DECATUR - The two women who emerge from a white Chrysler van cruising along North College Street seem friendlier than most.

"You guys have any dogs or cats?" Rhonda Camfield asks neighborhood residents.

The Maroa woman isn't just making conversation, however.

An affirmative answer opens the back of the van to reveal bags of pet food and cat litter, an assortment of collars, leashes, food dishes and rawhide chews, even a bird cage. "Do you need anything for them?" she asked.

Camfield, who operates the Higher Leash animal rescue service in Maroa, is one of three women who this summer launched the Care Van pet ministry, a mobile outreach dedicated to delivering free pet supplies and pet care education to people who need them.

"Shelters and rescue groups traditionally have served as receptacles for pet owners and pets at the end of their relationship," said ministry coordinator Beth Hughes of Warrensburg. "Now the Care Van takes the shelter to the people to meet their needs in a proactive, nonpunitive way.

Supported by Love At First Sight Adoption Center, Higher Leash and Hughes' own rescue group, God's Little Acre in Warrensburg, the Care Van roamed Decatur's inner city, making deliveries every Sunday afternoon from mid-July through mid-October. It is now rebuilding its stockpile of donated pet supplies, delivering emergency pet food when called and going back to drop off doghouses and straw for residents who need them to shelter their pets during the winter.

The ministry's biggest project to date came last week, when it provided the lion's share of the cost for surgery to save a Saint Bernard with an ear abscess that had spread to her face and neck.

"It happened real fast," said Maggie's owner, Nick Barrett, 15. "Her ear started getting swollen one day, and by the next morning, the area under her jaw began boiling up."

Nick, who received dog food from the ministry shortly after moving to Decatur three weeks ago after his mother's death, called Hughes to see if there was anything she could do. "We didn't have the money to take care of Maggie," he said.

Hughes called the pet owners she knew in Warrensburg and raised the money in a matter of hours.

Thanks to that and some transportation from the Care Van, Maggie underwent surgery Nov. 7 at the Decatur Animal Clinic, and Nick was able to take her home Friday.

"This was awesome," Nick said. "Maggie's been everywhere with me, and this was the longest I've ever been away from her."

In addition, Hughes said the Care Van has passed out 15 certificates for free spays and neuters from local veterinarians and more than a dozen doghouses that, in some cases, were refurbished by industrial arts students at Maroa-Forsyth and Warrensburg-Latham high schools.

"It's another project the kids can do, plus it provides a service to the community," said Jason Timerman, industrial arts teacher at Warrensburg-Latham.

The woman who went with Hughes most Sundays this summer was one of Camfield's volunteers, Diane Pyle of Decatur.

"We saw one guy trying to walk a puppy on a string," Pyle said. "He had just taken it from someone who couldn't take care of it but didn't have anything but food."

Once the immediate needs are addressed, the women talk with people about how to interact with and socialize their pets, ways to confine them more humanely and the importance of spaying and neutering.

"I've worked with animals for 30 years," Hughes said, "and nothing has made a bigger impact on me, nothing. These people really care about their animals as much as everybody else does. They just don't have the resources to care for them the way they'd like."

Sometimes, people swarm the Care Van after they realize what it's all about.

David and Latisha Bates received a leash, collar, dog food and a doghouse for their 2-year-old pit bull and were glad to get them.

"Times are hard right now, and you need so much to take care of a dog," Latisha Bates told Hughes and Camfield. "This is a good thing you guys got together."

Around the corner, men at two houses accepted supplies and vouchers for vaccines, but refused to consider neutering their male dogs. "That might hurt him," one said.

"That's a man thing," Hughes said as she drove down the street. "We need about 100 spay/neuter vouchers!"

Camfield took care to explain how to use the flea shampoo they were passing out: "Put shampoo around the neck first, or the fleas will go up to the face."

Dennis Brown said he appreciated the housebreaking kit, food, collar, leash, rawhides and flea shampoo he received for his 1-year-old pit bull.

"Man, he's all set now," Brown said. "I'm impressed."

The Care Van depends on donations. For more information, call Beth Hughes at 201-1862.

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.