Homeless Man Reunited With His Dog Aims To Open Handyman Business

SHERMAN OAKS, CA — Jimmy Nicholos nearly had his purpose taken from him when his beloved dog, Boots, was stolen on New Year's Eve. The two had been best friends for six years, and the brown Labrador retriever served as a stable source of joy during cold nights sleeping on the streets in Sherman Oaks.

So when a woman stole the dog after promising to groom and return him, Nicholos was understandably distraught.

"Boots is my life," Nicholos said. "He depends on me, and I love him to death. He lets me know I’m doing OK."

With the help of the community and the animal-focused thrift store START Rescue Resale, where Nicholos works, lost dog posters were plastered across the Valley and a reward was offered for Boots' return.

Suspecting the groomer's story about losing Boots at a dog park wasn't true, Nicholos filed a lawsuit against the woman, Nicole Lawrence, accusing her of taking the dog. Soon after, Boots was returned on a cold Monday night in the middle of January. Patch has reached out to Lawrence for comment.

Nicholos has "really become a family member," said Renee Ruston, owner of START Rescue who helped organize search efforts. "It’s why we rallied so hard to get the dog back from this woman, who betrayed all of us, really. I wasn’t going to stop until that dog was returned. I have such an admiration for him, and his courage and perseverance on the street."

The civil lawsuit is still underway, but Nicholos is overjoyed to regain his trusted companion. Once Nicholos and Boots were reunited, community member Jolie Salter launched a GoFundMe to help him establish his own handyman business and buy a camper van where he can sleep and store his tools. As of Thursday, the donations hub had brought in $3,870 towards the fundraiser's $20,000 goal.

"There’s an outpouring of people who know him in the neighborhood," said Salter, who is currently in the process of establishing a nonprofit called HelpOurHood. "They want handyman work; he’s a handyman. If he had a van, he could sleep in it, have a door to lock behind him, have heat and air conditioning, and he could use it to have a business and support himself."

A lifelong fixer, Nicholos said his most proud improvement project was a recent cherry wood furniture restoration, which allowed him to use his skilled hands and indulge his love of antiques.

"I know a lot about antiques," he said. "I love collectibles. I'd be really good at selling coins. Give me a United States coin, I'll tell you what year it is, what year they stopped minting it, and I can tell you the rare key dates of a mint of a coin."

Nicholos' helpful spirit earned him a job at START Rescue four years ago. At first, he visited the shop hoping to buy a new cart for Boots. The store owner offered to give it to him for free after hearing his situation.

"I'm not used to feeling gratitude," Nicholos said. "I've not had much reason to be grateful in my life."

A few days later, he found something the store might want and returned to START Rescue to sell it to them. While he was there, they asked him to fix something at the shop, and then did the same a few days later. Before long, Nicholos was a part-time employee, and Boots became the store's local celebrity.

"After a year, people were coming to the store just to see Boots," he said.

A few years after meeting Nicholos, Ruston and START Rescue launched a new program called Homeless Owners and Pet Efforts, or HOPE. The program connects unhoused residents and their pets with medical care and meals and provides a mailing address for people to receive packages.

Through HOPE, Ruston wants to help Nicholos find a permanent housing situation and assist him as he works to become a functional member of society.

"I want to give him the same thing I have: a shower, a kitchen, a living room," Ruston said. "I want to get him into a home and help him become a functional member of society."

Nicholos credits the people at START Rescue for helping him get his life back on track. After he started working there, the owners helped him obtain an ID for the first time in his life. Just recently, they connected him with Sean Ebrahimian, a dentist who offered to restore his teeth with a permanent dental transplant, entirely free of charge.

"I haven’t had a full set of teeth since my early 40s," he said. "I didn’t ask them for anything. I told them if they want to give me something, they have to say its for Boots so I can take it."

Nicholos said he was 15 when his parents went through a bitter divorce, and the teenager was placed in a juvenile detention center while family services searched for a foster family. After six months passed with no hope in sight, he saw a chance to escape when his social worker took him to an appointment, and he took the opportunity.

"I opened the door, and I ran," Nicholos said. "As I did this, the social worker started yelling at me to come back. I just ran until I saw a house that I was able to dive under and hide. After some time I could hear the social worker yelling for me to come back. I could see the street from my hiding place. She was not alone; she had a police officer with her. After a while, I fell asleep, and when I woke up it was dark, and I was cold."

Without a home, Nicholos spent the next several years hitchhiking around the country.

Now, he's made a home for himself in Sherman Oaks, where he feels welcome. If he's not working at START Rescue or playing with Boots, you can find him riding his bike around the community. If you're up for it, he'll even take you on in a bike race.

"I can outride anyone, I don't care how old you are," he said with a laugh.

Salter said the fundraising project will be the first of many at HelpOurHood. She hopes to launch the website soon and said future large projects will be crowdsourced, allowing the community to come together for future improvements.

"I want to take it into our own hands, where we're not dealing with the state or the governor or City Council, because we'd be waiting forever," Salter said. "We can do it on our own."

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