I try not to redux my ‘good people’ posts too often, for there are so many good people that I typically don’t have to look too far to find one. However, tonight I am stuck in a rabbit hole and simply don’t feel like creating a new ‘good people’ post. As it happened, while I was looking around, researching recent good people, a man crossed my radar and I thought, “Hmmmm … haven’t I written about him before?” Turns out I had, about 3 years ago. That man is Dr. Kwame Stewart, DVM. Also turns out he’s still out there doing good things, helping people and critters, so I thought we’d take another look at him and his huge heart! Today, what started as a GoFundMe three years ago, is a 501(c)3 non-profit Project Street Vet, that takes donations and volunteers out onto the streets and to homeless encampments to provide free medical care for their pets, and last year they were able to help nearly 600 animals receive medical care. Here’s a link to his most recent endeavours, the article that caught my attention yesterday!
From my 2020 post …
Imagine for a moment if you will that you are homeless … you’ve lost most everything you had in life … except your dog. The only one who still loves you, who faithfully stays by your side through thick and thin, doesn’t care if you haven’t had a shower in days, or if you’ve got that same ugly grey sweatshirt on for the third day in a row. He cuddles by your side at night, gives you a g’night lick on the cheek, and his is the first face you see when you wake in your makeshift tent on the sidewalk, or under the overpass. Your best friend … maybe your only friend.
Meet Dr. Kwane Stewart, DVM. Nine years ago, Stewart, wanting to show his young son the importance of giving back, spent an afternoon at a soup kitchen offering medical care to the pets of homeless people in Modesto, California. During this experience, he learned that these animals provided more than companionship to their owners — they also offered love, hope, and security.
“I knew then and there I was going to keep doing it. There’s so much need out there. About 25% of our homeless population own a pet, and I knew that if I set up a table at a soup kitchen, I could help a small group of animals. So that’s what I did. I called over anyone who was holding their pet and told them I’d take a look and vaccinate or treat their pet if I could. That first experience was one of the most rewarding moments for me. When you give back, there is something you get in return that feels much larger. I knew I wanted to keep doing it.”
After examining more than a dozen animals on that first day, he realized there was a need for this type of medical care in his community. What started as a few hours of volunteer work slowly became part of his regular routine.
He has helped heal more than 400 homeless pets and hopes to continue spreading empathy and awareness around homelessness through his work on the street. He also hopes his mission will encourage other veterinarians to volunteer their time and expertise to help those in need.
“I don’t ever want to have to turn anybody away. The look on people’s faces when they get their pets back, especially after a surgery or a life-saving procedure — those are moments I’ll remember forever. Anyone has the power to help. You can volunteer at a rescue shelter. You can donate money or time. As that generosity spreads, it helps fuel the positive energy in the world.”
About 98% of the pets Stewart encounters on the streets are dogs — though there are a surprising number of cats and the occasional bird or reptile. While he’s heard comments that homeless people shouldn’t have pets, Stewart doesn’t share that opinion because he’s seen the benefits both to people and the animals themselves.
“To a pet, their owner is their universe. But we go to work and leave our pet alone sometimes eight, 10, 12 hours a day and they just sit and pine for us. Homeless people are with their animal every minute of every day.”
And pets can provide homeless women with a sense of protection and security, and offer hope to their companions — a reason not to give in to despair or fall deeper into drug or alcohol addiction, he said. One man told him, “My dog is more beneficial to me than any pill or therapy session.”
“I’ve seen homeless people feed their pet before they feed themselves. I’ve seen them give their last dollar to care for their pet. They sustain each other and that is the power of pet companionship.”
Stewart hopes to challenge preconceived notions of what homeless people are like through a TV show, in which he stars, called “The Street Vet.” He describes it as a “passion project” that he created with his brother. So far, it’s shown in smaller markets in Eastern Europe, Canada and China. While people sometimes assume Stewart is rich because he’s in a show and has had high-profile jobs, such as chief veterinary officer of the nonprofit American Humane, he’s still paying off his student loans from veterinary school. Below is a short trailer from his show … grab your box of tissues first.
Out on the streets, the most common afflictions Stewart sees are flea infestations, ear infections and mild arthritis, but sometimes a pet needs surgery to remove a tumor or rotting teeth. In the past, he would pay for it out of his own pocket; he is grateful to have found reduced-price care at Beverly Oaks Animal Hospital in Los Angeles. Dr. Laurie Leach, a veterinarian at the practice, has even performed some surgeries pro bono.
Still, costs add up and Stewart doesn’t want to have to turn anyone away, so he started a GoFundMe last fall. Inspired by his efforts, the fundraising site GoFundMe named him the February GoFundMe Hero.
You may think it’s a small thing … and sure, relative to saving the world it is. But … to those homeless people whose only friend is their dog or cat … or bird … it means everything. I give two thumbs up to Dr. Kwane Stewart! 👍 👍
In the past two years, the NRA Foundation’s fundraising program had displayed actual guns along the wooden bleachers in the gym. This time organizers showed only pictures, bowing to objections from parents who pointed to a shooting at another western Kentucky high school last year that left two students dead and more than a dozen wounded.
