David Scherf, Frank's Way Foundation

 Frank's Way Foundation founder David Scherf joined me for a conversation about missing pets in disasters, how he got started, what pet owners and finders should know about additional potential challenges during disasters, and how owners can prepare for disasters. Content warning for pet death from about 2:30 to about 3:15. Recorded July 14, 2023.

"No Place Like Home" is a podcast about missing pets. I feature content from owners, finders, volunteers, and professionals.

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Remember to always think missing, not stray or dumped.

This podcast was created, hosted, recorded, and produced by me, Mitch Bernard. The opinions expressed on this show are those of the people expressing them and do not necessarily represent the views of any other entity.

Transcript

Mitch Bernard (00:01):
<silence> Welcome to the No Place Like Home podcast about missing pets. We are recording live from my Home <laugh> because the studio was kind of washed away by the, by the, um, flooding in Barre, Vermont. But normally that's where we record from thanks to the Aired Out podcast and the Fly on the Wall productions, uh, I'm your host Mitch Bernard, and today we're gonna be talking about appropriately enough handling missing pets and found pets in disasters and preparing for them. So, with me today is the founder of, um, Frank's Way Foundation, uh, Dave David Scherf. David, thank you. Welcome for joining me today. Thank you for joining me. Thank

David Scherf (00:49):
You for having me.

Mitch Bernard (00:51):
Um, I'd just like to start by asking you a little bit about the organization itself, how you got started, who's Frank, was Frank, um, and what, uh, the organization does?

David Scherf (01:04):
Well, long story short, it is quite a long story, but, uh, 2017 I, um, took my boat out with a, a gentleman. I just met my dog, Frank, who went everywhere with me to help the people during Hurricane Harvey. Uh, little did we know that we were the first people to be there in, it's called Katy, Texas. It's a small suburb. Um, oh yeah. So quickly we found out that we were by ourselves, um, in a series of events or rescuing people, putting him on the boat. Um, and a little girl fell overboard. So my bulldog Frank, who never liked the rain, the water, anything, he jumped in after her. So, um, oh my

Mitch Bernard (01:43):
Gosh,

David Scherf (01:44):
The gentleman, Tim, I met, that's the marine flag in the back. There's a backstory to that, but, um, nice.

(01:50):
He went in after, um, he got the girl in the boat, went after Frank. And, um, so I had to get the family to safety, which wasn't very far. Um, come to find out, 'cause I wasn't from that area. Both of them were swept under a train bridge and further down. Um, it, it was a tiny, tiny creek that turned into a massive field, rush water. So, um, we got to him back. He was up in a tree. His military training taught him to do that. Um, yeah, and then I had to rush him to the hospital because he was in such bad shape. So from his hospital bed, I vowed to him I'd find Frank. Um, so for the remainder of two weeks during the daylight hours, I'd look for Frank, and at night we would help people all across Houston and Louisiana. Mm-hmm.

(02:36):
<affirmative>. Um, after about two weeks I found Frank. He did, um, he did pass, but I brought him home and, uh, Tim came from the hospital, pulled out everything out of him, um, and help me lay Frank down for his final burial place. So that's where this flag comes in, in my background. Mm-hmm. This, this flag was in countless, um, operations overseas, and Tim's a Marine, and he said, uh, Frank's a marine now. We wanted me to bury that with him, and I, I just lost it at that point. So, yeah. Uh, this goes with me everywhere just to, to honor him and, you know, yeah. That, so that's where he started. So <laugh>. Wow. But now what we do is every natural disaster since her Harvey, we've personally been to. So, um, just the way to honor them.

Mitch Bernard (03:23):
Wow.

David Scherf (03:24):
Yeah.

Mitch Bernard (03:25):
Yeah. That's amazing. Um, and how many of you are there?

David Scherf (03:32):
Uh, so we have about 200 volunteers. It's just dependent on work and whatnot. Um, you know, sometimes we have 10, sometimes we have a hundred. Just depends. Yeah. So, but yeah, we're all over the country.

Mitch Bernard (03:44):
Are those usually people who are already in those locations, or do you take them with you to,

David Scherf (03:50):
Uh, it's a little, both. The vetting process is so hard that we, I try to, um, you know, spend a lot of time with people and train them and whatnot. So, um, but yeah. So

Mitch Bernard (04:01):
What are you trained with to do?

David Scherf (04:04):
Uh, oddly enough, it's the, uh, it's the little things. Um, yeah. Not going, knowing where you get fuel, that's a big thing. Um, you can't go too far. You can't get sealed. Um, keeping the vehicles for themselves space, um, it's a lot of common sense stuff that people don't know. Um, yeah. But, um, so yeah, those

Mitch Bernard (04:25):
Little details that kind of, you take for granted when it's normal times, but then in a disaster, like a flood, flood, everything changes. Everything's different. Everything's harder. Exactly. <laugh>. Exactly. So, uh, once you guys get on the ground, what do you do, say in a flood situation like we have here?

