[Images of city streets around Guelph with Brendon’s voice speaking]
“Before I was using drugs. I just didn’t have any motivation to get better.”
[Brendon in a chair speaking to the camera]
“It wasn’t, um, I don’t know, It just wasn’t a goal of mine at the time and then I met Bentley.”
[Brendon petting Bentley outdoors]
“Then, he gave me motivation, he got me out of the house, he always kept a smile on my face, and he cuddles with me at night.”
[Brendon, Bentley and Dr. Shane Bateman walking into Ontario Veterinary College Hospital]
“Veterinary medicine, I think is very focused, currently, on supporting, you know, the usual clientele that we have.”
[Dr. Shane Bateman speaking to camera]
“But we’ve sort of neglected a whole segment of our community and of the population who,”
[Brendon and Dr. Batement talking outside the Ontario Veterinary College Hospital. Bentley plays in grass.]
“in someways depend on that human animal bond even more so than even the average citizen does.”
[Dr. Jeff Wicthel speaking to camera]
“We see vulnerable populations of pets and, indeed their owners everyday.”
“We see it on the street, we see it in rural communities, we see it in our neighborhood.”
[Brendon speaking. Footage of city streets and Brendon with Bentley]
“Previously I was homeless, I couldn’t afford anything.”
“That’s what made me like, almost not want to get the dog because I was like ‘I’m going to be a bad owner, all I have is time for him’.”
[Text on screen reads “Millions of pets in Canada do not have access to basic veterinary care. The Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph intends to change that.”]
[Horses being brushed in the stable. Farm footage. Person getting ready to ride a horse.]
[Kim Lang’s voice speaking. Footage of person riding a horse.]
“The first animal I ever had were dogs. My first horse came, I guess I was about eight.”
“I’ve always loved being with the horses, and I’ve loved, you know, just being in the barn with them and working with them and everything.”
“It was always like that even as a child.”
[Images of old family photos of pets.]
“The rescues, most of them came when we bought our farm.”
“That was over thirty years ago.There’d be like, five dogs and nine cats in the house.”
[Text on the screen reads “The Ontario Veterinary College will establish the Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program. The first academic program of its kind in Canada.”]
“You know some dogs just came up our lane and they were just lost, and I was able to find their owners.”
[Text on screen reads “To advance discovery. To train the next generation of veterinary leaders. To grant access to care for animals in need.”
[President Franco Vaccarino’s voice speaking. Footage of Ontario Veterinary College buildings.]
“Ontario Veterinary College is really at the forefront, latest advances in research, latest advances in teaching,”
[President Vaccarino in his office]
“but ultimately this is about making this knowledge actionable and connecting this knowledge with the community.”
[Footage of vets and students working in hospital. Voice of Dr. Wichtel.]
“So this generous gift will provide the foundation for us to purchase the equipment and hire the personnel to deliver this program,”
“but it will also fund a professorship.”
[Footage of pets and vets. Voice of Dr. Wichtel]
“We’ll study the very best ways to offer access to populations of animals that would not normally get access to veterinary health care.”
“The University of Guelph is all about connecting communities.”
“There’s a large community of people out there who are trying serve animals who are in need of veterinary health care.”
“GThis gift is going to permit us to build partnerships to those organizations so that they have a pipeline of veterinarians and staff who can
help them deliver on these programs in the future.”
[Footage of vets and pets. Voice of Dr. Bateman]
“Being able to take students into some of the situations that we do work in opens their eyes.”
[Voice of Taylor Morris, student. Footage of Taylor in a lecture hall]
“These clinics just, they make you feel like you’re able to make a bigger impact somewhere else.”
[Voice of Darren Graham. Footage of cats followed by footage of Darren in the clinic.]
“It’s not just a business, it’s much more than that. Just seeing that like, stripped down kind of like, guerrilla unit services that were
being provided was a really interesting experience to just strip away all the shiny tech and all that stuff and just kind of get down to
helping people.”
[Footage of students and animals. Voice of Taylor.]
“It has been the best experience that I’ve been involved with and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
[Footage of students visiting pets in kennels. Voice of Dr. Wichtel.]
“Certainly animals in our local region will benefit from preventive care and medical care that’s offered by our students and our staff,
but the real impact occurs through our graduates who leave here and offer these kind of services in the community in which they finally practice.”
[Footage of vets with pets. Voice of President Vaccarino.]
“For me, the word that jumps to mind is gratitude,”
[Footage of President Vaccarino speakingn to the camera]
“and thanks to Kim and Stu Lang for their thoughtfulness, generosity, and confidence in the university.”
[Footge Brendan, Dr. Bateman and Bentley. Voice of Dr. Bateman]
“Emotion comes very quickly when I think about what this gift to us is going to be capable of.
“It will change so many lives and I can’t even begin to think of the good that will come from what’s happened.”
[Horse leaving a barn. Voice of Kim Lang.]
“There’s something that really resonates with people when their doing something really good that have that opportunity to go out
there and make the world so much better.”
[Text on screen reads “Kim and Stu Lang donated $11 million to the Ontario Veterinary College. The largest single gift in its history.”
[University of Guelph logo]