Let’s begin the New Year with an extra moment of gratitude. This moment, right now. Because we all deserve to celebrate good things together. Not just today. But everyday. Particularly with so much bad in the world. So much strife and conflict and pain and suffering. We all face it. We all feel it.

The Pongo Fund is so dearly blessed to have many kind and generous donors. Each one cares deeply about the animals and the work that we do. But they have one other thing in common. They do not seek accolades. They do not want to be feted on Facebook or in newsletters. It’s just not their way.

This is really nice. Thank you Dogster!

http://www.dogster.com/…/take-a-look-inside-oregons-only-fu…

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live.

One Kibble At A Time. thepongofund.org

A reminder. Hunger is more than just an empty stomach. That’s why every day The Pongo Fund strives to do more. To help more. To be more. But that doesn’t mean just giving out more food. It means feeding stomach as well as soul. There is no secret recipe. We just try.

Because too many people tell us that too many places simply hand them something. A box. A bag. Papers to be completed. Sign here. Stand there. And they tell us that even though they leave with something, they still leave empty.

During the past few weeks The Pongo Fund has delivered countless and healthy jam-packed people food boxes for many fragile families. And books for their kids. Hats. Coats. Gloves. Toothbrushes. Toothpaste. Sleeping bags. Socks. Some basics. Some not-so-basics. But each item given with love. And each one received the same way.

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” – Mother Teresa

We do this work quietly. Cautiously. Respectfully. Because hungry people have hungry pets. But sometimes the need is more than pet food. Sometimes the greatest need is hope.

During December The Pongo Fund will provide food for more than 1,000 hungry animals. And we’ll also help feed quite a few people too. Because if anything happens to one of them, two-legged or four, they both lose. And during these cold, wet, wintry days, the need is greatest. Right now.

This past Sunday, on a chilly, wet day, our pet food bank was open. And yesterday we were out again, on the streets with a series of Pop-Up Pongos, delivering what we could where we could. Helping as we could.

Because to be a helper, that is the best gift of all.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”– Leo Buscaglia

Everyone we helped felt it differently. Some found it in the form of a small food box. Some in the form of new, super nice socks. Some got gloves. Some got hats. But for some of them, what they got was magic. I know this because they told me so.

A reminder that it’s not what it is. But what it means. And if someone said they got magic, then let’s cheer the magic.

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those that don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl

One of the most magical moments was reconnecting with a man who I met last year. Back then he told me how The Pongo Fund had helped him reenter a world that he felt had left him behind. But now he was part of it. And he loved it.

He was still there, on the street. But he was Happier. Healthier. He had Hope. And seeing us again just added to it. But the real gift was for us.

Because what he didn’t know is that his hope brings us hope. And for that we are forever grateful.

Bringing hope. And believing in magic. Why not?

The Pongo Fund is a pet food bank. We’ve provided more than 9,000,000 high-quality meals to date and helped keep some 80,000 at-risk family pets safe at home and out of the shelters. We have become a national model for new ways to save lives and reduce shelter populations.

But deep inside, we know it’s magic.

All thanks to you.

And this is why we Pongo.

There are just a few days left in 2015. 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. Believe In The Magic. thepongofund.org

(Photo of man and dog is representative only)

It’s the last day of 2015. Six years ago The Pongo Fund opened our doors for the first time. Pam Bartel was the first guest to receive food that day.

She and her husband had lost good paying jobs and were facing foreclosure. They’d already given up so much. But giving up their pets Fuzzy the dog and Spaghetti the cat, pets they had adopted years earlier from a local shelter, was even more frightening.

And that’s what brought them to our door. To stand in line for free pet food. Super high-quality pet food. No corn. No soy. No weird fillers. A few minutes later while loading the large bags of food into the trunk of her car, Pam cried tears of happiness.

Since that day we’ve been there another 9,000,000 times. NINE MILLION! To provide nutritious meals for 80,000 hungry and starving pets. Pets that are family. Pets that stayed out of the shelters. Pets that are deeply loved by people that turned to The Pongo Fund for the help they could not get anywhere else.

And we’ve helped provide veterinary care and spay and neuter for more than 1,000 of them, too.

Six years later we’re still here doing the work that no one else does. Staying focused and true to our mission while embracing new opportunities to expand our vision. Making an impact beyond expectation. Saving lives, reducing shelter populations. Helping both people and their pets. Simultaneously. Because by helping one, we really do help both.

