A former Ashland resident gives back to the organization that helped her turn her life around
By Midge Raymond
Tiffany Cranford remembers April 15, 2024, very clearly. “That’s my clean date,” she says. It is also the date she was arrested and spent the first of 11 days in jail, which she sees as the beginning of a new life.
Cranford’s new life includes studying at Rogue Community College, taking care of her granddaughter — and creating colorful beaded bracelets that are on display at several area businesses, with proceeds benefiting Rogue Valley Street Dogs.
Cranford first encountered Street Dogs after being released from jail and hoping for a spot at Hope House, a recovery center in Medford. Hope House allows pets, but 6-year-old Lola, a bulldog-boxer mix, wasn’t spayed, which is one of the requirements.
At a resource fair at Hawthorne Park in Medford, Cranford met Nancy Lyon, one of the Street Dogs founders, and told Lyon her story. “I think it took her a week to call me back with an appointment,” Cranford says, “and with the upcoming appointment card, I was able to get into that recovery house within days.”
“It’s not uncommon that we get calls from either dog and cat owners or social service agencies about animals who need to be spayed or neutered,” says Street Dogs president Laurie Cuddy. “And so we fast track them if that’s the case, if they’re going to be able to get housing or treatment.”
“They got me in to a vet that fixed her at no cost to me,” says Cranford, “and I was able to stay in the recovery house for at least five months, until I moved on to the next chapter of my life. And (Street Dogs has) helped me and Lola throughout the whole process of my recovery and while I was homeless.”
Cranford describes Lola as her child, and she also has “a 24-year-old human daughter and a 3-year-old human grandchild.” It was at her daughter’s house one day that she got the idea for how to give back to Street Dogs.
“I came across these tubs of beads that I had because I loved making jewelry, and it just snapped in my head: I am going to make bracelets, and everything I make I’m going to donate to (Street Dogs). That’s what I could do at the time.”
Cuddy first met Cranford when Cranford was living in Ashland and had reached out about the bracelets. “I was so impressed with how hard she had worked to turn her life around and so touched that she wanted to give back and to hear what an impact we had had on her and Lola,” Cuddy says. “We don’t always get that follow-up. She was just so lovely and so caring.”
So far, Cranford’s bracelets can be found at Local Dirtbag Clothing Co. in Medford, and at Southern Charm Salon and Book N More in Shady Cove. The bracelets are displayed with Cranford’s story, information about Street Dogs and a QR code for those who’d like to donate directly to the organization. “I sell them for five bucks, and I just go refill them whenever they need to be refilled, and it’s been going pretty good so far.”
She is working toward getting additional local businesses to display and sell her bracelets. “I know the bracelets are just five bucks, but you know what? It’s five bucks, and it’s just what I can do. It’s just to show my appreciation. Honestly, (Street Dogs) played a big part in where I’m at today.”
Two years ago, when Cranford’s daughter’s father died of an overdose, she says, “watching her go through all that — I can’t even explain the devastation it was to my heart, losing him and then watching her go through losing him. I couldn’t get clean. I wanted to. I prayed every single moment of the day for God to help me get clean. I had a granddaughter, I had her, and I was the only one she had left.”
It was nearly a year later when Cranford was arrested on a felony warrant for earlier charges stemming from “making poor choices, hanging out with not-good people,” which had resulted in her losing her job and home. “I got put in jail for 11 days for that felony warrant,” she says. “God works in mysterious ways, and that’s how he worked in my life, and I’ve been clean ever since.”
Lola was with her when she was arrested, and the officer who arrested Cranford helped her arrange for someone to take care of Lola and her car. “Of course everything I owned was in my car, and so having that officer do that allowed me to take the blessing it was for me to go to jail because I did not have to worry about Lola. So I wasn’t stressed, I wasn’t hostile, and that allowed me to just breathe through the situations that I faced there — all these little tiny blessings in my life that I can look back on that played a huge part in remaining clean to this day.”
Cranford’s stepmother had given her meth when she was 14 years old, Cranford says, “so I didn’t have a chance, and I was struggling and suffering in silence with this drug addiction that I thought was not supposed to be talked about, so it was never addressed. Granted, I am where I am because of it and I’m proud of who I am, and what I want to do is going to help.”
What she wants to do is become a counselor for youths struggling with drugs and alcohol, and she’s currently working toward this goal at Rogue Community College. Yet her plans extend even further, to helping animals as well as humans faced with hardship. “I was in group one day,” she says, “and we were talking about my experience, and it just popped into my head — there is no place that law enforcement or the rehab places can call besides the pound or besides a friend to watch your dog while you go to jail. So this dog and its owner are separated, the dog doesn’t know what’s going on, and it’s passed from home to home or dies or gets left behind. So I want to open a nonprofit organization that will take care of your dogs while you go to jail or if you go to treatment.”
She also hopes to bring animals and youths together. “You know how teenagers are,” she says. “They know everything and you can’t tell him nothing and they’re tough. You put a dog in front of (someone) to take care of that dog, it’s going to break down some barriers that make them feel something other than hostile, other than everything you feel when you’re a teenager struggling.”
Cranford, who has had Lola since the dog was younger than six months, says, “She has got me through some very, very dark places in my life and continues to just be part of my heart. She is such a unique dog; she has the sweetest little demeanor to her. Her eyes are like human eyes, and she looks into your soul.”
When Cranford lived in Ashland and traveled to Medford by bus, Lola often sat next to other passengers instead of with Cranford. “Every person told me — they almost had tears in their eyes — ‘Oh my gosh, this dog must sense that I’m sad because I needed that and thank you.’ She knows. She’s just one of those dogs. She’s truly, truly God-sent.”
With her daughter in training to be a EMT, Cranford spends many days taking care of her granddaughter. “It’s just the best,” she says. “The quality in my life today is irreplaceable. And that’s all because Street Dogs had a hand. If I wasn’t able to get into that recovery house, who knows what could’ve happened? I wasn’t the only person fighting for that spot. Street Dogs was a big part of that, a huge part of that, so I will never forget that.”
Ashland resident Midge Raymond is co-founder of Ashland Creek Press and author of the novels “Floreana” and “My Last Continent” and co-author of “Devils Island.” She writes the Catty Corner column for Ashland.news. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
