Lebanon Man Volunteers 7,000 Hours With His Two Cats

Robert "Smitty" Smith spends up to 14 hours a day volunteering at stores around Lebanon, Oregon, but he never works alone. His two cats, Butters and Snickerdoodle, ride in a basket on his bike, greeting everyone who stops to say hello.

Smitty is technically unhoused, though he prefers the word "displaced" because home is where the heart is. He lives with his five cats in a donated truck with a camper shell, but considers himself rich in the ways that matter most.

Artist Mary Thorp first met Smitty on a cold winter day when he was helping shoppers at Bi-Mart. She watched him jump up from the warm bench inside to help every single person who walked through the door, even though he wasn't an employee.

"Every time anybody would come, he'd jump up and go take their carts for them or help walk them out to their car," Thorp recalled. Over months of conversations, she learned his story and turned it into an illustrated children's book called "The Tale of Smitty's Kitties."

The Air Force veteran has logged around 7,000 volunteer hours in his community. Five days a week, he works at SafeHaven Thrift Store helping with electronics and maintenance, then heads to Dollar Tree to hold doors and collect shopping carts for elderly customers.

Butters, a black cat with a white triangle on his chest, serves as Smitty's unofficial service animal. The cat wakes him when he stops breathing from sleep apnea each night.

Snickerdoodle, a copper and black tortoiseshell, wandered into a loading bay behind Bi-Mart and became part of the family. Kids remember the cats' names better than Smitty's own, but he doesn't mind because "they get great enjoyment out of just petting my cats."

Sunny's Take

The kindness keeps multiplying in ways Smitty never expected. Someone donated the truck he lives in. Pizza shop owners call him a blessing. An autistic child started holding doors for people after watching Smitty do it.

When Smitty was hit by a vehicle last September, Lebanon police officers searched for and found his missing cat. "These are the most caring and beautiful and loving people," he says, choking up at the memory.

Now Smitty has been nominated for the Frankie Gray "Answering the Call" Distinguished Service Award. But he says he volunteers for his 18 grandchildren, to show them "you can fall, but you don't have to stay down."

His simple act of holding doors has created ripples of kindness throughout Lebanon, proving that home really is where the heart is.