We do our work quietly. We do not spend money on marketing and advertising and fundraising like the big groups too. Gosh, some of them right here spend millions of dollars telling people what they do. We do it differently. We don’t talk about it much, we just do it. That means no big parties, no extravagant dinners, no auctions or other fancy shindigs.

We stay pretty quiet about our work. And because of that we know it’s sometimes hard to let people know 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 group and we operate with just one paid employee and many dedicated volunteers.

We help animals when their own families are temporarily unable to keep them fed. Dogs. Cats. Feral cats. City cats. Horses sometimes, too. Service dogs. Seizure dogs. Hearing dogs. Even Guide dogs.

We help them all, including beloved animals that belong to seniors and veterans and the mentally and physically disabled. To both the employed and the unemployed. We help young children whose only reliable friend is their dog or cat. And we help street kids all across the community. Because their pets are frequently the only family they have left. And so many more.

We work with caseworkers from the Department of Human Services and many other agencies to aid their most fragile clients. We help single moms, couples, families and far too often we’re called upon to help victims of domestic violence that sometimes have had almost everything beaten out of them save for the love of their animals.

We rescued a dog named Dutch unintentionally left locked inside a truck when his truck driver dad Francis faced emergency surgery. Reuniting both 10 days later in a heartwarming story followed by nearly one million people.

We paid the bills to help Bella the pitbull when she was tragically shot in the head. And we continue to be there for her and her brother Bugsy and the entire family that loves them both.

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 helped a young homeless couple make the tough decision to give up a momma dog and her four-week old puppies. A doting momma and four little tiny pups all living together inside a cardboard box inside a shopping cart. We helped them understand that selling their puppies on a bridge ramp was not the right thing to do. The momma dog, all of 14 months old at the time and still really just a puppy herself, now lives in the lap of love seven days a week. And each one of those puppies was adopted into new loving homes.

We helped a woman 1000 miles from Oregon who called just a few days before she died. She was the feral cat caretaker for oodles of cats in her trailer park and she had no one else to take over for her. She called out of fear. We learned everything we could learn about who liked what and who got along and who might come inside once in a while and who was still waiting to be spayed and neutered. And we then organized a posse of people to help, including the trailer park manager who had no idea any of this was going on. Because, as he said, they all pretty much just kept to themselves. The woman who called, she died a few days later.

We were there to hike into the forest to bring much needed food and hope to a group of veterans who had given up on everything except their wits and their pets. Angry and suspicious, they still welcomed us with hugs and smiles.

We were there for the young girl who desperately needed to hug her dog while in the hospital. We made the call that led to another call that led to another call and the smile on her face as her dog lay on the bed next to her said it all.

We were there when one of our guests suffered a seizure on one of our Pongo Sundays, right there in our lobby. And in the blink of an eye one of our team, an experienced physician’s assistant, rushed to stabilize, treat and comfort the stricken guest. She stayed with her until she was ok and then quietly returned to her other Pongo duties.

We quietly rescued several dogs that didn’t have a chance otherwise. Doing whatever we needed to do to get them out of horrible situations. And when we say whatever, we mean whatever. We don’t talk about this work but we do it nonetheless. And our Whisper Network of caring friends made sure that each one found a happy new home.

We pulled out every stop imaginable to help a woman on her way to commit suicide after giving up the dog she loved but could no longer afford to feed. We knew she was serious when she told us exactly how she was going to end her life. But thanks to the crisis training of one of our volunteers, we were ready to help because we knew there would not be another chance. And both are doing well today, happy and healthy together.

And on a personal note, we celebrated the 21st birthday of my best friend, Scooby. Himself freed from a tough life four years ago, together with me ever since. He could be the poster child for The Pongo Fund. Living in the doorway of a building on a busy street. Sick, covered in tumors, missing teeth and more, yet he climbed into my lap to lick my face when we met. Even with all the pain he was in, he still wanted to properly say hello. And every Friday we share French Fries.

We’ve set up pet food bank distribution in dozens of locations, near and far. And numerous groups including Oregon Food Bank, Meals-On-Wheels, Oregon Humane Society, Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital, Oregon Department of Human Services, Home Forward, Central City Concern, Department of Veterans Affairs and dozens more all rely on us when their own clients need pet food. Even suicide crisis lines turn to The Pongo Fund for help when their callers have pets.

That’s six years of doing the lifesaving work that no one else is doing. The very work we were told we would never be able to do. Saving more lives than anyone ever thought possible. Work that we’ve been fortunate to do only because of you.

