Homeless Woman Walks 3 Miles in Storm to Take Abandoned Dog to Shelter

MARCH 6, 2015 UPDATE: As of this morning, over $2,300 has been raised via the Help Lisa Snyder, Joey’s Friend online fund to pay for repairs to Snyder’s van. Rami Packer, owner of Butch’s Auto Repair in San Pedro, heard about the good Samaritan and offered to repair her van.

“Dear wonderful people, thank you!!!” Snyder wrote yesterday. “You’ve brought joy, comfort and relief to me in my situation, and I want to point to every one of you and tell the skeptics and fear-mongers of the world, look! There’s the REST of the truth! … I will not forget you, not even all you people named ‘Anonymous’!”

“My name is Joey. I am looking for a home. Please take care of me!!” read a handwritten note attached to the collar of a Pointer mix who’d been tied to a light post Sunday in a San Pedro, Calif., park.

Lisa Snyder, who has been living in her van with three rescue cats in the parking lot of Point Fermin Park, decided to take care of Joey. She grabbed hold of his leash after he broke free from the light post.

“He was scared,” Snyder told CBS Los Angeles. “He was snapping. And growling. And trying to get away from people. He was just scared.”

She walked Joey around the park, trying to find someone who would take him.

“At first, I asked a lot of people, ‘Would you like a dog?’ And of course, nobody would like a dog,” she said. “So, then I thought, Well, what am I gonna do?”

Since her cats are not dog friendly, Snyder decided to walk Joey to the nearest animal shelter. It was cold and raining, and Snyder has to use a cane, but she managed to walk Joey to the Harbor Animal Care Center, three miles away.

“I got to thinking, If I had left him out here with all that wind coming off the bluff and all that pouring rain and no shelter over there at all, he would have ended up sick, maybe dead,” she said.

Joey, who is microchipped, is on a 10-day hold at the shelter. If his owner — who, it seems, should face charges for abandoning the dog — doesn’t claim him, Joey will be available for a new forever home March 13. With a strong emphasis on “forever.”

“I hope he finds a good family. A forever home. He needs one. He deserves one. He’s a good dog,” Snyder said.

An online fund was created yesterday to raise money to repair Snyder’s van, which does not run. The goal is $500; as of this morning, $225 has been donated.

“Lisa lives out of her van since she fell on hard times and could use help to repair her vehicle,” wrote Lorna Lee Locke Salem, who started the fundraiser.

“She opened her heart. Let’s open ours and help her.”

Photo via gofundme.com