GoFundMe For Homeless Man, Dog Living In Car With No Heat

EAST HAVEN, CT — It's 2 a.m. The man has come on hard times and has been living in his 24-year-old car with his dog. Wednesday, parked near Stop & Shop the car heater quit. He had blankets, but he and his dog were freezing. He had run out of options and needed help, so he called East Haven police.

An officer got to them, and after assessing the situation called for an ambulance. The man, named Martin, was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital to be evaluated for hypothermia. Meanwhile, newly installed East Haven Animal Control officer Emily Higgins was dispatched from her home in the middle of the night to get the dog, an 8-year-old boxer, and bring her to the shelter. She'd stay there, safe and warm, until her human was released from the hospital.

Now retired East Haven Animal Control officer Owen Little shared the story with Patch.

Thursday, Martin was released from the hospital and went to retrieve his dog. And to try to find a place for them to stay for a couple of nights, as an arctic blast is imminent. Little said there are no shelters or warming centers in East Haven, New Haven or nearby that will take a dog.

Then, Higgins did something that goes far above and beyond the scope of her new job. Telling Little she had some motel rewards points she could cash in towards a room, she paid for two nights at the Quality Inn for Martin and his four-legged companion.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist Martin and Roxie. You can view the page here. As of Monday morning, it had reached more than $35,000 of a $2,000 goal.

Patch was able to reach Martin, who was warm and safe with Roxie, the dog he's had since she was a pup: "We're inseparable." His story is wrenching. After his mother died, he said, he struggled to find housing. He tried to get a housing voucher but was told it was a years-long wait to get on the list and, years later, was told his application was lost.

He said he looked for a place for so long that he could afford. Despairing, he went to Mass and prayed, he said. And on the way out of the church, bumped into his middle school teacher and when asked, shared that he was in desperate need of a place to live. The man had a place, he said, a room he could rent for $400 a month. Prayer answered.

For three years, Martin and Roxie lived in that room, until a new property owner told them they had to go. Trying desperately to avoid the streets, he rented a U-Haul van. It had a bed, and a heater that worked. He and Roxie lived in it for two weeks. And then the promised $560 a month to rent it quadrupled.

He lost that home and was no longer on the Section 8 waiting list. He gets $900 a month in Social Security disability. He has neck, back, hip and knee problems: "I drag my leg." And with nowhere to go, he and Roxie moved into his 1998 Dodge. Without heat. And that led to him calling police to save him and his dog.

But what happened next, he said, was a miracle.

Emily Higgins happened.

"An angel from heaven helped me," Martin said of Higgins. "Nothing has ever happened like this to me. No one ever, ever has done anything like this for me."

Higgins, not looking for any limelight or attention, told Patch that she did what she did because it was the "right thing to do."

"I could tell he was a good guy. You could see he had her bundled up. Everything in the car was for her, it was all dog stuff. I could tell he was a good man. He broke down and started crying. He had no clue what to do. We called around and no one could take them. I couldn't think about keeping them separate. They both clearly love each other so much. He went to the library to charge his phone, and I surprised him when he came back. I told him I got him a room for two nights and that he could bring Roxie. It was a good feeling."

And, Patch was told by a person who asked to remain anonymous, that they called Swanson Automotive to have the car's heater checked out.

Both Little and Higgins said that it's important for people to know that "there's help." And Higgins said, in Martin and Roxie's case, he was afraid that his beloved dog might be taken away from him. Something that she said wouldn't happen. "I just want people to know if you need help, please ask."

And Little added that the work they do, is "an honor."

"There's help," he said. "To be a public servant is an honor."

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.