A sweet older pibble friend, walking alongside her Dad, as he pushed a shopping cart. They walked together, in unison. They stopped just a few feet away, a couple of questions later we learned they were temporary visitors to our fair city, and they were both hungry. Just one sandwich shared between them for the entire day. So we took it from there and a little bit later their food needs were well covered for days to come. These are the moments of serendipity, and a reminder that it is hungry people who have hungry pets. We got a handshake of thanks and some really sloppy pibble kisses, so it was definitely a good trade. Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org
(For privacy, photo of dog is stock photo)

Sometimes it’s hard to tell people what The Pongo Fund does. To explain what The Pongo Fund means. To describe the work we do and why we do it. We’re a small-but-mighty volunteer driven team that has no marketing or public relations staff to tell our story. We’re just the little guy that has developed a new way to save lives by keeping animals safe at home and out of the shelters. But maybe the real challenge is not in speaking the words that tell people what we do. But in reliving the memories that those words bring. Because the stories are many. And sometimes they hurt.

Sometimes those stories hurt so much that they are never told. Instead they remain locked away in the heart of the few that were there. Left unshared because we did all we could do and sometimes it was enough and sometimes it wasn’t.

We help seniors and veterans and the mentally and physically disabled. We help young children whose only reliable friend is their dog. We help victims of disaster, both natural and otherwise. We help single moms, couples, families and far too often we’re called upon to help victims of domestic violence who sometimes have had almost everything beaten out of them save for the love they have for their animals.

We’ve rescued a dog named Dutch unintentionally left locked in a truck when his truck driver dad Francis faced emergency surgery. We’ve provided food to people when their homes have burned down and all they cared about were their pets that survived and now they needed food to feed them.

We’ve rescued a sweet 17 year-old, Gandhi like Beagle named Scooby, set to be euthanized the next day. Thankfully he wasn’t. And he went on to live for many more years, he’s a timeless 150 years-old now.

We’ve bought litters of pups stacked in boxes on freeway ramps, refusing to let them become commodities for the unethical people who held them captive. And for each one, we got them safe and healthy and into loving forever homes. Most recently it was a litter of pibbles who had no idea they were destined for Hell, thankfully we succeeded in preventing that. Adding to the sweet and sour of that moment was when their person, a young, innocent homeless boy, told us the Momma dog’s name was Heaven. Yes, we got her too.

And then we personally introduced him to the help he needed to get off the streets, help he was too ashamed to ask for himself.

We’ve helped a mom keep the secret of homelessness away from her young daughter who was happy to believe they were car camping with their dog.

We’ve amputated diseased and damaged limbs that needed to be set free, and we’ve watched with absolute joy as those animals continued unfazed, happily sporting three on the floor instead of four.

We’ve healed abscesses so serious they had eaten through skin, causing enormous pain and infection for brave animals too stoic to ever let their parents know they were in pain. We’ve pulled failing teeth, repaired diseased gums, removed countless tumors and other masses, and brought an end to more fleas, mites and worms then we can count.

And we were there to comfort a broken-hearted octogenarian when both his elderly wife and elderly cat died within days of one another. He said he wanted to honor them but could not afford to donate money. So we brought bags of kibble to his home and worked with him so he could honor their memories by being part of our kibble packing team. Maybe the most loved kibble we’ve ever packed.

We’ve been there to provide high-quality food for exhausted search and rescue dogs, and our kibble couriers have answered the call many times when help was needed beyond our borders.

And we’ve helped spay and neuter more than 1,000 dogs and cats too.

After a week’s worth of delicate conversations a broke and broken hearted woman allowed us to drive her and her best friend to a loving veterinarian that released her dog from pain and helped him cross the Rainbow Bridge. Without us she would have had to carry her 50 pound dog on the bus. And as she said, she knew she could not do that either physically or emotionally.

And when it was over we introduced her to a grief counselor to help make sure that she too got the help she needed.

Our emergency kibble response team has helped countless strong willed and proud seniors with senior pets who together were living on scraps because they were too proud to ask for help. And each and every time we helped one, we helped all. Because bringing dog food to a disabled military veteran who had no food for himself or his wife didn’t seem right. So we fed them all, two and four-legged alike.

We’ve returned ashes in urns to best friends who have lost best friends. And sometimes we’ve brought the shovel to help dig the hole and say the prayers before another one was laid to rest.

We’ve answered the call late at night when a young boy living on the streets needed help when his dog was sick and he didn’t know where to turn. But he knew we were safe and would not judge.

And we were there to help fight for The Howard 22, a group of 22 starving horses that had done nothing wrong except find themselves without food due to an extra rough winter. And since then we’ve quietly provided hay for dozens of hungry horses who had little more than weeds to eat otherwise.

