A man and his dog and the 5 Penticton-area women who said enough is enough

Wayne McFadden is a heck of a conversationalist. He listens sincerely to every word, and when it's his turn he'll regale you with non-stop stories.

And he's had a lot of them. Born in Ontario 65 years ago, McFadden's led a nomadic existence that's seen him work as far east as Nova Scotia and as far north as the Yukon.

His best times came while working with horses -- mostly racehorses. He'd teach them and groom them and calm them. And even today he can't stop talking about them.

"I guess I'm the horse whisperer," he laughs. "Everywhere I've gone they seem to find me."

These days, he lives in Penticton with his best buddy, a black and white dog named Singer that he says is part "bear dog" and part "grey wolf."

The two first met 12 years ago when McFadden lived in Whitehorse. The dog's owner, he says, "had no use for her" and was prepping to "take her out back and shoot her."

McFadden put the kibosh on that plan right away, and ever since he and Singer have lived, and traveled, together. "She even grabbed my arm once and saved me from being hit by a vehicle," he says.

But recent times haven't been so good for the two buddies. McFadden, who says he suffers from osteoarthritis and is a "bit autistic," originally came to the Okanagan to work the farms in Keremeos. But that was five years ago. He hasn't worked in a while.

For a time, he lived with Singer in his truck. But it was ultimately impounded for safety violations.

With nowhere else to go, the twosome eventually ended up at Penticton's Compass House emergency shelter where, he says, life was miserable. He talks about the heroin addicts and the bullies and the thieves and the utter lack of privacy. And the sleepless, worried nights.

"One night, someone poured water all over my bed," he says. "Why would they put someone like me in a place like that?"

So McFadden and his companion vacated the place seven months ago and opted for what he felt was a better solution -- a tent. It's pitched alongside the Penticton channel, and it's where they stayed all last winter.

Worse still, McFadden claims his only source of income dried up a few months ago.

"My disability payments were supposed to automatically switch over to old age pension cheques," he says. "But the disability ended, and nothing has come since."

But the cruelest blow of all came when Singer developed a rather serious lump on her hip. It's now the size of a soccer ball.

But yesterday, McFadden's -- and Singer's -- world changed.

First, Singer got a thorough veterinarian checkup. And last night, both man and dog stayed at the Penticton Best Western Inn.

But that's not all. Sometime soon, McFadden will likely be the proud owner of a pre-owned Class C "cab over bunk" motorhome.

And for all of the above, McFadden can thank a bunch of giving Pentictonites, an organization called Critteraid, and mostly a quintet of benevolent Penticton-area women.

"It started indirectly last summer," says one of the those women, Kim Cameron. "I was watching him. He was always at the Wal-Mart parking lot. He had signs all over his vehicle.

"Then he disappeared over winter. So I was really concerned for him. Other people were concerned about him too on the Penticton Facebook page."

Cameron eventually saw McFadden again, three weeks ago, at the Westminster Avenue Tim Horton's. So she introduced herself and bought him a hot chocolate, and the two chatted up a storm.

It was a scenario that would play out again and again over the next three weeks.

"And one day," says Cameron, "I asked him if he could have anything, what would it be. And he said 'I’d love a camper van for me and Singer because she's old.'"

McFadden's words still resonated with Cameron later that day when she took to social media. And that's when she says things got "synergistic."

First, she spotted a message from Okanagan Falls resident Christine Butler, who a year earlier had also spotted McFadden and Singer and posted her own concerns. The two chatted, and earlier this week the concept of a gofundme campaign was born.

The coincidental synergy continued when Pentictonite Lois Wager, who'd just learned about McFadden through Butler's and Cameron's posts, also ran into him at Tim Horton's and also bought him a hot chocolate. She immediately reached out to Cameron and joined the gofundme team.

"Then Sunnie (Waters) jumped out of the woodwork," said Cameron, "then Sue Kaminksi and her family. And the next thing you know, there are five team members on this gofundme campaign."

Friday morning, the entire group but one met McFadden and Singer at the South Okanagan Animal Care Hospital for a vet appointment organized by the super-quintet and paid in full by animal rescue organization Critteraid, which has also promised to cover any future medical work and dog food.

The prognosis was…unsure. The nature of Singer's lump is unknown, but a sample of the cells was taken. A pathologist will analyze it and return a result next week and they'll go from there.

Nevertheless, there were smiles all around afterward as an appreciative McFadden chatted with his new-found liberators.

And of course there's that gofundme campaign. It was launched Tuesday, April 20th. Today it's already surpassed the goal of $9,000 -- enough for a pretty decent pre-owned motorhome.

Going forward, Butler's busying herself enquiring about McFadden's old age security cheques. Wager, a fundraising veteran, is personally sending thank-yous to everyone who donates.

It’s a heck of a group effort, but it left us with one question. What about all the other folks out there who, through a series of bad breaks or disability, find themselves in a similar situation to Wayne McFadden?

Turns out Cameron and company have been thinking about the same thing.

"Wayne is one homeless person," said Cameron Friday afternoon. "But there are others like him in the community.

"So with the other girls on this team, we've collectively discussed that we're going to get Wayne all figured out and situated, and then take this energy and this thing that has already grown with the people of Penticton and push it in a positive direction for the homeless.

"At the end of the day, it's a start. And that's what our group wants -- to be a positive start to helping and giving these people a hand up, not a hand out."

To donate to the "Help Wayne and Singer" fund, go here.