A little less than two years ago I went to photograph a litter of puppies in Marana, Arizona. The puppies were fosters through Arizona Cattle Dog Rescue after being pulled from Pinal Animal Care and Control Shelter. Mom was a stray and she had her litter on the side of the road. I still remember looking at this timid two-tone eyed puppy I was asked to temporarily foster and wondering who would be adopting him, but also thinking that there was no fear of me being his forever home. How wrong I turned out to be. And yet I still remember seeing my brother hold him, and thinking Kronos looked like he belonged in our family. Do you ever look at dog and its family and think they just look the same?

Because Kronos came from a “homeless” background and there is so much being done for homeless animals and we help in various ways for homeless animals already, we have decided to have a Commentathon to benefit homeless humans to celebrate Kronos’s 2nd Birthday. We will donate $0.25 per comment up to $10 to Family Promise in Phoenix, Arizona. This is the equivalent of a “lot” fee that we would be using if we had been able to attend the Cardboard City event in Phoenix

Family Promise is an organization that helps homeless families and those who have fallen on hard times. There was a time when we were technically temporarily “homeless.” Bella and I slept out in the cold forest and stayed a couple of nights in a motel. It was an adventure, but I couldn’t imagine living like that to survive. Could you imagine enduring a frigid winter in Flagstaff or a sweltering summer in Phoenix?

There is a major stigmatism about homeless people. Many people are brought up now to be distrustful of homeless people and to turn the other cheek instead of lending a helping hand. Why give them money since they are just going to waste it on booze and drugs anyhow? They are just going to get in their fancy car at the end of the day and go home to a nice house. Why should I help them?-it’s their own fault for ending up like that. The sad thing is, you don’t know. You don’t know their situation. You have no idea how they got to where they are or why they are there. And does it really matter?

How can you help?
Please join our commentathon and help us reach our goal by leaving a comment on our blog. If you are able to give back by donating on your own and would like to, please feel free to donate even $1 to Family Promise in honor of Kronos’s birthday. Or you can even donate your time instead of your money. Attend events in your city to bring attention to homelessness. And the next time you see a homeless person or someone who has fallen on hard times, instead of turning the other cheek or looking down on them in disgust, maybe buy them a warm meal, or some clothes, or give them a little spare change that they can spend to buy water.

Our commentathon will run for a week. Since we do not know the exact date of Kronos’s birthday, we will also having a week long celebration through a series of posts about his adoption story for October’s Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, how Kronos stays fit and active, and retouching on his first time Herding or Kayaking.