Dog refuge remembers Dighton native Collins for ‘selfless’ heart

STAMFORD, Conn. (WLNE) — The Dighton native killed in the plane crash in Washington D.C. late Wednesday night is being remembered for his selfless work at a dog refuge.

“He was a very, very, very bright light on this planet,” Lucky Dog Refuge co-founder and CEO Kirstin Mende said in an interview with ABC6. “Every person that he met, he impacted.”

Mende checked in on Chris Collins when he didn’t show up for his scheduled volunteer shift at the refuge Thursday, something she said was totally out of character.

On Friday, she learned he’d been aboard American Airlines Flight 5342. He had just volunteered at Lucky Dog on Monday.

“We think back to that Monday, and all of the things that we wish we had talked about, that we wish we had said,” Mende said. “We would’ve wanted to say thank you, so, so much from our hearts.”

Collins grew up in North Dighton, and graduated from Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School in 2000.

The school district said he was a multi-sport athlete who graduated with the highest honors.

He later became a financial professional in New York, and settled in Stamford with his wife, Jen.

“What I’d love for people to know about Chris is just how giving he was,” Mende said. “He was giving of his time, he was giving of his emotions, he was giving of himself.”

Mende said Chris and Jen lived with their dog, Wilbur.

When Wilbur died a few years ago, Collins started volunteering at Lucky Dog.

“It really became a passion of his,” Mende said. “I really felt like so many [dogs], especially our longtime dogs who’d been there almost the entire time that he was volunteering, each one of them was his dog, in a way.”

Left: Chris Collins (Cana Dunlap Photography). Right: Chris Collins volunteering at Lucky Dog (Lucky Dog Refuge).

Mende said Collins logged about 150 volunteer hours at Lucky Dog Refuge over the past year, typically coming after long days at the office to walk dogs and help get them to bed.

She said Collins always offered to stay late and help if it was needed.

“It takes a really, really special kind of person with a big heart and a very selfless heart to donate so much time for really nothing in return, other than knowing you’ve made a difference,” Mende said.

“As much as he bonded with the dogs, he also bonded just as much with the staff,” she added. “He was a volunteer, officially, but really the word that’s going around is friend. Everybody lost a very special friend.”

A group text from 2024, showing a volunteer lauding Chris Collins for his kindness to the dogs at Lucky Dog Refuge (Courtesy: Lucky Dog Refuge).

The Monday before his business trip, Collins was at the refuge for his usual volunteer shift, and got paired up with a particularly stubborn four-legged customer.

Mende said Collins had to win the pup over with some treats, but when the pair came back from their walk, the dog was jumping all over him, like they had been together forever.

Some of the other volunteers even suggested that Collins consider adopting her, given some similarities to his beloved Wilbur.

Now, Mende said Lucky Dog will work to find ways to remember and commemorate Collins, and the life he lived.

Mende said his family reached out to the staff there, even in such a difficult time, to make sure they are okay.

She said that reflects exactly the kind of person Collins was.

“He truly was on this planet for a reason, and that reason was to take a challenging world and add light to it,” Mende said. “His contribution, it’s honestly forever in the life of Lucky Dog.”