In the U.S., it is illegal to purchase cocaine, heroin, or other such drugs. Why? Because they are dangerous and can ultimately cost the life of the person who takes them. Yet, not only are guns not illegal, but they can be purchased by almost anybody in a Wal-Mart, at a gun show, or even at an auction in your local high school gymnasium. And, while an overdose of heroin will kill a person, that AR-15 that was auctioned off at the high school event could potentially kill dozens.
A gold star for Officer Dena Walker Pauly, one of America’s finest.
Hutchison, who grew up in Naperville, said he’s proud of the outpouring of support from neighbors and the police. Video of police arriving at Alizay’s stand in front of his house is growing by roughly 10,000 viewers a day.
Chicago was one of the hardest hit, with temperatures dropping at one point to -38° (F). Chicago, like most major cities, has a significant homeless population, and while the Salvation Army went around the city taking as many of the homeless as possible to shelters, there was still a contingent of homeless people living in a tent city on the South Side, using propane tanks for heat. Until … one of the propane tanks exploded, the fire department was called, and all the propane tanks were confiscated by city officials, who called them a ‘Level 1 Hazmat risk’.
Enter Candice Payne, a Chicago realtor, who heard about the homeless people and decided to be a good Samaritan. She used her American Express card and without hesitation, paid for motel rooms for the 70 homeless people in that tent city for the rest of the week! This, my friends, is what I mean when I refer to ‘social conscience’. Helping people who you know can never repay you, other than with a word of thanks and a hug.
In Cleveland, Ohio, where the temperatures matched those of Chicago’s last week, resides another heroic young woman, Holly Jackson, whose motto is “Make the world a better place one person at a time.”
25 years ago, Holly was living in a Cleveland homeless shelter. Since then she’s graduated college and has recently taken up a cause close to her heart. She’s giving back. Holly puts things like coats, hats, and gloves on fences around Northeast Ohio. She’s hoping that others join her on the pay it forward crusade.
It began 33 years ago in 1985, when Scott Macaulay’s parents divorced, and he found himself all alone for the Thanksgiving holiday. He was divorced also, and he really didn’t want to spend the day alone watching football with a tv dinner, or grab a burger from McDonald’s for his Thanksgiving dinner, so he placed an ad in the local paper, asking 12 strangers to join him for Thanksgiving dinner.
Well, he got twelve strangers to join him that year, and he enjoyed it so much that he has continued the tradition of a free Thanksgiving feast every year since. He has hosted widows, the homeless, and college kids who can’t go home for the holiday. Today, he estimates that he has about 70 people each year, and sometimes as many as 100, and he has no intention of stopping. About a week before the day, he goes grocery shopping, and while he won’t say exactly how much he spends on the food to feed the crowd, he did say that it’s over $1,000! And apart from an occasional small donation from someone who has attended one of his dinners, Macauley fully funds this all himself. He says he begins saving for next year right after the meal is finished.
He goes all out, too … no skimping here! A few days before, he hauls in sofas, recliners, oriental rugs, even a couple of fake fireplaces, and decorates the church’s rec hall to resemble a cozy living room. Candlesticks and cloth napkins are placed on the tables, curtains are hung in the windows, and adjoining rooms are set up for guests to relax and get to know each other over appetizers: chips and dip in one room and cheese and crackers in the next.
“A lot of people who are stuck in care homes or stuck in their own homes, the only time they ever get taken out is with their family or through activities at the home. But it’s normally from the home to a car to a bus to the next location. For some of them it’s such a strange thing when you say, come out on the bike because they think they’re going to do the pedaling. But when they find out it’s a young or old volunteer taking them out, they jump at the chance to get on the bike. Everyone has some time in their lives that they could give back to the older generation, and offer them opportunities like this they wouldn’t get otherwise.”
The students got the idea of setting up a 
Mayor Ben McAdams, of Salt Lake City, Utah, lived on the streets and in a homeless shelter. For three days and two nights. His goal? To be better able to provide better services for the homeless of Salt Lake City. Now, you might say he isn’t qualified for the Good People post, but I think he is. When we look at the politicians we see every day in the news, can you name one single other who would actually spend time living on the street in order to better understand the needs of the homeless?
On the second night, he stayed in The Road Home. McAdams got in line for a bed in the afternoon, but was turned away. He came back again in the evening and was able to snag a mattress. He was drenched from the rain by the time he got indoors but was too late to get a blanket. “At least it was warmer inside,” McAdams said. Once inside the shelter McAdams witnessed the blatant use of drugs, including his bunkmate injecting drugs into his arm, and the smell of what he assumed was smoke from drugs “all night long”. He also witnessed a fight between two men in which a man was dragged off of his bunk and hit his head on the concrete floor.
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