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How Country Singer Jimmy Wayne's Rescue Dog Changed His Life

Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marushka
Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marushka

From Woman's Day

In March 2010, as country music star Jimmy Wayne walked along a highway in White Deer, TX, a local rancher pulled off the road to say hello. Jimmy was in the middle of a seven-month, 1,700-mile walk from his home in Nashville, TN, to Phoenix called Project Meet Me Halfway. He was raising awareness of the more than 30,000 foster kids who turn 18 and age out of care each year. Jimmy himself had spent seven years in and out of the foster system. The rancher offered Jimmy a place to spend the night and introduced him to three Chihuahua–miniature pinscher puppies he had rescued from a kill shelter.

"The smallest pup's collar was way too big for her," says Jimmy. "That took me back to my days as a foster kid and never having clothes that fit."

Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marushka
Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marushka

The next day, the rancher suggested that Jimmy adopt the runt, and he sent her home to Nashville, where they reunited after his walk. "I fell in love with this little dog and named her Ruby Amarillo, after the town in Texas," Jimmy says. "To this day, she gives me so much joy."

Life in foster care

With his dad long out of the picture and his mom on the road to prison, Jimmy entered the foster care system at age 9 and spent several years bouncing between shelters, foster care, and family members' homes. But by 16, he wanted to be on his own. "For a couple of months, I was homeless," he says. Then a local elderly couple, Bea and Russell Costner, offered him a job mowing their lawn and eventually invited him to move in with them. The couple gave him the opportunity to graduate from high school and college and to realize his dream of becoming a musician.

By 2009, Jimmy had three albums under his belt and had recorded a song with Hall & Oates. He wanted to use his platform for good. "I knew it was time to help foster kids the way the Costners helped me," he says. That was when he started his cross-country trek.

A brighter future

Today Jimmy gives speeches, makes music, and writes books to advocate for foster kids. His latest book, Ruby the Foster Dog, and record, Ruby Toons, aim to help kids understand the foster-care system by sharing Ruby's adoption from her perspective.

Photo credit: Courtesy of BroadStreet Publishing
Photo credit: Courtesy of BroadStreet Publishing

He has worked with legislatures across the country to change state laws to allow foster kids to stay in the system until they're 21. Officials in states such as North Carolina, California, and Ohio have already signed relevant bills into law. "As I've learned, no action is too small," says Jimmy. "A couple changed my life with an offer of $20 to mow their lawn, and meeting Ruby made every day brighter for me. Foster kids can be the stars that shine for others."

Jimmy Wayne is an award- winning recording artist and the author of a children's book, Ruby the Foster Dog (BroadStreet Publishing).

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