David Scherf (04:48):
So generally what happens is, uh, the affected area, it's so vast. Um, I get asked that quite, quite often. Uh, anywhere the news is, is where we're not. So what generally happens in all this is all natural disasters. Uh, the, the areas that the news covers, the little towns, hang on. I have a dog jumping on me. Um, whatever town that, or whatever area that's in, there's so much aid that floods into there that they turn people away. So if you just go right off of that area, um, there's always people in need. So, yeah.

Mitch Bernard (05:20):
Um,

David Scherf (05:21):
You know, that's pretty much what I tell everybody. Stay away from the news, <laugh>.

Mitch Bernard (05:26):
Yeah. And you're focusing on the pets, the people, both, I mean, are you like mucking out homes or We're,

David Scherf (05:36):
We're an animal rescue mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but I tell people 90% of the time it's the families that own the pets that we're helping. Sure. You know, there's just such a great need for everything that, just to say that we just help animals. Um, it, it's, it's too hard to just help one, so. Sure.

Mitch Bernard (05:57):
That's, um, that's great work that you're doing. Um, do you, uh, have a job, uh, in addition to this? Is this now your full-time work?

David Scherf (06:10):
So, prior to me starting the foundation, I did have a full-time job. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, I totally quit that to pursue the foundation to do it full-time. Yeah. Um, then Covid came so <laugh> that changed everything. So actually I, um, I work part-time. I'm a mechanic, so Oh, nice.

Mitch Bernard (06:30):
I'm sure that comes in handy. <laugh>.

David Scherf (06:32):
Yeah, <laugh>. That's why I'm so good at what we do, because I'm always fixing the stuff in the field and whatnot. Yeah. But, um, all of my customers, they knew Frank or they knew what I do. So hurricane season, <inaudible>, I don't work.

Mitch Bernard (06:44):
Um, yeah.

David Scherf (06:46):
So,

Mitch Bernard (06:47):
Um, so I wanna ask you a little bit about what, uh, people can do, pet owners can do, um, during a disaster and to prepare for a disaster. I'm not sure which of those make sense to do first, but maybe you,

David Scherf (07:03):
So I, so the biggest thing is free preparedness. I, yeah. Try to teach people to be as proactive as possible, whatever, whatever's reactive. Um, the best thing is have a good, uh, a plan. Have a, have a collar on your animal is a big thing, believe it or not mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but just have something in place if something happens. Um, so you could do that, have extra water. I know they, um, little collapsible bowls and just the small leashes having all that stuff, like I keep one in each truck. There's one, there's one readily available, uh, little packages of food you could put 'em in Ziploc bags, whatever. It, it's a little overkill, but if you live in the areas that receive Yeah. You know, natural disasters Oh yeah. It makes a little difference.

Mitch Bernard (07:52):
Yeah. I'm sure along the gulf they've got go bags all the time for things

David Scherf (07:56):
Like that. Yeah, I know. Since Covid, a big problem is a lot of people aren't, they're at work when the disaster strikes. Um, so that, you know, have a neighbor's phone number, someone you could call just to, to get them quicker. Right.

Mitch Bernard (08:08):
Sure. That makes sense. Know your neighbors. Make sure a neighbor has a key <laugh> Yeah. Access to the security panel, whatever.

David Scherf (08:16):
Yeah,

Mitch Bernard (08:17):
True. During,

David Scherf (08:18):
During a disaster, it gets a little chaotic. Um, yeah, I know when I was looking for Frank, there were so many different little websites and apps to find missing dogs, and there's so much misinformation that I just said, I can't do this, I'm gonna just go look for him myself. So yeah, that's something that's been changing and it's getting better, but, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> make it easy. Put, put a tag on their collar. Um, have tech, like usually the little metal tags they rip off.

Mitch Bernard (08:46):
Um, oh, okay.

David Scherf (08:48):
Use a magic marker and write on them. Some people will actually write something on their animals, on their belly.

Mitch Bernard (08:54):
Yeah, I saw that maybe on your website. I can't remember where, but <laugh>, that seemed like a pretty smart idea. Yeah.

David Scherf (09:00):
It's so chaotic and it's, so, I can't even put into words how it is, but the problem we face is each state is different for how many hours. Like say I work to rescue your animal, there's a, there's a a period of time, which after that period of time, if no one comes forward, then the animal becomes my possession. So. Right. Um, it's hard 'cause a lot of these out-of-state rescues will, they, they're doing a good thing. They really are. And they feel you don't save this animal, but they don't really see that if you lose everything, that you can't get your animal in time. Yeah. So, you know, it, it's, it's hard.

