The man is blind in one eye and half blind in the other. But this post isn’t about what he can’t see. It’s about what he can see. And boy oh boy, does he ever see!

It was an 10 minute call to start. But we covered a lot in 10 minutes. His 11 year-old Service Dog had just been at the emergency vet. The growing abscess under her eye was bad. They told him that his friend Tiny needed some help fast.

They told him about The Pongo Fund.

The first minute of the 10 minutes was him telling us he didn’t know what we did, but he was hoping we knew some Angels because he needed a huge favor. And then he talked about Tiny.

Not as a dog. But as his best friend.

He said he had some money saved and could pay part of the bill. It was all he had but he didn’t know how much it would cost and he suspected it would not be enough. He didn’t even know where to go because he didn’t have a regular vet.

He said the emergency vet gave him our number and he made the call. For whatever we could do, he would be more than grateful. He said that we answered the call was a good start.

We thought that he made the call, that was a good start too.

We asked him if he had transportation. He said he did. But it wasn’t what we were hoping for.

A car? No. Not a car.

A friend to drive? No. Not a friend to drive.

The bus and the train. That was his transportation. And his feet.

And best if he didn’t need to go too far. That’s when he told us about his blindness.

For some reason he didn’t lead with that. Probably because he didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him. Instead, he wanted all the attention on Tiny. Because without Tiny, things would not be good.

We gave him the name of a vet and asked him to update us after his exam. To please call us back and let us know what they told him.

He said he would work on a plan to get there.

We never expected it to be so fast.

On the bus and the train. With plenty of steps in between.

The dental got scheduled right away. And that’s when The Pongo Fund stepped in to cover whatever balance was left beyond the money he had.

One of our donors asks us to call her in these moments. So as this man called us, we called her. She said how much do you need? We told her. She said consider it done.

For a tiny group like The Pongo Fund, moments like this are a dream. We are smaller than you realize. We have no marketing or fundraising or PR pros helping us. To have donors ready to help us so we can help others, that is the Blessing of Blessings.

And how grateful we are for our tiny group to be helping a dog named Tiny.

From one tiny to another.

They arrived a few days later for the surgery. Like many people they were there bright and early. But unlike many people, the man did not leave when Tiny went to get prepped.

He could not see well. He had no money. He truly had nowhere to go.

So he sat in the lobby for the next several hours.

He sat there until he got tired.

Guess what happened then?

This compassionate team of veterinary professionals ushered this kind man to their sleeping couch, so he could take a nap. They made sure he had some snacks too.

Bet you never saw that one coming.

Either did he.

A few hours later they both boarded the bus to the train and with many more steps they arrived back home. Exactly where they started many hours earlier.

Tiny is doing fine.

Tiny’s Dad is doing fine.

To each one of you who generously donates to The Pongo Fund, we thank you.

Tiny thanks you.

Tiny’s Dad thanks you too.

And if any of you would ever like to donate to us, please know you can help the next Tiny. Because this month alone we’ve had more than 50 calls for surgery. And we can’t do it without you. All the info is on our website, including the donation link and mailing address. Or you can always call us with questions.

If this calls to you now, here is the donation link: https://bit.ly/37joA5S

For Team Tiny.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

The Pongo Fund / Portland, Oregon