Feeding Maybelline

I met Maybelline at the farmers’ market one Saturday in October, after the first torrential rains. She and her sister dog were with their human, who I’ll call Phillip. The dogs were wet and cold, shivering and moving slowly, then reclined in a doorway on cold concrete with Phillip.

I went and got a beach towel for Phillip to dry the dogs. Then I got him some hot soup, along with a 10-spot.

Later, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. The next day, I went shopping for dog jackets and got some dry food at the pet store. It took me a week to find them, driving around town every day, talking to other homeless people.

That’s when I decided to start cooking fresh food for the dogs of homeless people. After asking around, I heard about the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR), which does outreach to homeless in Eureka and Arcata. They agreed to distribute my dog food.

So I started collecting food. It was around Halloween, so there were lots of pumpkins. Rice and oats are cheap. I needed protein. Most groceries had already committed to other groups, but I found one meat manager who saved scraps for me, and once a week I picked up a big box of beef fat with little bits of meat attached. I don’t eat meat, but found myself up to my elbows in beef fat, scraping away.

And so my food program began. I knew that at least once a week, these compromised dogs would get a decent meal. Someone told me about an encampment on the Samoa Boulevard that looks like an industrial wasteland. Phillip and his dogs lived there. One day after some bad storms, I went in, concerned about how they had fared.

It turned out that Maybelline had bolted during a storm. She had been picked up by Animal Control and was in jail. I asked Phillip if he would like me to pick her up and take her for a while. Overwhelmed, he said yes.

I took her home and gave her a bath. She smelled terrible. Then I fed her fresh food and made her a bed. But soon, she had nudged the back door open and escaped.

Within minutes, I was driving south along Alliance Road and spotted her, but she wouldn’t come to me. She was heading back to the encampment. I followed her all the way to the entrance to make sure she was safe, then I blessed her and let go.

A few days later, I went to see Phillip with a hot cup of coffee and apologized for not being able to keep Maybelline. He understood. It had happened before.

Maybelline made her choice. She wanted to be with her people, in the home that she had come to know, no matter how poor it appeared to me.

I love that dog. The HACHR driver promised to make sure she got food when he made his rounds. Did I mention? Maybelline is a sweet, 16-year-old shepherd. That’s a pretty good run for a dog that age in those conditions. May she thrive.

Samaya Jones is a retired chef living in Arcata who seeks donations of fresh yams, squash, carrots, pumpkins and especially meat for her to cook up for homeless dogs. Email: samayaj@yahoo.com.