We’ve rescued boxes of kittens left in parks and we’ve received letters from people asking if we would look after their pets if anything happened to them. We’ve sent food to areas pummeled by hurricanes, fires and landslides. We’ve walked the streets in the middle of the night when we knew there were people and pets out there that needed us.

We’ve hiked into the forest to softly say hello to a group of angry veterans with happy but hungry dogs and cats and reminded them it was still ok to have hope. We’ve fostered pets while their people faced emergencies. We’ve rescued newborn puppies from cardboard boxes being pushed in shopping carts and made sure they found their forever homes.

And we’ve mourned each and every one that we could not help. Each and every one that has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

The list of what The Pongo Fund has done during these past 7½ years is likely longer than anyone realizes. But we’ve touched tens of thousands of people and their pets in a way they had never been touched before.

We have given a chance to animals that did not have a chance and given hope to families who had little left to be hopeful for. To our volunteers, our donors, to all of our friends and supporters who offer words of hope and encouragement, we thank you, because everything we do, we do together.

The Pongo Fund is Oregon’s Pet Food Bank and so much more.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

This just happened. A baby, a mom, restraining orders and an older German Sheppie who needs somewhere safe to land. Baby and Mom have a temporary place to go, their friend cannot join them. The call comes to The Pongo Fund. Can we help? Can we find a safe place for this sweet older girl, where she will be loved and cared for until she can get back home? These weren’t the calls we expected when we began this wonderful mission just 7 ½ years ago. But we do our best.

Our first call went to Jamie at Sniff Dog Hotel. We’ve talked about Jamie before, she and her Sniff Team work miracles on a daily basis. But here’s the thing about Jamie. She doesn’t ask who’s going to pay or how long we’ll need. No, what Jamie says is “We need to find her the best suite we have.” Not a kennel. Not a room. No, this senior girl will get the best suite in the hotel. Bath, brushing, massage, nail trim, she’ll get it all.

And that means just hours after the first call came in, we already have things ready to go. Pillows will be fluffed, blankets will be warmed, the bed will be just right. All so a sweet older German Shepherd will be safe.

Thank you Sniff Dog Hotel.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

She had three Cats that were one or one Cat that was three. Each one had a different name depending on the moment. And each one was introduced and reintroduced as many times as necessary. Confused? Maybe. But it really didn’t matter because at the end of the day the most important thing was that every Cat was loved. Alzheimer’s was the demon, but for this woman and for her Cat(s), it didn’t matter. Alzheimer’s wasn’t who she was; who she was was a kind and wonderful soul who loved Cat(s). At least that’s how she looked at it. And who were we to think differently?

She was part of that generation that was proud, always was and always will be. Alzheimer’s couldn’t snatch that away. But every now and then they needed a smidgen of help, so the call came to The Pongo Fund and we happily delivered food, litter and lots of purrs. The caregiver knew what was going on, even better, we’re pretty sure the Cat(s) knew what was going on too, but why mess with a good thing?

Being there for One Cat or Three, whenever we can.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

(For privacy, photo is stock image and NOT the woman mentioned)

The busiest times are becoming the normal times. The need grows so the help we offer grows with it. We try to reach higher, to do more. This past week or so, three more dogs and a cat in surgery. One of them was not Hank, The Miracle Pug, who has defied the odds once again. His pre-surgical MRI revealed a massive spinal infection; could this be the cause of his sudden paralysis? We don’t know for sure, even his neurosurgeons are baffled. Yes, Hank has neurosurgeons. But we hope and with that hope, his surgery, set to begin just moments later, was postponed.

Tens of thousands of meals went out the door for the family pets of those in need. And our Emergency Kibble Response Team did their jobs near and far too, bringing last-chance food to more than a dozen hungry and hurting animals with empty tummies. Tummies empty for far too long. People did not know we were here, now they do. Those animals will be hungry no more.

We are staged and ready to get food to those affected by one of America’s worst wildfires, still burning in the Columbia Gorge. When the fire broke out, two Pongoers stood on call 24/7 to get food there on a moment’s notice. The flames have subsided a bit; we pray this fire will end soon as possible. These tragedies hurt all of us, but when close to home, when we can see the flames and taste the smoke, when the ash covers our cars, it hurts a bit more.

Generous folks remember our little non-profit group needs help too, donations arrive to restock our battered veterinary care and food funds, calls of gratitude arrive to lift our spirits. And sometimes, not too often but just sometimes, a card arrives. A woman whose dog had no more time and now has lots of it because we were there to help. The five words on the envelope say it all.

Doing what we can, when we can, for whoever we can. Because we’re all in this together.

