Our Important Mission
The Land of PureGold Foundation
became a 501(c)(3) charitable and educational nonprofit corporation
in February 2005. The formation of our organization followed a
period of 8 years that the
Landofpuregold.com had been a presence
on the web, supporting and engaging in various charitable endeavors and
providing numerous educational activities to promote the human-canine bond.
We have personally seen this special healing power, time and
time again, and have felt such joy as we continue to celebrate the wonders of
The Bond. And, this 1,300+ page website is clearly testimony to this
celebration.
It was Dr. Albert
Schweitzer’s belief that until man could extend his circle of compassion to include
all living things, he himself would find no peace. For, while animals may not be our whole
life, they do much to make our lives whole. Yet—how often do we take the time to
understand and embrace the power and wonder that happens between animals and people? And,
do we truly appreciate the healing power that animals have on humans and the happiness and
sense of well being that they engender?
According to Dr.
Marty Becker, “Our pets lend a touch of grace to our lives. They teach us the real
meaning of unconditional love and bring out the kindest and most generous impulses of
humanity.” And, Dr. Allen Schoen speaks to the premise
that “Far from a luxury, pets are now recognized as a necessity—friends who
fortify us daily with their gifts of love, loyalty and laughter.”
Our foundation's
goals include, but are not limited to, the following:
Best of Friends: Celebrating The Bond
To support and promote holistically healthy and responsible dog care and ownership as well as respectful
and consistent training practices—the love shared between mankind and dogs so
engendering a mutual strength and healing power.
To raise monies for cancer treatment in working dogs
(e.g., assistance, animal-assisted therapy, search and rescue, scent
detection, and law enforcement) through donations and Foundation Store
product sales.
To develop creative media that
embraces 'the bond' to raise monies for research
in comparative oncology, which is the study of cancers that occur similarly in
companion animals and humans.
To support and disseminate information on
canine cancers; and, to
educate and promote interest in research of those
cancers in companion animals that share a similarity to
the cancers that afflict children.
Working toward Achieving our Vision February 2005 Formation of Foundation
Year 2007 Although only a small organization run totally on a few volunteers' efforts,
this calendar year we have provided $10,200 in support of cancer treatment for
working dogs and $15,000 in support of research in comparative oncology through
Dr. Gregory Ogilvie,
Special Care
Foundation for Companion Animals. Dr. Ogilvie is one of the first
board-certified veterinary oncologists in the nation.
Management Board Members
Rochelle
Lesser, Founder & President —
Rochelle, a Nationally Certified School
Psychologist who engages in
animal-assisted
therapy, is a consultant with Millersville Psychological Services, located in
Millersville, Maryland. Professional publications include two monograph articles:
Stress and Illness in the Family: A Linear versus Family Life Space
Perspective and The Child with Cancer: A Life Space Study of Six Families.
Rochelle also published the article, Following the Golden Brick Road, which
appeared in Hoflin's 2003 Golden Retriever Annual, and wrote the foreword to the book,
My
Rescued Golden: True Stories of Rescued Golden Retrievers and the People Who Love Them.
Her private practice and graduate teaching work,
however, have been
significantly curtailed due to struggles with a mixed connective tissue disease.
But, memories of her beloved Ollie and
Darcy, and her current trained
therapy dog expert, Alfie, keep her outlook bright.
Gary Lesser, Secretary-Treasurer — Gary has been a practicing community
pharmacist in Maryland for over 30 years.
Suzi
Beber, Board Member — Suzi, the creator of the
Smiling
Blue Skies Cancer Fund, through the University of Guelph's Veterinary College and
Teaching Hospital's Pet Trust, is an important educational resource in the areas of canine
cancer treatment options, nutrition, and complementary therapies. Suzi was the 2004
recipient of the Golden Retriever Club of Canada's Silmaril Kennel Trophy, for the
human-animal bond.
Carolyn
Scott, Board Member — Carolyn, one of the founders of the
Musical Dog
Sport Association, is a proponent of the human-canine bond through her own
Magic of the Match. She is also
portrayed in our upcoming
Gotta Dance! Documentary Film.
David
Mintzer, Board Member — David, President of Ideogram Productions, is an accomplished cinematographer and
Documentarian.
