Lois Bangs watched from her window as a tiny gray-splotched, pink-nosed kitten padded across the frost-covered ground, trying unsuccessfully to scavenge some food. The 72-year-old Savannah woman shook her head disapprovingly as she thought about her neighbors leaving this pitiful creature outside on such a bitter and bleak January day.

“It was a cold winter and her ribs were showing, so I put blankets and a can of sardines out for her,” Lois recalls. “But the bigger cats wouldn’t let her get near the food.”

She pleaded with her neighbors to take her to the Humane Society if they didn’t want her.  

“They asked me if I wanted her, and I told them, no I did not,” Lois says. “I still wasn’t over Peppy.”

Peppy P. Bangs was the black poodle and Shih Tzu mix she had from the time he was a bottle-fed six-week-old puppy until 2015, when he passed away at 18 years old.  

“That little fella gave me life,” she says, smiling at his memory. “We were two peas in a pod, and were always together.”

But even though Lois didn’t want another pet – and had never had an indoor cat before – she could not leave the little kitten alone to fend for herself. She brought the cat in so she could eat inside, and the feline promptly made herself at home, laying spread-eagled across a rug.

“She’s been inside ever since,” Lois says with a laugh. “I named her Grace D., after another neighbor’s dog, Gracie, and my church, Grace and Deliverance Kingdom Church of Christ.” 

Lois knows a little something about deliverance and having to rely on others’ kindness. In 2009, she spent eight and a half months in the hospital. Treated for anemia, intestinal cancer, a staph infection, and kidney failure, she was eventually transferred to a rehabilitation unit where she had to learn everything all over again: how to walk, eat, and express herself.

“At rehab, they worked me like I stole something,” she remembers. “Everything that wasn’t a challenge before was now a challenge.”

In December 2009, Lois was released from the hospital into a friend’s care. She stayed there for two and a half months, acknowledging she needed help to care for Peppy and herself.

“I looked every bit a famine victim. A doctor told me about Meals on Wheels, but I always thought it was for old people,” she says, giggling. “At the end of January, 2010, I signed up for Meals on Wheels, and it was a lifesaver.”

Not only did Meals on Wheels bring hot, nutritious meals to help nurse Lois back to health, but they also started bringing food for Peppy – and special gifts, too. Through the Meals on Wheels Loves Pets grant program, supported by PetSmart Charities, Senior Citizens, Inc. distributes funding to provide Meals on Wheels clients and their pets with food, supplies, grooming and improved access to veterinary care, all of which can present financial and physical challenges for older adults.  

“I received a blanket and Peppy – who was also a senior citizen! – got a Winnie the Pooh blanket. It really touched my heart for them to give him his own personal blanket.”

Meals on Wheels America and PetSmart Charities has also cared for Grace D. In addition to helping out occasionally with pet food, cat litter, and flea medication, the grant recently covered some unexpected and expensive veterinary bills, bills that Lois had paid with money set aside for roof repairs.

“I noticed Grace wasn’t eating, and it worried me,” Lois says. “A trip to the vet confirmed that she had an abscess infection and needed two teeth pulled.”

The PetSmart Charities grant ended up footing the entire bill. Lois is grateful, not just for the financial support, but for the recognition that pets play an important role in all of our lives, regardless of age.

“Having a pet’s unconditional love means everything to me, especially when we’ve come through 18 months of COVID and stay-at-home orders,” says Lois. “I’m about as happy as I’ve ever been in my life right now. There is good in the world and there is true love.”

Not only that, but this woman who declared she didn’t want a cat has since rescued another – an outdoor tabby cat, Tom.

“We have an agreement: Tom takes care of the outside and Grace D. takes care of the inside,” she says, pausing with a twinkle in her eye. 

“But there ain’t but one queen in this house and that’s me!”