Jim Watts and Bernie
Shauna Farnell
When there’s darkness, destruction, and loss in one’s life, hugging an adorable, fluffy dog has a way of letting a little light in. After fires broke out in Southern California this year and hundreds of people lost homes and businesses, SaddleBrooke residents Bernie the Bernadoodle and his handler Jim Watts did what they could to deliver a few moments of joy to those impacted.
Watts, 80, and Bernie, 2, drove from SaddleBrooke to California (about eight hours each way) on two separate trips in January and February as a volunteer Hope Animal Assistance Crisis Response team. They spent several days near the sites of the Altadena and Malibu wildfires visiting police stations, ambulance centers, elementary schools, and a FEMA processing center.
“We went to an elementary school in Santa Monica and visited four classrooms; fifth grade, fourth grade, and two first grade,” Watts said. “Teachers would bring kids up to Bernie two or three at a time. They’d pet him and put their arms around him. He sat there and let them maul him with love. That was very rewarding.” A group of first graders handed off drawings of Bernie before the team moved on to its next stop.
At a processing center, Bernie’s cuteness caught the eye of a Fox News broadcast crew. They filmed a segment on him and his human and their good work.
Watts chatted with a handful of locals who had lost homes in the fire. One woman told him that when she was returned to her property, all that was left was a four-inch-high pile of ash. “She searched around in the ash, and all she found in it was a single coin,” Watts said.
On their second deployment, Watts and Bernie actually got to visit the burn site in Malibu. “The EPA site was right next to a motel. The only way you could tell it was a motel was that the sign was still partly there. The area was like an apocalypse,” Watts said, “very, very sad.”
The sight of it all made it that much more meaningful that the Hope team could inspire at least a few smiles.
“Just being able to meet and talk to the people who were affected and the first responders who went in and helped them, that was really special,” Watts said. “Even if it was just a sliver, we felt like we were helping make people’s day a little better.”
Bernie is also a certified therapy dog who makes regular volunteer visits to in-patients at Sierra Tucson, students at the University of Arizona, and hospice care patients.
Watts would like the SaddleBrooke community to know that he and Bernie would be happy to pay a visit to anyone who feels they could benefit from an adorable therapy dog. Contact him at jimgo1944@gmail.com.