Tom Miner wanted a better life for his beloved dog Jake. After a flood of responses to his handwritten letter, he has a better life too – and a new home.
LAKE WORTH, Texas — Tom Miner clutched a large manila envelope that held the free-and-clear deed to his new home at the Lake Worth RV Ranch on Jacksboro Highway. And with tears in his eyes, tried to find the words to express his thanks to the army of volunteers who helped rescue him – and his “baby” Jake.
“I’m still sorta in shock,” he said.
His rescue started Saturday when firefighters at Fort Worth Station 8 heard cries outside. They found a dog chained to the flagpole along with a three-page handwritten letter. It challenged firefighters to prove their station really was a “safe place” as the signs say outside near the engine bay. Fire stations are designated as places where mothers in crisis can surrender newborns.
The writer said he was a 65-year-old homeless veteran who had been living on the streets for 20 months. His landlord would not renew his lease so he set up camp in Fort Worth along with his beloved dog, Jake. He wrote that he wanted a better life for Jake and didn’t know what else to do.
“I have nothing but my baby Jake,” the note said. “If you have a soul and really care about helping babies, please help my baby.”
The firefighters at Station 8 fell in love with Jake and decided to adopt him as their station dog. But they also wanted to find out who wrote the note.
Homeless advocates, along with the Fort Worth Fire Department HOPE Team (Home Outreach Prevention and Education) located Tom in an encampment nearby. The HOPE team has identified 528 homeless camps in the city with an estimated total population of 5,000. Tom’s location, under a railroad trestle, was one they were not aware of. His note said he was giving up the dog so that he could focus on finding work and not have to worry about leaving Jake alone.
That’s when an army of volunteers decided Tom shouldn’t be alone either.
“Tom was blown away by the amount of help he was getting,” said Sam Greif of the Fort Worth Fire Department HOPE Team.
With the help of Operation Texas Strong, a nonprofit that helps find RVs and mobile homes for homeless veterans, an RV was donated, pulled to the Lake Worth RV Ranch with a City of Fort Worth vehicle, and the fridge and cupboards filled with donated food.
“That’s my queen size bed I slept on last night,” Miner said on a tour of his new air conditioned digs. “Like sleeping in heaven on a cloud.”
Bobby Crutsinger from Operation Texas Strong among the volunteers who helped make it happen.
“Because I want him to feel loved and wanted,” Crutsinger said. “Because when you’re not loved and wanted, everything falls apart.”
Miner, an Army veteran who lives on a small Social Security check each month, says his goal is to get the rest of his life pieced back together enough to bring Jake to this new home too.
“I knew that he was gonna be took care of that I didn’t have to worry about him,” he said of leaving his dog at the fire station. “And I know Jake. You can’t not love Jake. Jake is love. Long live Jake,” he said.
“I love you,” he said Friday to the group of firefighters and volunteers who gathered around his new home. “With all my body all my mind with all my soul and with all my passion to help give back what I’ve been given to.”
Jake, meanwhile, continues to get daily attention and care from the Station 8 firefighters until Tom is ready to bring him home.