nothin Neighbors Rally For Homeless Man & Dog | New Haven Independent

Neighbors Rally For Homeless Man & Dog

Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo

Swingle and Saphira.

Kevin Swingle and his dog Saphira have been together for three and half years — and thanks to Westville neighbors who got to know them, they’re sleeping indoors for the winter.

I got her when she was eight or nine weeks old, and I’ve had her ever since. We’ve been through a lot together,” Swingle said of his companion, an Italian Greyhound-Mini-Pitbull-Dachshund mix, in an interview outside the Starbucks by Wilbur Cross Parkway’s Exit 59.

Swingle, 32, is homeless. Because most homeless shelters don’t allow pets, Swingle and Saphira were often turned away and struggled for a place to stay. So they set up a tent on the grassy patch off the exit and stayed there with Saphira through the fall.

Some Westville residents quickly got to know Swingle and Saphira. They started to bring them food, dog food, clothes, and cash.

In December, neighbors started a thread about Swingle and Saphira on Nextdoor called Homeless man with dog off Exit 59.”

When the weather started to get really cold in mid-December, I just didn’t have the heart to see Swingle and Saphira sleeping in a tent,” said Westville resident Harold Pizer. So Pizer logged onto Nextdoor to organize a community effort to put Swingle and Saphira into a hotel for the winter.

I was really surprised by the outpouring of the community,” he said.

Donations from 40 Westville, Orange, and Hamden residents have enable Swingle and Saphira to stay warm this winter at the New Haven Inn on Pond Lily Avenue. With these donations, Pizer said his goal is to secure the room through March 31.

Pizer said he was particularly inclined to help Swingle because of the special relationship between Swingle and Saphira.

I am an animal lover first and foremost,” he said. Pizer grew up with dogs. He now owns two stray cats, Norman and Sheeba, whom he took in from the cold.

Swingle said he became homeless in December 2019. Before then he was living in a three-bedroom apartment in New Haven and splitting rent with two other people. He claimed they caused damage to the apartment and hid eviction notices from him. Two days after he was booted he lost his job at a restaurant, he said.

Initially, Pizer was concerned that Swingle could have been exploiting Saphira.

Contributed Photo

Harold Pizer.

I thought that he might be using his dog as a sympathy ploy to get more money from people and that really hurt me. But as I got to know Swingle more, I realized that he really did love his dog, he cared for his dog, and his dog loved him.”

Like Pizer, Swingle has cared for animals his entire life. Growing up with his grandparents in Shelton, Swingle looked after cats, dogs, fish, and birds. I raised everything I could find, including silkworms!” he recalled.

Swingle said he used to wake up with night terrors and got Saphira to help with his PTSD. The day I got her was the last time I ever got a night terror.”

As for how he found his canine companion: He said he had posted online that he wanted a puppy. When a friend of his was getting a dog, they gave him the last of the litter (Saphira).

He named Saphira after the dragon in his favorite book series, The Inheritance Cycle. In the series, Saphira and the main character, Eragon, who raises her, share a magical mental link that helps them flee their home to take on the world.

Saphira has a leash, but Swingle usually lets her walk alongside him or he carries her in a backpack. Even when he was in the hospital for a blood infection this summer, Swingle said Saphira has always stuck loyally by his side. I’d put her before myself.”

She’s the perfect dog,” he continued. I wouldn’t change anything about her. Except the ability to speak.” (Saphira, pictured above, declined to comment.)

Swingle said he’s able to take good care of Saphira since donors are often generous with dog food. I always have more dog food than I know what to do with. She’s bougie, so she only likes certain wet foods now,” he said, laughing. I never feel like I’m using her, cause she’s got a better life than some dogs that live with rich people.”

Before he had the motel room, Swingle said, finding work was difficult because it was hard to find a place for Saphira to stay. He now leaves Saphira to cuddle under the blankets in the room while he goes out to shovel during snowstorms and cleans bodegas at night.

Swingle said he’s ready to look for more steady jobs and is waiting on calls back from interviews. With the room, Swingle said, he’s been able to save up, with the hope of finding a long-term room for rent after he leaves the inn. It’s been a godsend. [Harold]’s a wonderful man, and I appreciate him more than he’ll ever know.”

To help support Swingle and secure the room through March 31, you can send a personal check or donate through Harold Pizer’s Venmo: [email protected].



Local Act: Connecticut Coalition To End Homelessness
Local Learn: New Haven Homelessness Fact Check
National Act: National Alliance To End Homelessness

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