NGF Legacy
What is a legacy?
My father-in-law once told me if people talk about you when you’re gone, you’ll never be forgotten. And that’s what a legacy is. All of us are given a journey which we take through life and at the end we ask ourselves. What are we leaving behind to our children to our grandchildren or our great grandchildren or just to the world?
In 1994 we started the Greyhound foundation to rescue and adopt and help people and abuse greyhounds get a second chance at life we struggled along with almost no money, but lots of big ideas on how to help some of the 55,000 greyhound born that year to get a second chance we worked hard and we save many dogs, and gradually people began to see what we were doing accompany small as we were. We were the tiniest in the business and then one day someone noticed unknown to me what we were doing in 1994 there was a terrible need for a place to keep some of the dogs that were being retired. They were just so many of them, but there was no place to keep them nobody to take care of them no money to feed them and help them medically , so I struggle along with an idea to solve that problem with a couple of friends one was Paul, Laporte, and forever greyhounds in New York. The other was Monica Smith, a kennel operators, helper at a track in Florida. We struggled to ship dogs to different places and to search for foster homes .
As was my usual plan when faced with a problem, I couldn’t solved Ferd I went to the Lord. And and one night about 3 o’clock in the morning I woke up with a dream with a solution to the problem of who could take dogs 24 seven that I could depend upon the next morning. I was so excited to tell about this plan I called it a second chance at life Greyhound prison, dogs, and inmates .
That program was the beginning of the largest foster home care in the country at that time . it was a great idea, but how on earth could I do it, so I kept praying. Ferd thought I was nuts, but when I have an idea like that which comes from God. I get to work on it so I asked the Lord, how can I do this? It is a huge undertaking and something popped into my mind. Do what you do best! What do I do best? I’m a jack of all trades. if the job needs to be done, I find a way to do it so I thought and I thought what do I do best? Well for a number of years Ferd and I been independent film producers. We produced small movies on practically no money, so I set out making a plan ( or writing a script) on how to make a movie. and that’s where the program came from.
It would become the most important program of the National Greyhound Foundation which we had ever created to save greyhounds and people. But how could I achieve the dream?
Marjean’s LEGACY
First the IDEA. (A place to house multiple greyhounds and someone to take care of them)
Second the NEED. Who needs help the most? Retired racing greyhounds as far as I was concerned were the most abused animals and secondly, incarcerated prison inmates .
Next the plan or (SCRIPT) was to create a home and caretakers that could take care of these animals at a relatively low expense, We had the greyhounds. and where were needy people. needs where are more people. Prisons. Prisons have more people than any place in the world. They live behind bars, just like greyhounds do. They do nothing most of the time, they are used to a very strict routine, just like racing greyhounds. And many live without HOPE or a future life. And inadvertently the combination of abused animals and people fit my mission and gave me the title of the program, THE SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE; GREYHOUNDS AND PRISON INMATES PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM!
Marjean’s LEGACY
2nd CHANCE AT LIFE - National Greyhound Foundation
In researching my script I found where a greyhound rescue group had put some greyhounds in a prison in OHIO. I studied what they were doing which was using their program as a babysitting facility which was great, but I wanted something different. We were going to work on my program idea together but unfortunately illness stepped in and I had to make the decision to go forward or stop on my way to meet the first prison officials with Ferd and myself, two retired racing greyhounds, and a case full of books, journals and do’s and don’t. Let me tell you, that was a daunting meeting, as any major film studio presentation we had ever meeting. WITHOUT GOD walking into that Prison facility, hearing those doors slam shut behind me, that wonderful program would never have been born.
I wanted a program which really benefitted the Prison personnel, the inmates, and the greyhounds and give everyone hope and other skills and benefits for introducing them to my beloved greyhounds for their future.
That’s where our friend JESUS came in and taught them unconditional love and what HE could do for them. My friends thought we were nuts. A low budget female film producer and a Pentecostal preacher and a bunch of wild racing greyhounds. No prison at that time would have JESUS in their programs, but I was determined since this idea came from GOD and that’s what HE wanted.
Overnight I created the script outline; PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, ACTORS, CREW, LOCATIONS, WARDROBE, MUSIC, COMPLETION.
I had everything but the most important thing MONEY to make it happen. And that’s where my LEGACY program began, back to a lady I never knew named Marjean. She had seen a video about what We were doing and left the NGF a huge gift in her will to be used for the program!
On April 1st, 2006, I received a phone call from a man claiming to be a lawyer telling me the NGF had been left a LEGACY of over $500,000 for some prison program. I knew someone was playing an April fool’s joke on me so I laughed and hung up on him!
A few minutes later he called back and told me “lady, this is no joke. You will be receiving a certified check tomorrow from my office..Have a great day.” and hung up.
And that was the beginning of ‘Marjean’s LEGACY and her changing the lives of hundreds of retired racing greyhounds, and thousands of prison inmates. The program went on to show a ZERO recidivism prion return rate by inmates that went through the SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE; GREYHOUNDS AND INMATES PRISON PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
And now we invite you to consider the NGF for your LEGACY gift Now.
the above national organizations United Way, Combined Federal Workplace, Ind.
Charities of America, Animal Charities of America, Best Independent Charity Award
email: topdog@4greyhounds.org telephone 352-212-5878
snail mail: The National Greyhound Foundation Inc.
P.O. Box 638, Homosassa, Fl. 34487