And this is why we Pongo.
Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

That’s 20 years of pit bull there, Duke 13, and Spam, 7. The call came like so many others. Out of food, please help. But this one got a bit harder real fast, when the caller noted he had no car, not even money for bus fare. And oh yeah, they’ve been out of food for two days, his dogs had Top Ramen for breakfast. He’s had Spam for seven years; adopted senior Duke just two years ago when a friend fell on tough times and could no longer care for him. Isn’t that how it always is? Someone already struggling steps in to help someone struggling worse?

He was walking them just before he called us, someone stopped to pet them, the conversation somehow turned to food, she said call Pongo. He’d never heard of us before but he called, laid things out in the simplest terms. He was battling some significant health issues and the end of month money was gone due to unexpected expenses. He thought they’d be ok, but he was wrong. The Dad, he’s a good guy, does his best to keep things together through trying times. But sometimes, the trying times win. “I’m not a bad person, I didn’t expect to run out of food. These dogs, they are everything to me. What will I do?”

The good news. We were already on our way to pickup a special donation from Hannah and the rockstar team at Unleashed by Petco in NW Portland. They’ve always got some great food for us and this day was no different. In the most perfect timing possible, we had the food picked up and went straight to deliver lunch for Duke and Spam. They greeted us with kisses and wagging tails, happily inspecting their new bag of food.

What is it about dogs we’ve never met? Soon as we walk up, they know we’re there for good. They haven’t seen the food yet, they can’t smell it yet, but they greet us like old friends.

The best part? We got kissed by a couple of sweet old pibbles, and that’s one of the best treats ever.

Being there for the pitbull team of Duke and Spam.
And this is why we Pongo.
Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

It doesn’t get any better than this. Give 10, Get 10, and your 10 could be worth more than $100! That’s the gig this coming Friday November 10th at Urban Outfitters Portland on NW 23^rd Avenue. Join us for their fantastic Community Cares Dog Day and bring your dogs if you’ve got ’em, because the store will be packed with fantastic fun for your canine friends. But here’s the best part. Sponsor a bag of dog or cat food for just $10, and you’ll get an instant 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE. Where else can you get a deal like that? And the best part is that every single $10 goes directly to help The Pongo Fund, Oregon’s Pet Food Bank. We feed thousands of animals every year, keeping them safe, healthy and out of the shelters. Save some lives, save some money, make a difference. All for just $10. Come and join us and meet some of your favorite Pongo People, including Dazzling Darla, Amazing Angela, Larry Kibble and Alex Galaxy, The Pongo Fund’s newest Pongo Junior and truly one of Portland’s coolest little dudes. You might even get him to dance. We’ll also be giving away our new Peace, Love & Kibble Pongo Pens. This Friday, 11/10/17, 2pm-6pm, 2320 NW Westover Road.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

Urban Outfitters Portland / 2320 NW Westover Road / Portland, OR / 97210 / https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/stores/portland/events/98af21

Sometimes it’s hard to tell people what The Pongo Fund does. To explain what The Pongo Fund means. To describe the work we do and why we do it. We’re a small-but-mighty volunteer driven team that has no marketing or public relations staff to tell our story. We’re just the little guy that has developed a new way to save lives by keeping animals safe at home and out of the shelters. But maybe the real challenge is not in speaking the words that tell people what we do. But in reliving the memories that those words bring. Because the stories are many. And sometimes they hurt.

Sometimes those stories hurt so much that they are never told. Instead they remain locked away in the heart of the few that were there. Left unshared because we did all we could do and sometimes it was enough and sometimes it wasn’t.

We help seniors and veterans and the mentally and physically disabled. We help young children whose only reliable friend is their dog. We help victims of disaster, both natural and otherwise. We help single moms, couples, families and far too often we’re called upon to help victims of domestic violence who sometimes have had almost everything beaten out of them save for the love they have for their animals.

We’ve rescued a dog named Dutch unintentionally left locked in a truck when his truck driver dad Francis faced emergency surgery. We’ve provided food to people when their homes have burned down and all they cared about were their pets that survived and now they needed food to feed them.

We’ve rescued a sweet 17 year-old, Gandhi like Beagle named Scooby, set to be euthanized the next day. Thankfully he wasn’t. And he went on to live for many more years, he’s a timeless 150 years-old now.

We’ve bought litters of pups stacked in boxes on freeway ramps, refusing to let them become commodities for the unethical people who held them captive. And for each one, we got them safe and healthy and into loving forever homes. Most recently it was a litter of pibbles who had no idea they were destined for Hell, thankfully we succeeded in preventing that. Adding to the sweet and sour of that moment was when their person, a young, innocent homeless boy, told us the Momma dog’s name was Heaven. Yes, we got her too.

And then we personally introduced him to the help he needed to get off the streets, help he was too ashamed to ask for himself.

We’ve helped a mom keep the secret of homelessness away from her young daughter who was happy to believe they were car camping with their dog.

