The story behind Rainbow Bridge of Hope
Rainbow Bridge of Hope exists because a craftsman named Paul Allabaugh, 72, of New Smyrna Beach, spent years handcrafting rainbow bridges for grieving pet owners and couldn't cross his own. On March 30, 2026, Paul died by suicide.
The morning after, Pat Allabaugh texted: “I have a lot of rainbow bridges to sell.”
Every bridge Paul left behind is now for sale at rainbowbridgehope.com. When the last one finds a home, the memorial wall keeps growing. Anyone can honor a pet. Anyone can share a memory.
100% of bridge sales go directly to Pat Allabaugh. Mission gifts arrive via Venmo and fund operations + Pat as needs arise. Honest, local, accountable. See both paths →
135 Americans die by suicide every day (CDC, 2023). Paul was one of them. Neither does the next one have to be.
Every bridge finds a home.
Jason and Amber Laird · New Smyrna Beach
Jason is a technology entrepreneur who built The Ghost Factory, an AI-powered system that helps people who can't sell their own work get it to the people who want it. He was medically discharged from the Marines before active duty. He's a CPTSD survivor. He's the father of two, Sterling and Rogan. They are the reason Jason isn't a statistic. He called Paul on March 8 and promised to build him a website for free. Twenty-three days later Paul was gone.
Amber is the one who connected the dots. She reached out to Pat about the bridges. She gave Pat a wheelchair when Amber's mother-in-law passed. She got the 8:52 AM message on March 31: “Paul shot himself yesterday.” Her semicolon tattoo means “my story isn't over.” The Cleanup Firm is her business. She knows what it means to keep going when the world tells you to stop.
Together they built the system that is now being deployed for its most meaningful use case. Every tool, every workflow, every piece of infrastructure that Jason spent years building to help people sell their work is now pointed at one thing: making sure Paul's bridges find homes and his story saves lives.
They're not a nonprofit. They're not a charity. They're neighbors who saw a gap that killed a man and decided to close it.
“No weapon forged against you will prevail.”
Isaiah 54:17
For the makers
Paul made every bridge by hand. When the last of his finds a home, the inventory is gone — but the grieving pet owners don't stop arriving. The families don't stop needing something to hold.
We're looking for the next maker. A woodworker. A painter. A welder. A potter. A photographer. An illustrator. A sculptor. An artist of any medium who can build something a family keeps on their mantle for twenty years. You don't have to be Paul. Nobody can be. You can be the next chapter — under your own name, your own style, your own hands.
Photographers, illustrators, metalworkers, glass artists, weavers — the medium doesn't matter. The grief doesn't pick a form. Whatever you make, if it can carry someone's love for the animal they lost, this door is yours.