A homeless man will soon be reunited with his beloved dog after he was forced to make a difficult choice to surrender it, but thanks to the efforts of the community, both of them will soon be reunited.
Mr Williams was evicted from his home in Lawrenceyville, Georgia, and with just $40 in his pocket, and all his things in the car, he had to make a tough decision to give up his 14-year-old furry friend Lucky. He then took him to the Gwinnett County Animal Welfare shelter so that he would have a safe place to stay as he did not want the dog to be sleeping in the car with him, but after an animal shelter staffer wrote about his plight on Facebook, support poured out from the community for him.
While Williams was completing the paperwork to surrender Lucky, some of the shelter staff were overcome with emotion regarding his story, and shelter staffer Katie Corbett decided to do something about it. She took some pictures of both of them and posted them to her Facebook page with a plea for help.
Thanks to the staffers and some anonymous donors, and representatives from the county’s Senior Services Department, Williams was put into a hotel for 1 week so he wouldn’t have to sleep in his car and Corbett asked her Facebook followers if they would be willing to foster Lucky till Williams got back on to his feet.
Lucky’s dad knows that he could get adopted or rescued,” wrote Corbett. “In fact, he would be ecstatic if somebody could rescue his boy from a loud, stressful environment. He understands that risk. But what would be even better is if we could find a foster to keep Lucky while his dad gets back on his feet so that we could be able to reunite them.”
The next day, a man turned up at the shelter and offered to take Lucky home so that he would not have to be in the noisy shelter. Corbett even launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Williams, it has raised over $10,000, more than twice their goal. She said, “I shared Lucky and Mr. Williams’ story on social media … hoping to secure a temporary foster for the dog until we could come up with another plan,” on the crowdfunding page. “Never in a million years would I have expected the outpouring of support that was displayed.”
“Thank you all so much for wanting to help Lucky and his dad. Lucky really is so lucky,” she added. As Williams is disabled and cannot work, he said he would prefer to live in a van and with the outpouring of support for him and Lucky, it is a matter of time when they would both be together again living together.
“We have talked with Nissan Sutherlin at Mall of Georgia and have found a great vehicle that will fit both of their needs,” says Corbett. “Other funds will be used for Lucky’s vet care, food and joint supplements (as needed), and setting up the van to have the proper insulation, wiring, and solar power that is needed to sustain the two of them.”
What an outpouring of support from the community for this homeless man and his dog, the staffers really raised the bar with their support to them as well. Hope these two are quickly reunited and get to spend the rest of their life together forever.