The Velasco family’s dog went missing after Hurricane Irma, but volunteers two states away brought him home!

It wasn’t physical pain making a pup named Meco cry. He was missing his family something terrible. So shelter worker Kellie Bachman knew she had to reunite them . . .

Let’s get you some food and water!” Blount County, Tennessee, SPCA volunteer Kellie Bachman said cheerfully to the halfdozen shelter dogs delivered there as Hurricane Irma descended upon Florida.

Just then, Kellie noticed a seventh dog— a brindle Labcattle dog mix— curled up in the corner alone, by turns whining and whimpering.

“What’s wrong?” Kellie asked, rubbing his belly. But her tender touch only made the pup wail more loudly. Tears filled Kellie’s eyes. “You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

Kellie was right: The dog whose name she didn’t yet know was in terrible pain— only it wasn’t physical. Meco was missing his family.

Where are they? Where aremy people? Meco wondered.

Meanwhile, 700 miles away in Plant City, Florida, Brooke Aldama logged off the “Found Pet” website.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see Meco,” she sadly told her neighbors, farm laborers Tomasa and Alberto Velasco.

Brooke knew how devoted Meco was to the Velascos and their six kids. Every day Meco cried if the oldest, Mauro, didn’t let him walk Moises, Juan, Jesus and Lizbeth down the rural dirt road to the bus stop, then return to wait for them in the afternoon.

Now Meco was missing, and they were devastated.

“Do you think he has food?” four-year-old Diana asked her mom.

Holding her little girl close, Tomasa prayed so.

Back in Tennessee, Kellie had checked Meco and found no injuries. His coat shone. He was even a bit chubby! And it struck her: “You aren’t a stray. You must have wandered off and gotten picked up by accident. You’re crying because you miss your people!”

Taking the inconsolable pup into her arms, Kellie rocked him until he fell asleep. But as days passed, Meco continued to wail. He wouldn’t eat. And whenever someone peeked into his kennel, he sprang to his feet as if to ask: Is it my family?

“He’s so sweet. We’ll adopt him!” several shelter visitors offered, but Kellie refused.

“He has a family in Florida who loves him. After the hurricane, we’re going to find them,” she and her husband, Gino, decided. And after learning where Meco had been picked up, they called animal control.

“I remember him—what a friendly guy,” the worker related, suggesting they post on the county’s Facebook lost and found pets page. So Kellie uploaded Meco’s picture.

With the hurricane over and power finally restored, Brooke returned to her computer.

“It’s him!” she exclaimed this time when she checked the shelter site. “His name is Meco!” she shouted into the phone when she reached the Blount County SPCA. And when Kellie asked the pup, “Is your name Meco?” the dog danced around in a frenzy of happy barks!

But how to get Meco home? The Velascos didn’t have a car and couldn’t afford to have him flown.

“We’ll fundraise!” Kellie offered. But when local freelance artist Amber Edwards saw the plea on Facebook, she was so touched, she told them, “I’ll drive Meco home!” Thank you for finding my family! his soulful eyes expressed as Kellie settled him in Amber’s car.

Just 11 hours later, they arrived at the Velascos’ house. “Meco! It’s really you!” the family shouted—and Meco bounded into a huddle of hugs.

“We could’ve found someone else to love Meco, but no one would’ve taken the place of his true family,” says Kellie. “Those kids are in his heart, and he’s in theirs. I’m glad we could help him find his way back home!”

— Bill Holton

“Every boy should have two things: a dog and a mother willing to let him have one.” Anonymous You’re crying because you miss your people