Assist Dave in His Journey to Support Family

Dave is kind of shy and doesn't have any pictures of himself, so his loving dog is in the cover photo - Chuck the big white pluff ball. Dave owns the #1 rated pet care business in Council Bluffs and has clients scattered throughout the southwest Iowa area. If you've been on the 100 Block, chances are good you've seen Dave walking with a multitude of animals - but mostly his main man Chuck. Chuck is a definitely somewhat of a celebrity down on the 100 Block, but we all know how much he love's the attention.

Dave needs to move on short notice to help care for his sister, Kathy. Their's is a sad story, especially for his sister. In February of 2023, Dave's sister asked him to come to Long Beach, MS to help care for her ill son. He agreed and stayed for two weeks with a promise to move down permanently to care for his nephew within the next two weeks following. Sadly, his nephew (Eric) passed away 4 days before Dave was to arrive back. Consequently, his move was called off temporarily, until his sister's husband (who had cancer which had regressed while in treatment) was hospitalized. Again, he offered to move down to help, but his sister said no, she needed to do this on her own. After fighting valiantly for months, Larry (his sister's husband) passed away on 1/9/24. Without blinking an eye he called his sister and said 'what do you want me to do'. She said she didn't want him to move down at the time, she needed time to herself to come to grips with what has happened to her family and figure out things on her own.

Now, his sister has been diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease and a blocked aortic valve. So, he's finally going to make the journey to Long Beach, MS.

This is so last minute, that he hasn't had time to find a house to live in, so he's going to rent one for the time being, of which he hasn't found either. He has to rent a UHaul trailer, on top of a truck, to take all his belongings with him. Then he would have to drive the pickup truck back, since Avis does not do any one-way rental trucks (or any agency that he's aware of for such a rental). That leaves him with having to drive the truck to Mississippi to drop off his belongings, then turn around and drive the pickup truck back to Omaha, Nebraska. Only to have to fly back to Gulfport/Biloxi International Airport.

To make things even worse, Dave's car was stolen on the 16th of June and his insurance company (USAA) has denied his claim because the Omaha police department mis-dated on their stolen vehicle report that the incident had happened on the 15th, not the 16th. So his insurance was not into effect on the 16th. He's trying to fight it but it's an uphill battle, as no one from the police department wants to admit that they made a mistake and are being further uncooperative.

As you can tell, he's got quite a bit on his plate and he, like the rest of us, believe that his family comes first - he'll worry about the rest later.

Dave's obviously looking at many large expenses (funds of which he doesn't currently have) to make such a sudden move like this. So I'm trying to help him by creating this GoFundMe account to request donations. This is for a great guy, who's not only taken care of so many people, but their pets as well. Dave's truly the kind of person that would give the shirt off his back to help anyone. This year alone, he took in 3 different people experiencing homelessness into his one bedroom apartment, in hopes to help them in anyway he could. That is the gospel truth. He's a rare breed, through & through.

I'm hoping for anyone to donate anything that they can to show him that he is appreciated & we all have been so thankful for everything that he has done for the countless people of our city (& other cities) that he has helped along their journies - regardless of his own hardships. Please help Dave with anything that you can give, to assist him during this transition of caring for his older family member. This is clearly a situation that nobody want's to be in, but Dave has accepted these responsibilies as his own - simply because that is the type of caring human that he is.

Everything donated will be crucial in showing Dave how appreciated is / should be for all of his hard work & every ounce of care and concern he has vigilantly poured into everyone else around him. I would personally be overjoyed to gift Dave anything that we all can, in hopes to give him a proper sendoff to have the ability to go and continue to care for others (& their pets) the way that I know he plans to in Mississippi!!