I
have mentioned before how much I enjoy making new connections on
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♥ This is Blue's Night Light ♥ |
LinkedIn. When you make a new friend, LinkedIn gives
you other people that share your interests.
One suggestion I received was for Mark Barone and it featured his photo
with paintings of dogs. Intrigued by the
fabulous art, I clicked to read more about him.
I was so moved by what I discovered that I immediately asked to join his
circle. When he accepted, I asked if it
would be okay to write a post about the work he, Marina Dervan, and Brenda
Cooper are doing to bring awareness to shelter dogs. They were so kind in making themselves
available for questions and supplying me access to their photos.
Be
prepared to discover An Act of Dog, Museum of Compassion. This is a poignant reminder of the plight of
shelter dogs in America. Mark spends his
days capturing the souls of dogs who did not make it out of the shelter system. Through his art, you feel the presence of
these animals, the love they yearned for, but never found, and the hope that
other dogs will be luckier. Mark and
Marina’s goal is to immortalize 5,500 dogs and permanently display this
inspiring exhibit, build a forever fund, and use 100% of the donations towards
saving shelter animals. The hope is to
have an educational platform to promote compassion for all animals.
From the An Act of Dog website:
FUSING THE POWER OF ART, WITH THE
SCIENCE OF COMPASSION AND THE HEART OF PHILANTHROPY
Education is the bridge to compassion, and if we are to help our
children navigate the world outside with tolerance, compassion, and acceptance,
then we must educate their hearts and minds to produce socially
and emotionally aware adults, who understand that compassion is not a luxury,
but a necessity for our survival.
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The
An Act of Dog, Museum of Compassion began over three years ago. Mark’s beloved dog of 22 years, Santina,
passed away. Heartbroken months later,
he was still too sad to think of taking in another dog. Marina started an online search for adoptable
dogs for the time when Mark was ready to welcome it. She said what she found out about the shelter
systems were “chilling.” Very few
animals that enter the kill-shelter system come out alive. The startling statistic on their homepage
speaks loud and clear. “Life expectancy
for humans is 75+ years. Life expectancy
for shelter dogs is 72 hours.”
In
Mark’s words, "We
did this for significant cultural change. We want to inform the general public about
what's going on, that their tax dollars are basically going to fund killing
machines at these shelters." I know
that we all know people in the dog and shelter worlds that are incredibly
devoted. Mark and Marina are amazing in
their efforts to make America a no-kill nation.
They gave up their regular jobs, retirement savings, and various
material comforts to fulfill their goal.
Mark has been an artist for over thirty years with his work featured in
top art publications, receiving countless awards, and exhibited throughout the
U.S.A. He was also a consultant to
cities across the country to show how the arts can revitalize blighted
neighborhoods. Marina spent over twenty
years as a corporate executive trainer, conflict resolution coach, and radical
honesty trainer, coaching executives from Wall St. to London.