For the past five years, Paul Crowell, who worked at a doggy daycare, had been using the extra food that was thrown out at the facility to feed the dogs of the homeless he saw on his way to work.
“I started rescuing that food from being thrown in the garbage, and I delivered it to the many homeless dogs I saw in the encampments around here,” Crowell says. “Pretty quickly, I became known as ‘the doggy food man,’ and I started bringing it all the time.”
The San Francisco resident’s efforts, however, were cut short when another company took over the daycare and prohibited Crowell from taking the leftover food.
“I got really upset,” he said. “I really loved doing it, and it brought so much joy to my life. I didn’t want to lose that.”
Undaunted, Crowell decided to go it alone. In November 2015, he launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to feed the city’s homeless dogs. He then began taking pictures of the pups and sharing them on social media.
Soon after, the donations began pouring in. Crowell used the funds to expand his efforts and establish Project Open Paw, an organization that cares for homeless and hungry animals in San Francisco. He typically spends $200 to $300 per week feeding dogs. He also allocates money for vet bills, which tend to cost $200 per visit.
“I provide vet care for a lot of dogs,” says Crowell. “When I go down to the ASPCA, they probably pull up my name and see 40–50 dogs. So now, I’m the big poppa of them all.”
So far, Project Open Paws has raised over $98,000. Crowell is hoping to raise enough to open his own shelter for homeless dogs to care for them when their owners are arrested or sent to rehab.
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“The dogs give these people a reason to carry on, and a lot of times, that may be the only thing. They’re a team out there; they help each other live,” says Crowell. “My goal has always been to keep them together unless there’s abuse. I’d like to be able to reunite owners with their dogs when they’re able to have them again.”