COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — A local nonprofit is hitting the streets of Central Springs every day to help unhoused residents care for their dogs, providing everything from food to medical care to weekly room rentals.
Husband and wife Josh Deely and Amanda Page run Pay It Fur-Ward. They drive a bright blue pickup truck to distribute essentials to people and their pets. And they say they've become quite recognizable in the homeless community around Central Springs.
News5 followed along with them near Cimarron Street and North Nevada Avenue to see their work firsthand.
In the bed of the truck, Page and Deely have clothes, sleeping bags, dog food, hygiene products, and nonperishable food to name a few.
"A common misconception is that these people don't like to clean up after themselves. They do. They love to clean up after themselves. They don't have the capacity or the means, so they ask us for trash bags all the time," Amanda Page said.
Many of the pet owners say they choose to feed their dogs before themselves.
"Everything's for them. I've slept in cold nights with just one blanket to keep them warm. It doesn't matter. It's all about the dogs," Daniel Retherford said.
Retherford owns three dogs: Willow, Nikita, and Bones. He said Pay It Fur-Ward helped when Bones was attacked while Retherford was helping a woman fix her van.
"I had two leash dogs attack him when I was helping a homeless lady do a motor swap on her van, and he had a hole in his leg, and they took him to the vet for me and stuff because I couldn't afford it," Retherford said, "They're my life. It's what keeps me going, pushing positive, no matter how hard life can get it."
Corey Haight also prioritizes his dog, Aurora. She is his service dog and they now both live in a sober living facility across from the Colorado Springs Police Department.
"I'd starve first before she would," Corey Haight said, "That's my daughter. That is my daughter. I've raised her. Like if anything happens to her, I don't know what I'd do."
"This is my accountability buddy. Every time I get up in the morning, she jumps up on my bed or she's sleeping next to me and I get a look in the face and my day starts off happy," Christina Martin said. She is one month sober following a meth and fentanyl addiction.
Martin shares the same bond with her dog, Baby Girl, who is pregnant and facing a potential infection.
"Pay It Forward has got it set up for us to go see the vet in two weeks. Amanda noticed some things that she didn't like with her pregnancy right now so we're gonna go have that all checked out with the vet in two weeks and hopefully everything will be OK," Martin said.
Pay It Fur-Ward keeps medical supplies in their backseat for both people and dogs. And if the medical emergency is too much, they set up appointments and pay bills. They also rent out rooms weekly so people do not have to sleep on the streets.
It has been a lifesaver.
"More support is getting more support for her. Aurora is behaving more. We're not actually being out there having to worry about someone coming and stealing all of our stuff at night or anything like that," Haight said.
For some, the organization's support has led to sobriety. Jeremiah Arbuckle said Pay It Fur-Ward helped him get clean so he could care for his dog, Little Bear.
"When I was homeless and on the streets, my addiction fed everything, so I couldn't really take care of her. Amanda and Josh and Pay it Fur-Ward really has helped me get to the point where I can take care of her myself in the, in the way she deserves," Jeremiah Arbuckle said.
He says he named his dog, Little Bear because when he first got her, she looked like a little bear. She loves butt scratches. And when asked about what Arbuckle loves most about his "daughter"?
"She's a weirdo... She's a weirdo like her owner," Arbuckle said.
Now clean and sober, Arbuckle and Retherford are volunteering to help the organization.
"After I got clean and sober and they helped me get to the point I'm at now, the only question in my mind was how can I be a part of it? It's a very powerful organization, maybe small, but it has some power behind it," Arbuckle said.
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