Featured photograph: Santa Monica Pier from above. Location context; Heavens and Frank are not pictured. Photo: Jelson25. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
David Heavens was sleeping in his car when he offered to give other people two hours of his time. That offer led him to a Navy veteran named Frank, and eventually to a friendship that reached far beyond a neighborhood.
Heavens has described losing his housing in 2023 and using a neighborhood app to offer help. Frank and his partner needed someone to walk their dogs.
The walks became regular contact. Over time, Heavens became Frank's caregiver and a close friend.
Help began with an ordinary task
In his account at the Senior Living Innovation Forum, Heavens described how his grandmother shaped his approach to care.
She raised him with a habit of making room for other people. Years later, he carried that example into a difficult period in his own life.
Heavens said the neighborhood offer gave him a way to be useful while his housing situation remained unsettled. Walking dogs was a small task he could do.
It also let a relationship develop at an everyday pace. He got to know Frank and his partner, Pippa, rather than meeting them only through a list of care needs.
Photo: RuralResurrection. CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
A caregiver who pays attention
The forum's speaker biography identifies Heavens as a caregiver advocate and describes the friendship that grew from his volunteering.
Frank, in his 90s in the accounts, became part of Heavens' public storytelling. Their shared activities and warm exchanges drew people to videos of their daily life.
In February 2026 coverage, the pair described a bond that had become meaningful to them both.
Heavens also reflected on Frank's history of supporting civil rights. He saw a connection between those earlier choices and the care he now gave him.
Photo: Dietmar Rabich. CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Reduced-resolution version.
The relationship belongs to both of them
Their story is about companionship as well as assistance. Frank is a participant in it, with his own memories, preferences and sense of humor.
At the forum, Heavens emphasized learning how a person wants to be cared for. Small preferences, from morning routines to going out for lunch, help shape a relationship built on respect.
Offering two hours did not make the hardships in Heavens' life disappear. It did lead to a connection that changed the course of his work.
A request for dog walking became a continuing example of how care can grow when people have time to know one another.