And what began in the back of a Chevy Trailblazer now helps more animals than any other group in Oregon. Becoming a national model along the way for new ways to save lives and reduce shelter populations. Even Best Friends Animal Society honored us when they said: “The best way to reduce shelter populations is to keep animals out of the shelters to begin with. The Pongo Fund has developed that very program. They’re doing something innovative in Portland that’s making a huge difference.”

Together with you, The Pongo Fund has given a chance to animals that might not otherwise have a chance and given hope to families that have little else to be hopeful for. Because sometimes a simple bowl of kibble is the force that both keeps a family together and saves the lives of the animals they love.

Being there. Just being there. And we thank you for being there with us. Because we couldn’t do it without you.

And this is why we Pongo.

Today is the last day of 2015. The last day you can make a charitable donation and receive a 2015 tax deduction. The last day of the year to make a difference.

And we hope that you will help us prepare for 2016 with your gift today. Even better, by giving today your gift will be DOUBLED by a group of generous donors.

We have two secure giving links:

• http://bit.ly/1MQ3Hn5
• https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/

“If you cannot feed 100, then feed just one.” — Mother Teresa

With gratitude from all of us at The Pongo Fund, we thank you.

Because YOU are why we Pongo!

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

‪#‎portland‬ ‪#‎petfoodbank‬ ‪#‎rescue‬ ‪#‎love‬ ‪#‎pongo‬ ‪#‎dogs‬ ‪#‎cats‬ ‪#‎foodbank‬

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

‪#‎portland‬ ‪#‎pets‬ ‪#‎charity‬ ‪#‎christmas‬ ‪#‎petfoodbank‬ ‪#‎pongofund‬ ‪#‎cheer‬‪#‎love‬ ‪#‎help‬

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

A Christmas Day French Fry Friday. And Santa brought TWO fries for the 21 year-old Scoobs. Just so you know, the next Christmas Day French Fry Friday will be in 2020. Scooby will be 182 years-old then. And just for fun I think we’ll be giving him THREE fries on that day 🙂

For some reason Scooby is a dancing machine today. A jolly, happy soul for sure. Maybe he saw Santa? Of course, they are probably old friends.

With apologies to Frosty:

CHRISTMAS 2015: On Christmas morning, and everyday, we wish…

For every hungry animal searching in gutters for breakfast,
to find a filled food bowl.

Christmas is tomorrow. And today, we look back. One of the saddest scenes I’d ever seen. My stomach dropped and my blood pressure jumped as I watched the pitbull lying on the pavement under the bridge. It was a bitterly cold day. The body covered in a smorgasbord of blankets and clothing haphazardly piled rump to neck. Sticking out from this cocoon of fabrics was a head. A head turned on its side. Completely still.

I waited and waited for something. Anything. I feared the worst but so desperately wanted that body to move. To give me just one signal that there was still life within. But that movement, any movement, was not there.

I approached as quietly as I could. I walked stiffly. Like my feet did not want to go there. It was only a few steps but they seemed to take forever.

So many thoughts happening all at once. In what was just a matter of seconds. But I was right there now. Right next to this dog that looked just like so many others that The Pongo Fund cares for. Soft white fur. Short hair. Pink around the nose. Solid head.

That solid pitbull head that causes so much fear for so many. But I knew it was the kind of head that had burrowed into many a chest bringing sloppy kisses. With a rump wiggling like a blur, bouncing with joy. Yes, it was that kind of dog. But not now. Not anymore. A dog that was still not moving.

As I readied a prayer, I jumped out of my skin as I heard him let out a giant snore. A SNORE. A sawing logs kind of snore. Raspy. Coarse. The perfect snore. A quick yawn. A lick of the lips. And without moving an inch, all in a split second, I realized this friend was sleeping.

And as I was trying to remember to breathe, a loud voice yelled at me from behind. “What are you doing? Leave my dog alone!”

I spun around to find a man, just a few feet away, wearing just a tshirt and shorts. He was shaking from the cold. A snoring dog at my feet. And an angry man steps away looking for answers. And all I had were tears.

I told him what had happened. That I was with The Pongo Fund and I was feeding the animals under the bridge. And as I started to explain what The Pongo Fund was, he quickly interrupted and said he knew. We talked. His teeth chattered. He had no coat. No protection from the cold.

Because everything he had was piled on his sweet friend to make sure he was not cold. The pitbull that was sawing logs. Buried underneath a lovingly crafted pile of clothing and blankets.

This man explained so many things to me at that moment. It felt like I was talking to the Dalai Lama directly. Maybe I was. He told me his dog counted on him. That he counted on his dog. And that they did all they could to keep each other warm in the bitter cold.

