drop off locations all over Connecticut. After all the donations have been collected and sorted they are distributed to the shelters by volunteers. Presents for Paws realizes that these donations not only warm and feed hundreds of shelter animals but reaffirm the community's appreciation to those animal control officers that work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week protecting the welfare of Connecticut's animals.