Martha Meeks looks towards the window at the CHATT Foundation where she works as a Peer Support Specialist. She uses her lived experiences to guide and support unhoused individuals in the Chattanooga area. Friday, October 16, 2026. (Photo by Ashlyn Yoes)
Martha Meeks spent seven years unhoused, sleeping inside tents and under bridges, afraid to fall asleep. Today, she is a Peer Support Specialist at the CHATT Foundation, and spends every day helping people who are living through what she experienced.
Housing had been a struggle for Meeks since being put out of her home by her foster parents at the age of 16. In 2008, she was in college, working two jobs and raising a child, when an incident occurred that caused her to have a nervous breakdown. She became unhoused, an experience she says is far more common than people may expect.
“It really could happen to anybody,” said Meeks. “That could be your child.”
Crystal Alba, a volunteer at The Dandelion Kind, speaks about what the organization does, what the hardest parts of the job are, and speaks on the stigma surrounding homelessness. Andy “Ringo” Witowski, co-founder of The Dandelion Kind, explains how the organization specializes in veterinary care for the pets of unhoused people and helps to create an accepting and supportive environment for their clients and patients.
A long line of people and animals forms along the street, but there’s no building waiting at the front of the line, just a van. For The Dandelion Kind, a Chattanooga nonprofit serving people and their animals experiencing homelessness, that van is the clinic.
Andy “Ringo” Witowski and veterinarian, Dr. Anna Ramsey, founded the organization after moving to Tennessee and asking one question: Who was providing veterinary care for people without stable housing?
Cecil Colloway covers the eyes of his dog, Come Come, as Dr. Anna Ramsey gives him a routine vaccine. Colloway is a regular at The Dandelion Kind clinics in order to keep Come Come in good health. Tuesday, September 29, 2026. (Photo by Ashlyn Yoes)
The nonprofit began operating in April 2025. Ramsey brought more than a decade of experience in shelter medicine, while her husband, Ringo, brought a willingness to help build something new. Both work full-time jobs, and the nonprofit runs on volunteers.
