A look back to when she was in a different place. When she adopted him a few years ago. It was a different place emotionally. It was a different place financially. He was a tiny dog. A Lhasa Apso. Just a few pounds. She said he was a little ball. But size didn’t matter. Because for her that dog was huge.

How huge? She said he saved her life every day.

She said there’s a certain level of hurt that comes with going hungry. She said it’s more than a physical hurt. She said the empty stomach hurt becomes familiar. But not the mental hurt. She said that comes fresh every time. No matter how many times it has come before, it never gets familiar.

But when she cannot even muster the few dollars to feed her little dog, the hurt is even worse. She said when he goes hungry she feels it in her own stomach too. She even feels that hunger in her own heart. Because the heart needs to be fed too.

She asked “What kind of parent am I if…” and then her voice trailed off. It didn’t matter. I knew what she was asking. And no response was needed. Because I felt that hurt with her.

For her, she said, it was a hurt so harsh she felt disabled by it. Sometimes so frozen with agony that she could not move. And she said that many times before, it was that very hurt that almost killed her.

But then her little ball of fluff would climb on her lap and give her a lick. Kisses to make her feel better from the dog that was more than family. He was her lifeline. The only reason she got up in the morning. The only reason she was still alive. And then she said it again.

But now, here she was, totally broke. She said she did not even have a penny to her name. She laughed. But it was not a haha laugh. It was a hurting laugh.

She said that her own medication had skyrocketed in price. And she did not find out until she went to pay for it. I do not know what kind of medication it was, but she said it was something she needed to keep her alive.

She said at the pharmacy she paid every cent she had just to get a reduced amount of medication. Just enough to get her through the next few days. That was all she could afford. But she had to do it. She needed it. And so did her dog. Because without her, he had no one. And without him, she had no one either.

But that meant no money for kibble. Not a penny.

So for the first time she went to a local food pantry. She thought if she could get food for herself she would share it with her dog. During the intake conversation at the food pantry she mentioned that she had a dog. And that he was hungry too. And she explained how they were going to share the food box together.

The food pantry volunteer smiled, asked a few more questions and completed the application process. And a few minutes later when she received her food box, right on top was a bag of dog food from The Pongo Fund.

She said she was so excited she grabbed that bag of dog food and started to leave, almost forgetting to take the bigger box of food with her. She turned to the volunteer who had helped her and said thank you. And then she said she just burst out in tears, trying to explain just how much that two-week supply of dog food meant to her.

But before she could say another word the volunteer told her that she really did know what it meant. Because there was a time that she was also struggling and could not afford dog food. And that she had gone to that very same food pantry and received a bag of food from The Pongo Fund. And now she gives back by volunteering there and helping others.

Our conversation ended with her voice trailing off once again. She said thank you, thank you, thank you over and over again. And then she said eight more words so clearly that they gave me goosebumps. “Because without my dog, I wouldn’t be here.”

The next day the pharmacy where she could not afford her prescription called to tell her that her prescription was ready to be picked up. They told her a special friend had stopped by to pay for it.

They did not tell her his name was Pongo.

Today is Sunday, December 27th, 2015. Any moment now The Pongo Fund will open our doors for the last Pongo of 2015.

The Pongo Fund is a pet food bank. But we are a pet food bank that sometimes saves two lives each time we save one.

And this is why we Pongo.

There are just a few days left in 2015. This next week will be the time that a lot of you make your charitable giving decisions for the year. We hope you will select The Pongo Fund to be part of your giving. The donation link is here: https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/ .

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

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(photo of Lhasa Apso is for reference only and not the actual dog)