Johnnie Cardoza had been bicycling around Queen Creek with his beloved rat terrier, Tippy, on his back for several years before she died at age 18 last June of natural causes.
Cardoza, now 55, knew he had to fill the void immediately.
"Ten days later, I asked on Facebook where I could adopt a rat terrier just like Tippy, and I found my Molly here two weeks later," he said while hugging Molly recently outside the local Safeway.
Having a constant canine companion is important for Cardoza because he's been battling homelessness and mental illness for years. Many have seen him in the past at Walmart with Tippy and, most recently, with Molly outside Safeway. Anywhere they go, the duo enjoys interacting with the Queen Creek and San Tan Valley communities.
"A lot of people saw me at Walmart, but now I'm here at Safeway a lot because it's closer to where I live now," he said. "If I didn't have Molly, I probably wouldn't be here today. I'd be in a bad place. With her, and with Tippy, people always stop to talk and take photos of us. The people here in Queen Creek have been really nice to us."
The community's friendliness is what has kept Cardoza going during his darkest days.
"In 2012, my dad passed away and things went downhill from there," he explained. "I ended up losing the trailer we were living in and found myself homeless."
From there, Cardoza worked horse ranch jobs from Apache Junction to Queen Creek and found a storage trailer to live in until he couldn't afford to pay the rent on it in 2016 and found himself homeless again.
Then in 2018, his only child, Juanita, died after a car accident and, as he says, "that's when depression really set in."
Cardoza now wears a necklace with a bullet that holds the ashes of his father, daughter and Tippy, along with her dog tags.
"My mental problems would get me fired before I was on my medications that I take regularly now, and that's really helping me," he said. "Before these meds, I was crying every day and didn't want to live, but Tippy was there and kept me from doing something stupid. Now, Molly comes along and I hope she lives as long as Tippy did because she's great company. They both saved me, I didn't save them."
Cardoza said he's grateful for the support he's received from the Queen Creek/San Tan Valley communities.
"I just want to tell my story because people see me out here and seem to want to hear my story. I'm not looking for any handouts and everyone I've met has been really supportive," he said.
Queen Creek and San Tan Valley residents and business owners came to Cardoza's aid when he and Molly needed it the most.
"We were in Denny's and Ray and Debbie, owners of San Tan Animal Rescue, overheard I was homeless and they talked to me about my situation and said they knew where I could stay, so now I live in a storage trailer on their property," Cardoza said. "I work on the property helping doing odd jobs and cleaning up after dogs. They are very good people and I've been there ever since.
"I'm so grateful for Ray and Debbie, but I don't know where I'm going to go next," he continued. "I'm disabled and going through the process now to qualify for disability, so I hope that all eventually works out for us."
Cardoza noted that in the past he's had a few other people welcome him in, but he soon found out they eventually wanted rent. He said they assumed that because he had dog tags around his neck he was a veteran, but that's not the case.
"Some people have invited me in but wanted money because they see my dog tags and think I'm getting military help. I'd rather be homeless than have people try to take advantage of me," he said. "I tried to find somewhere I'd be accepted and Ray and Debbie have done that. I told them I'll do whatever work they need me to do to the best of my ability to thank them."