Marti Brown, Board Member —
Marti has been married for 23 years [2005], and along with her husband, has
owned an automobile dealership for 20 years in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Marti began her interest in Goldens in 1978 when she and her husband, Joe,
lived on their horse farm. At the time, they both thought Goldens would be a
perfect fit because of their friendly nature. Marti is currently Mom to
Golden Angel, Carly, and together they have enjoyed much pet visitation
work. With their current home now on the water, Marti's interests include
water sports, snow skiing, hiking and, of course, Golden Love.
Advisory Board Members Dr.
Allen Schoen — A
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with an additional Master's degree in neurophysiology and
behavior, Allen Schoen is one of the most celebrated and
sought-after doctors of veterinary medicine in the nation. He has been practicing both
equine and small animal complementary and alternative veterinary medicine (CIAH) since
1981, and has taught its special therapies throughout the world at conferences and
veterinary schools, lecturing in Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the
U.S., and Canada. Dr. Schoen continues to work through the Center for Integrative Animal
Health in the organization, Global Communications for
Conservation, Inc., and teaches postgraduate courses in Integrative, Complementary
Veterinary Medicine at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine as a
Clinical Assistant Professor. He is also an affiliate faculty member at the Colorado
State, University College of Veterinary Medicine, and is on the faculty at the Chi
Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was a past President of the International
Veterinary Acupuncture Society and was honored with a fellowship in the American College
of Acupuncture for physicians – also appointed
to both the North American Veterinary Nutraceuticals Council and the American Veterinary
Medical Association Committee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The guidelines he
helped propose for the integration of CIAH into conventional veterinary medicine have
recently been accepted by the AVMA.
Dr.
Marty Becker— Noted veterinarian and author,
Marty Becker, is the Practice Leadership Editor for Veterinary Economics magazine,
cofounder & vice-president of the Association of Veterinary Communicators,
Chief
Veterinary Correspondent for Amazon.com, and a Dog Fancy magazine
contributing editor. He is also co-author of the book,
Chicken Soup for
the Pet Lover's Soul: Stories About Pets as Teachers, Healers, Heroes & Friends,
and
author of the text,
The Healing
Power of Pets: Harnessing the Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy.
Marty has lectured at the Smithsonian Institute, all North American veterinary
schools, and on six continents and in over sixty countries. And, with his internationally
distributed weekly newspaper column The Bond, his online Pet-Pourri
column, and his appearances on Good Morning America & Animal Planet’s
Petsburgh
USA, he is effectively communicating both the science and soul of animals and their
relationships with the people who love them. A recipient of the 2002 Bustad Companion
Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award for protecting and promoting the human-animal bond,
and the Western University of Health Sciences' 2002 Media Award for the Advancement in
Health and Humanism, Marty has also worked to assist programs providing service dogs for
sight and mobility impaired persons.
Arthur T. Vanderbilt, II— Art Vanderbilt is the award-winning author of seven books, a
diverse range over a period of more than 25 years, that covers topics from pirates to the
Gilded Age, from writing best sellers to gardening, and from New Jersey's judicial history
to Golden Retrievers. It was through his book,
Golden Days:
Memories of a Golden Retriever, that Art became a good friend to us here at the
Land of PureGold. He is listed in Who's Who in America, Contemporary Authors, and Who's
Who in the Law, and is a partner in the law firm of Carella, Byrne, Bain, Gilfillan,
Cecchi, Stewart & Olstein, Roseland, New Jersey. Art is also a member of the New
Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, and of the Board of
Trustees of the Elizabeth Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, and is a Fellow of the
American Bar Foundation.
Patricia
Burlin Kennedy — Patty Kennedy is a Maxwell Award-winning author who is
actively pursuing her interest in the human-animal bond. She wrote
Bailey Bymyside:
Golden Lessons for Life, a book comprised of meaningful observations that
celebrate a Golden's wisdom and charm. And, she wrote
Through Otis'
Eyes: Lessons from a Guide Dog Puppy, a book that allows one to experience the
joys and frustrations of raising a puppy destined to lead another person toward a more
fulfilling life. A resident of Northern Virginia, Patty divides her time between her U.S.
Senate staff duties, volunteering with various charitable groups such as the Guiding Eyes
for the Blind, and running a busy household which includes her husband, two children, and
two loving retrievers.
