Ten tons.

That’s how much dried foods, canned and fresh fruits and veggies, dairy and meat products, plus diapers, other infant necessities, and various female hygiene products the Enumclaw and Sumner food banks will be able to buy this holiday season and beyond, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Auburn-based Dirty2Dreamy, a car detailing business that takes community service seriously, and a very special dog.

Dirty2Dreamy and its owner Johnathan Monson have been running “Operation Mission Detail” for a few years now. It first only raised money for the Enumclaw Food Bank, but this year, the business is also helping out the Sumner Food Bank. Last year, after donations stopped rolling in, the drive raised about $5,500.

But thanks to one of Monson’s TikToks going (at lest semi) viral, this year’s drive raised more than $20,000.

Monson started “Operation Mission Detail” in part because he himself had to use social services like food banks to get by when he was homeless for a few months before starting his business.

“I’ve been there. I’ve experienced it,” he said. “… That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

However, this year’s drive was extra special, and especially heartbreaking, for Monson; his beloved dog Evelyn, who lived with him for 12 years and protected him while he lived in a car, died earlier this year.

The TikTok that went viral was about their special relationship, and how Evelyn did her best to keep Monson warm one freezing night in his “piece of junk” truck that wouldn’t start during a record-breaking winter storm.

“That was the hardest night I had,” he said.

The truck was not large, so it was impossible for Monson and Evelyn to sit together, let alone stretch out and lie down. But he saw her shivering, so he gave her his leather jacket and blanket before falling asleep.

He fell asleep knowing what could happen to him, but he had basically given up.

But in the middle of the night, he woke to Evelyn draping the coat back across him and sitting across his chest, keeping them both warm.

“That was a turning point for me, where I thought to myself, ‘… it doesn’t matter how hard this is,” he said. “‘I have to survive, because she is such an angel.’”

With a new fire lit inside him, Monson started seriously saving money from his job at an Auto Zone (he lived in the parking lot, unbeknownst to his coworkers). He first bought a new truck, and then eventually secured an apartment.

It was his goal to finally move him and Evelyn into a home — but before he could, her health took a dive, and she died suddenly.

“I really wanted to move into a house with her,” Monson said. “And that’s why I dedicated the food drive to her — if she’s not going to see us in our own house… then we’re going to impact a ton of people’s lives, and everyone’s going to know who she was.”

Monson and the Enumclaw Food Bank plan to head to WalMart later this month to empty the shelves of various food products and other necessities.

“What a blessing Johnathan is to our community! We are grateful he shared his amazing story,” said Elisha Smith-Marshall, Executive Director of Plateau Outreach Ministries (which merged with the Enumclaw Food Bank earlier this year). “May we all take the time this Holiday Season and remember that his story isn’t the only one like it, may we all take time this Holiday Season and do an act of kindness in the memory of Johnathan’s beloved dog Evelyn.”

Not all the money will be spent at once, though — the local food bank doesn’t have the storage space to take on 10 tons of various products (and Walmart, though large, probably doesn’t have all that on its shelves anyway).

Dirty2Dreamy doesn’t just hold this annual food drive, but does other community projects as well, including doing free car detailing work for cancer patients and veterans in need.

For more information or to nominate someone for a car detailing, email Monson at johnathan@dirty2dreamy.com or head to the business website at thedreamyway.com.

Contributed photo Johnathan Monson and his dog Evelyn; he said it’s thanks to her that this year’s food drive raised almost four times more funds than last year for those in need.