SPRING HILL, Kan. — There isn't a day that goes by at the Always & Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary without thinking of David Hosch who would transport their animals from place to place.
"And what he meant to all of us, and not only here at the barn as a volunteer but as a person, oh, he was funny. He had a wit," said Konni Knabe, a volunteer at Always & Furever.
In July, the 39-year-old pet taxi driver died in a crash as well as Annabelle, one of the dogs from the sanctuary he was taking to the vet that fateful day.
Before the tragic accident, Hosch had plans to do an eight-day bike ride across Kansas to raise money to help dogs and to support shelters in rural areas.
"We were going to have cars following him with the donations and then just stopping along the way," said Amy Stoecker, another volunteer at Always & Furever.
Hosch's vision is now getting carried out by his friends, including Knabe who did a memorial ride to the crash site last Sunday.
"It's for David, it's for getting that mission out there that animals need a home and they need to be taken care of," Knabe said.
They're calling this Saturday "David's Day."
Volunteers will visit animal shelters in small communities dropping off donations.
They're encouraging others to do the same.
"So we wanted to kind of hit everything that he was going to be doing even though, obviously, it wasn't in the way that we all wanted it to be," Stoecker said.
"David’s Day" is just one way they’re honoring him. At Kennedy’s Animal Clinic in Raytown, they have a tribute for him in one of the rooms with another in the works.
It's a small light that sits in the room where people say their final goodbyes to their pets.
"To help people understand that David is at the Rainbow Bridge ready to guide and support their loved one as they crossed the Rainbow Bridge," said Shannon Smith with the Kansas City English Bulldog Rescue.
Smith is helping bring a mural to the clinic that will have a message encapsulating Hosch's legacy.
"In a world where you can be anything, be kind, because that was the one thing that David always was — was kind — kind to animals, kind to other human beings," Smith said.
Now there's a day dedicated on his behalf to spread kindness.
To learn more about David's Day, click here.
