Dog runs 4 miles to get help for owner after crash into Oregon ravine
Dog truly is man’s best friend.
Oregon resident Brandon Garrett learned that earlier this month when one of his four dogs, a pit bull-whippet mix named Blue, ran nearly 4 miles to alert his family to a crash Garrett and his canine companions had been in.
The ordeal began on June 2 when Garrett, 61, of Halfway, lost control of his truck while he and his dogs were traveling through the Wallowa Mountains to a camp where family and friends were waiting.
Brandon Garrett’s truck is pictured at the bottom of the ravine where he crashed June 2. (Credit: Baker County Sheriff’s Office)
According to authorities, he failed to negotiate a curve and the vehicle plunged over an embankment along U.S. Forest Service Road 39, also known as Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.
“Garrett was able to crawl approximately 100 yards from the vehicle, where he spent the night,” Baker County Sheriff’s Office officials said on Facebook.
Garrett’s party was unaware that anything was amiss until Blue showed up at the camp alone. The Oregonian reported that Garrett’s friend, Troy Millhollin, was the first to spot the dog.
Initially, Millhollin wasn’t worried. Blue was known to have traveled nearly 30 miles alone before.
The dog had what appeared to be scratches on its face, but upon closer inspection, Millhollin realized the scratches were cuts from broken glass, the newspaper reported.
As dusk settled, Millhollin went back to town to see if he could find his friend.
“It started getting dark and nobody had heard from him, and that’s when I was, like, ‘Something isn’t right,’” Millhollin told the paper.
Rescuers use ropes, a pulley system and a rescue basket to lift Brandon Garrett from the ravine where he crashed his pickup truck June 2. (Credit: Baker County Sheriff’s Office)
Worried, the party searched all night for Garrett. His brother, Tyree Garrett, spotted the truck overturned at the bottom of the embankment the next morning.
“I thought he was dead,” Tyree Garrett said. “I thought he was gone because it was so far down.”
The group alerted authorities to the situation.
Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash, who responded to the scene, was trying to find an access point to the creek at the bottom of the ravine when he heard someone calling for help.
The sheriff found Brandon Garrett and the other three dogs, all of whom survived the crash, about 100 yards from the truck. Garrett and two of the animals, who were ejected from the vehicle, narrowly missed being crushed as the truck rolled into the shallow water.
Garrett was able to crawl to where he was later found.
“Sheriff Ash rendered first aid,” authorities said. “Pine Valley Rural Fire volunteers and U.S. Forest Service employees used chainsaws to clear a path for (Baker County) Search and Rescue.”
Members of the Search and Rescue team set up their rescue equipment and began the task of reaching Garrett. Once the team was able to reach him, they loaded and secured him in a rescue basket.
Watch Brandon Garrett talk about his ordeal below.
“He was connected to a highline rope system and pulled across the ravine, where he was transferred to a group of SAR members and medical personnel,” the department’s statement reads. “Garrett was transported by Halfway Ambulance to the Life Flight helicopter, where he was airlifted to a regional hospital.”
Garrett was released from the hospital after being treated for his injuries, which included a broken foot, a cut on his head and bruises across his body.
His brother expressed amazement over Blue’s heroic actions.
“It’s just a very loving, caring dog,” Tyree Garrett said. “I was amazed that he figured out how to get back to (the camp) instead of coming to town or something.”
Drive-thru food pantry feeds thousands in California ‘food desert’
Through the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic, a California community has created something positive: a drive-thru food pantry that feeds thousands of people in one of the state’s “food deserts.”
The Seva Collective is based on the Sikhi concepts of Seva, or selfless service, and Langar, or free meals for all. The Santa Ana-based organization began as a way for the Orange County Sikh community to step up and help neighbors in need.
Co-founder Bandana Singh explained to CBS News last month that the collective started out with a handful of volunteers, food and toys the group’s organizers bought themselves and a dream of feeding those suffering food insecurity.
“When we first started, we were driving to LA’s downtown food market, we were driving to Central California to pick up citrus — we were kind of all over the place,” Singh said.
In the four years since its inception, the Seva Collective has supplied four million meals to those in need. The organization itself has also grown over the past few years.
There are more volunteers helping to feed people, and the organization now partners with food banks, corporations and farms to bring fresh, healthy produce and groceries to the Santa Ana area, described as a food desert.
A food desert is a geographic area where residents have limited access to healthy, affordable food, largely due to an absence of grocery store within a convenient traveling distance. The Department of Agriculture estimates that about 2.3 million people in the U.S. live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not own a car.
According to the Food Empowerment Project, urban dwellers can get around fairly easily thanks to public transportation, but economic forces have in recent years driven more and more grocery stores out of cities and into suburban areas.
These issues crop up more often in low-income communities and Black and Brown communities, forcing residents to rely instead on the abundant fast-food restaurants and convenience stores that litter America’s poorer neighborhoods.
Learn more about the Seva Collective below.
Singh said while the primary goal of the Seva Collective is to provide meals to those in need, a secondary goal is to improve the health of those receiving food.
“We know that if they’re not consuming fresh food, they’re going to be consuming junk, and then that’s a systemic problem that leads to health issues down the line,” she told CBS News. “So little steps now can hopefully help future generations and everyone’s health as they continue to age.”
Using a drive-thru system, Seva Collective volunteers supply each family in line with a bundle of produce and two weeks’ worth of grocery staples.
“Our goal is to get fresh food, as well as shelf-stable food, to every family’s car or cart who comes through the drive,” Singh said. “We have cars line up as early as three or four in the morning — we don't start the drive till 9:30 a.m. So, to us as the volunteer team, it tells us that the need is there, and we want to do whatever we can.”
Longtime recipient Jody Watts said the initiative has been a blessing.
“It takes away a sense of dread, and it takes away a sense of anxiety of not having enough food to supply for the family,” Watts told a reporter.
New food recipient Laura Castro showed up after hearing about the collective through her children’s school, CBS News reported.
“Since I have five kids, it’s helping me,” Castro said. “I hope my kids (leave here) with a big smile on their faces.”
All 4 of Florida couple’s daughters named valedictorian of same high school
A Florida couple has experienced one in 11 billion odds after all four of their daughters were named valedictorian of the same high school.
Ryleigh Rendina has followed in the footsteps of her sisters — Mikayla, Elisa and Taylor — to become head of her graduating class at Astronaut High School in Titusville.
“I was, like, ‘Well, I have to. There’s really no other option,’” the teen told Fox 35 in Orlando.
The pressure to excel at school has always been fairly high for the Rendina girls. Their mother, Tracey Rendina, is a math teacher at Astronaut High.
Rendina admits that she and her husband, Mike Rendina, have always emphasized for their daughters the importance of striving for their best.
“I was probably tougher on them than everyone else in the class,” Tracey Rendina told the news station.
Ryleigh and Taylor Rendina both credited their parents with pushing them hard, but say that the pressure was tempered by unwavering support.
Mike Rendina said he was not surprised that Ryleigh achieved the same goal as her sisters, pointing out how hard the teen worked for the honor. He said the secret to the family’s success is the support he and his wife have provided.
The couple has also worked to instill in their girls the value of resilience and determination, Fox 35 reported.
“Just being there, being involved, picking them up when they fall down,” Mike Rendina said. “You know, making sure (they’re all right).
“It’s when they had bad games, when they struggled, that we went out and got ice cream. When I hugged them and told them, you know, I love them, and, ‘Good job! I know you worked hard, and let’s learn from this.’”