Mitch Bernard (09:40):
Oh, stray holds that. Yeah. Every um, every municipality, every shelter is gonna have different rules, like you said. And some of 'em, um, where I used to live, I just moved to Vermont in March, but, um, I moved here from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in, in that region, each municipality, each borough, township, city, whatever, has its own contract with some individual or company for animal control. And everyone has its own rules and practices, and there are some with terrible reputations and there's, you know, that, oh, they don't even wait. They euthanize right away. They don't have a stray hold or anything, or they wait, you know, 12 hours or something, and then others that will, you know, wait three business days or five business days or something. So it is really useful, I think, to know not just your own municipalities rules, but those of surrounding municipalities, especially in something like a flood where there's movement from Yeah. You know, it's place to place.

David Scherf (10:44):
Yeah. And I mean, microchipping is a big thing.

Mitch Bernard (10:47):
Um, absolutely.

David Scherf (10:48):
It, it's so chaotic and people don't sleep. Just make it as easy as you can for the people handling the animals. Um, the other thing I see a lot is the animals will literally, we had some in Louisiana that within days they were in Colorado. So now you have a family that lost everything and they can go get their animal, but they haven't animal, they have no means to get that far.

Mitch Bernard (11:07):
Yeah.

David Scherf (11:08):
So, you know, it, it's, it's a problem that's never gonna go away. There's just, yeah. You know, since Covid, all the shelters that I know of across the country, they're all full, like beyond full throw a natural disaster on it, and it's even worse. So, yeah.

Mitch Bernard (11:23):
You know,

David Scherf (11:24):
It's all our problem. Yeah, that's true. You know, we all have to fix it, so. Yeah.

Mitch Bernard (11:28):
Oh, absolutely. I mean, overcrowding even without any of that stuff is Yeah. Uh, is a problem. And, um, you know, what I see shelters here doing, and, and I saw this in Pittsburgh too, is shelters and rescues in anticipation of a disaster would ship every adoptable animal out that they could to other areas, to shelters in other places like Colorado. So that when an animal is found during the disaster, it's able to be kept local, um, as much, you know, as much as possible. Um, so that brings us to, for during a disaster, like we had the floods here, what do I need to do as an owner? Maybe that's different from what I would do during normal times, uh, if my cat or my dog goes missing.

David Scherf (12:19):
So the first thing is don't panic. Um, the worst thing you could do is panic. Um, yeah. The people that it, it takes time. Even the, I know you call a shelter, like you guys just had the flood, you call a shelter, they don't even answer the phone. Nine one one doesn't answer the phone. Sure. Um, you, you, you have to be as calm as possible in a very unsettling time.

Mitch Bernard (12:42):
Absolutely. Um,

David Scherf (12:43):
Start looking close, you know, and then start to, to search out further. Right. You know, that that's the best thing you can do and just put everything in place. Um, and it, it's so hard with people's jobs nowadays to where I Yeah. It used to be before that, you know, say something is coming, most businesses would shut down and say, Hey, stay home with your family. Um, sure. And it's, it's such a diverse thing that it's hard to, you know, people don't wanna lose their job. I get it. Yeah. Um, but I mean, if it's, if it's that bad and you have to do that, and this is something that, it's kind of, some people don't like me for saying this, but you need to give your animal the best chance. Yeah. So don't keep them chained up, give them a to get out. They're smarter than humans are to where they know the weather better than we are and they'll get out of a situation. Yeah. Cats are the best in that. Yeah. I rescue cats. The fewest and the ones that do rescue are the ones that are in crates, the ones that are stuck. Um, yeah, I think cats do amazing things. Same thing with dogs, but, um, if you have no escape, then there's nothing you know, anyone can do. Yeah.

Mitch Bernard (13:54):
So, yeah. Those are sad stories.

David Scherf (13:57):
Yeah. So <laugh>,

Mitch Bernard (13:59):
Um, yeah. Um, and how about finders? I mean, is there, I guess with different jurisdictions and these different shelter rules there, you might have different advice for different people. Um, but is there kind of a universal thing that finders of pets can do?

David Scherf (14:15):
So if they're, most people don't have microchip scanners, but if you have, like I said, I sew on the inside of my dog's collars their information, just the phone number anyways. Yeah. Um, because not many people have chip scanners, so That's true. So, um, if you have that, generally, and this is the thing, especially in hurricanes that I notice, as bad as it is, people are at the nicest they'll ever bely. So if they see that and they see a phone number, you're gonna get a phone call. Yeah. Um, so giving, giving them that little bit helps. Um, yeah. I've even seen zip ties around their co whatever it is. Just something Yeah. You know, to get ahold of them. Yeah.