I told him that he needed some winter clothes. That he needed to stay warm and dry too.

And he continued, telling me how it was on so many nights that it was his dog that kept him warm. And when he got up that morning to “freshen up” he piled all the clothing on his dog to make sure he stayed warm.

That was why. Such a simple answer. And it made complete sense.

A man was cold so his dog was not.

But I knew this man was really cold. He was shivering. Even if he put all those clothes back on he would still need more to survive the winter streets. I told him that I would get him and his dog a room for a couple of nights. That I would take him to a nearby store and get him some winter clothes.

He said no thank you. Because others deserved those things more than they did. He was proud. He was obstinate. He was cold. His dog snored.

And then he said something that pretty much knocked me over.

He asked me about Scooby. My Scooby. My 21 year-old dog. I asked him how he knew Scooby and he said he’d seen us at the park. I told him Scooby was good.

He smiled. He said he was glad to hear that. The man was about my size. He knew Scooby. But here he was shivering. And I was not.

So I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a handful of pooh bags. Some treats too. I told him it was my Scooby coat. The one I wore when we walked in cold weather. I took it off and told him that Scooby would want him to have it.

It was a comfortable coat. It had a lot of stories. It was warm. And it was covered in Scooby hair.

I pushed it toward him in a way that would not let him say no. And he took it. He held it for a moment. He scrunched it up. He put it on. He said thank you. I asked him how long they’d be there. He said a bit. I asked him to wait for me.

I walked back to my car without my coat. And I drove straight home and grabbed a pair of my Scooby dog walking pants and some shirts. Some socks. Gloves. A flashlight. Some pocket warmers. Dog treats. Some other things too. Some new. Some not. But each one Scoobified.

And I drove back fast as I could, stopping only to get this cold man some hot coffee and hot breakfast.

He was still there. Sitting next to his dog. Watching him sleep. The very thing that I enjoy doing. I know you enjoy that too.

I walked over and presented him with this bulging armful of items. I looked like a walking thrift store. And then I went back to my car for more. The new sleeping bag. The dog food. The dog coat. The new leash and food bowl and more treats.

And I just stood there. Looking at everything I had brought for him and his sweet dog and I was so hopeful that at least some of it would be welcomed. That some of it would be helpful. That these items, many of them covered in Scooby hair, would bring him the same comfort they brought me.

He looked at everything and then looked at me. He looked back at it. He looked at me again. Back at it. Back to me. And he asked me why I brought him all that stuff. He wanted to know why I did this for him. Why I did this for his dog.

And as his dog continued to snore, I told him I didn’t do it. Scooby did.

Winter is upon us. We’ll run into more and more people like this. They will need us. Their dogs will need us. Last year a core group of our Facebook Friends made donations to help these most fragile people. To help them. To help their dogs. Cats too.

When it was over many of you reached out to me and said you did not know you could donate to The Pongo Fund to help the people too. And you asked me to let you know when we needed you again. The time is now.

If you’d like to donate to our Cold Weather Fund to help provide desperate folks with care and comfort for both them and their pets during the coldest weather, please click here: https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/ .

Donations up to $5,000 will be doubled by a person special to The Pongo Fund. Someone who cares about helping others, both two-legged and four.

But please, do me two favors.

One, if you cannot afford to give, please know that is ok. I’ll be just as happy to have you send some kind words and good thoughts. Because they too bring warmth.

And two, please do not post comments telling me that I did something special. Because I did exactly what any of our kind and caring Pongo volunteers would have done. What you would have done had you been there. This time it just happened to be me.

Because again, we really are all in this together. What one does, we all do.

A man shivering in the cold so his dog does not. A dog sleeping soundly buried under a mountain of warmth. One had chattering teeth. One snored. It was the most beautiful symphony ever.

And thanks to you, we got to help them both.

And this is why we Pongo.

It’s also why we ask you for your help. We don’t spend millions of dollars a year on fundraising and marketing like the big animal groups do. Really, it happens. But not at Pongo.

We walk the same sidewalks, we slog through the same mud as many of those that we help. Hopefully you’ll think that’s important enough to help us too.

Sometimes I work alone. But when I do, I know The Pongo Fund and all of our great Team Pongo Volunteers are right there with me. You are too. Because what we do, we do together.

The donation link again for our Cold Weather Fund: https://www.thepongofund.org/contact/donation-page/

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org

(Photo is not of the man and dog under the bridge, but it could have been)

#homeless #help #charity #pitbull #dog #rescue #petfoodbank #pongofund #kindness