We’ve amputated diseased and damaged limbs that needed to be set free, and we’ve watched with absolute joy as those animals continued unfazed, happily sporting three on the floor instead of four.

We’ve healed abscesses so serious they had eaten through skin, causing enormous pain and infection for brave animals too stoic to ever let their parents know they were in pain. We’ve pulled failing teeth, repaired diseased gums, removed countless tumors and other masses, and brought an end to more fleas, mites and worms then we can count.

And we were there to comfort a broken-hearted octogenarian when both his elderly wife and elderly cat died within days of one another. He said he wanted to honor them but could not afford to donate money. So we brought bags of kibble to his home and worked with him so he could honor their memories by being part of our kibble packing team. Maybe the most loved kibble we’ve ever packed.

We’ve been there to provide high-quality food for exhausted search and rescue dogs, and our kibble couriers have answered the call many times when help was needed beyond our borders.

And we’ve helped spay and neuter more than 1,000 dogs and cats too.

After a week’s worth of delicate conversations a broke and broken hearted woman allowed us to drive her and her best friend to a loving veterinarian that released her dog from pain and helped him cross the Rainbow Bridge. Without us she would have had to carry her 50 pound dog on the bus. And as she said, she knew she could not do that either physically or emotionally.

And when it was over we introduced her to a grief counselor to help make sure that she too got the help she needed.

Our emergency kibble response team has helped countless strong willed and proud seniors with senior pets who together were living on scraps because they were too proud to ask for help. And each and every time we helped one, we helped all. Because bringing dog food to a disabled military veteran who had no food for himself or his wife didn’t seem right. So we fed them all, two and four-legged alike.

We’ve returned ashes in urns to best friends who have lost best friends. And sometimes we’ve brought the shovel to help dig the hole and say the prayers before another one was laid to rest.

We’ve answered the call late at night when a young boy living on the streets needed help when his dog was sick and he didn’t know where to turn. But he knew we were safe and would not judge.

And we were there to help fight for The Howard 22, a group of 22 starving horses that had done nothing wrong except find themselves without food due to an extra rough winter. And since then we’ve quietly provided hay for dozens of hungry horses who had little more than weeds to eat otherwise.

We’ve rescued boxes of kittens left in parks and we’ve received letters from people asking if we would look after their pets if anything happened to them. We’ve sent food to areas pummeled by hurricanes, fires and landslides. We’ve walked the streets in the middle of the night when we knew there were people and pets out there that needed us.

We’ve hiked into the forest to softly say hello to a group of angry veterans with happy but hungry dogs and cats and reminded them it was still ok to have hope. We’ve fostered pets while their people faced emergencies. We’ve rescued newborn puppies from cardboard boxes being pushed in shopping carts and made sure they found their forever homes.

And we’ve mourned each and every one that we could not help. Each and every one that has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

The list of what The Pongo Fund has done during these past 7½ years is likely longer than anyone realizes. But we’ve touched tens of thousands of people and their pets in a way they had never been touched before.

We have given a chance to animals that did not have a chance and given hope to families who had little left to be hopeful for. To our volunteers, our donors, to all of our friends and supporters who offer words of hope and encouragement, we thank you, because everything we do, we do together.

The Pongo Fund is Oregon’s Pet Food Bank and so much more.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org
#pongofund #oregon #portland #rescue #dog #cat #petfoodbank

#love#hunger #charity #donate

I call this The Schmaboopie, that’s the scientific name for the 90 degree deep neck turn when you hit the right spot. Just kidding, I made that word up. But when you hit the right spot, when the eyes close, when the purrs grow louder, oh man, pick whatever word you want. Because when a kitty cat friend gives you the 90 degree turn, JACKPOT!

She can’t get out so we go to her. She fights through adversity to win every day and make sure her kitty cat friends are well cared for. She could give up; no one would criticize her for that. She’s young. She’s disabled. A bulky wheelchair her transportation. But she fights on because those cats depend on her. When the food runs out we get the call.

There are so many things perfect about this moment. Many reminders too. Hurricane Harvey hits all of us hard, my heart breaks moment after moment, despite the hopeful moments, I still hurt. And that’s why I quickly worked on a plan to get to Houston to help. I had to be there, I absolutely had too. But others said no, they were firm; my job is here, so we found other ways to help in Houston. It still felt wrong, because how do we balance the grace that we are blessed with when so many others suffer? Then Belle called. Already facing many months of homelessness, battling serious medical issues on top of that, yet she’s on the phone because her little buddy, Prince, is out of food. Right now out of food. Some other homeless folks told her about Pongo, so she called. Belle and Prince have a car, and thankfully they were located just a few blocks from one of our downtown distribution locations. So this one would be easy, or so we thought.