Mitch Bernard (14:54):
It's, um, and I've seen callers that actually have them embroidered on there. You know, you can embroider the pet's name or phone number or whatever. That's something I Yeah. Thought about doing too. That's tough. Tougher on a, um, cat. But I, I'll post in our show notes some recommendations for kinds of colors you can get for cats that are a little bit safer than, uh, a regular collar. Uh,

David Scherf (15:15):
Yeah. And you can put them on them temporarily, like until the store <crosstalk>,

Mitch Bernard (15:18):
When you know it's coming. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, the good news is that with, with flooding is that we had some advanced notice that it was gonna come and we continue to have that in the forecast. So that part isn't so nice. But, um, I guess, you know, earthquakes and mudslides and hurricanes, maybe less advanced notice or I don't know. Yeah. I've never really lived anywhere that there's been anything like this before. So it's really eyeopening, uh, to see.

David Scherf (15:50):
Hmm. So it, it's, the number one thing I get that drives me absolutely insane is, um, I get it. It's expensive to leave. It's expensive to, you know, go to a hotel. I myself have five dogs, so I can't just go to the Best Western. Yeah. Um, but all too often people will tell me, well, I was here for this hurricane or this fire and that we were just fine. Yeah. So I've been to over 20 hurricanes myself, countless other things. Um, they're never the same. And until you see the true power of nature, even the people that fight fires and meteorology, we don't know anything about it. So if you have the means, just leave, take a vacation for a couple days, um, that takes a big stress off of us because anyone that's doing rescuing, you have the, you know, your pet that we have to rescue, but there's also all the shelters, there's also all the farms, there's all these animals that Oh, yeah. Need to be taken care of. Yeah. And sadly enough, uh, people come first. So if you call local law enforcement Sure. Or even animal control their first, and this is, you know, pretty much every single one of them. Yeah. Their first, um, course of action is to stabilize the area. So that doesn't have anything to do with animals. That's just people. Um, so, you know, that's just the nature of the beast, so, sure. To be prepared. I mean, that's my motto with everything. Just Yeah. You know, is

Mitch Bernard (17:25):
One thing that has been very helpful here is that the, um, our, the Berry City auditorium is where people are sheltering, who've been displaced from their homes and they are permitting pets. So, um, that's not always the case I know in a lot of jurisdictions. So I would maybe advise our listener to, to lobby for that. If you, you know, if there's no kind of disaster shelter that permits animals, try to work for that for the next time that there is a disaster and there will be. 'cause climate change is real. People <laugh>, sorry to say. Um, so if somebody listening wants to help Frank's Way Foundation, how would they do that if they wanted to volunteer or donate or whatever?

David Scherf (18:07):
So you can go on our email or our mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I'm sorry, our website

Mitch Bernard (18:11):
<laugh>, we've

David Scherf (18:11):
Day you go on our website or, um, we're real active on Facebook and Instagram because, uh, we do live videos. I just put the camera. It's safer for us. I just put the camera and let it roll while we're nice doing what we're doing. But yeah, any, any social media, just reach out to us. Um,

Mitch Bernard (18:26):
Cool. I'll post the links on our show notes.

David Scherf (18:28):
Thank you.

Mitch Bernard (18:29):
Cool. Yeah. Um, and um, if they want to volunteer, they can go through this training with you or that's maybe an option.

David Scherf (18:40):
Yeah, we, so we do different things. I mean, you don't have to be in the field, believe it or not, the people on the computer do more. Hmm. I, I get that a lot, Rick. I wish I could be boots on the ground, but, uh, believe it or not, the people on the computers make they help us more than anything else. Um.

Mitch Bernard (18:53):
Oh, that's good to know. 'cause I'm one of those people, there's <laugh> much more able to do, computerized

David Scherf (18:59):
God to have.

Mitch Bernard (19:00):
That's good. Good. That's really good. Um, so, well I wanna thank you very much David, uh, for being here and listener for joining me today. Um, we're gonna have links to everything that we've talked about in the show notes, which, um, sorry I'm reading, I haven't done this so many times yet, but I've gonna memorized, which you can find along with resources for owners and finders on our, uh, Facebook page, which is N p l H as in No Place like Home, Mitch. Uh, we always appreciate a rating and review on your podcast app and a follow on Facebook. Uh, if you have questions or feedback, you could send them to me on the Facebook page or email me at n npl h mitch@gmail.com. And until next week, this is Mitch. I hope we'll be back in the studio next time and remember to always think missing, not stray or dumped. Thanks David very much. It was a pleasure to have you.

David Scherf (19:53):
You too.

Mitch Bernard (19:55):
Thanks. Bye.