A Revolution of Awareness
and Good Deed towards Animals and The Planet
Lauren Steinberg
Founder and Executive Director
Lauren spent her early career working at Animal Hospital’s doing various jobs which in turn fostered her life long path as an animal advocate. She created The Newman Project to honor her beloved Bulldog Newman who she adopted when he was just 12 weeks old. His 9 years of unconditional love and pure joy for life is something she wants to continue to share by raising awareness and funds for so many animals in need. Lauren expanded her career working for 15 years as a Project Manager for several IT firms, becoming a motivated leader with strong interpersonal and organizational skills, nurturing and developing internal infrastructure to support the building of better futures. This has proved to be a valuable resource in helping the animal community!
Returning to her love of all things animals Lauren spent 3 years as the Director of Wellness and Community Outreach at Monroe Animal Hospital’s Pet Wellness Center. She conceptualized and brought to fruition the concept of the Wellness Center, which provided a holistic philanthropic addition to the practice, offering services such as Massage Therapy, Laser Therapy, Rehabilitation Therapy and Educational Seminars. In addition she created a Pet Food Pantry for those in need, a reading program for children with her Therapy Dog Tomas to help build confidence in our young readers as well as educate them on many animal and environmental related issues. Lauren organized and hosted numerous fundraisers such as yappy hours, hikes, 5K’s, vendor fairs and Pooches By The Ponds, a community event bringing together families and their dogs, all benefiting The Newman Project.
It is her mission to create a space were we can learn to be kind to animals, raise awareness and funds for the 3-4 million animals that are euthanized each year and educate the community on the impact animal agriculture has on our environment. Working together she knows we can protect our planet by learning together how to harvest a more plant based diet to better serve our growing population. It is her belief that operating The Newman Project at Mindful Acres can be a catalyst for teaching these lessons to our community in a space of love, knowledge and compassion.
Dr. Lonnie Kasman
Co-Founder, Farm Veterinarian and Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Kasman has been a veterinarian for over 30 years. Prior to veterinary school he was a research fellow at the San Diego Zoo where he studied the reproductive physiology of endangered species including: Elephants, Rhinoceros and Primates. He has coauthored over 30 scientific papers on the reproductive endocrinology of these species which has aided the captive propagation and ultimate survival of these majestic creatures. While finding this work extremely rewarding he was drawn back to working directly with animals and entered clinical practice.
In addition to treating Dogs and Cats he pursued an interest in exotic animals and birds taking advanced courses and attending conferences. In 2000 he purchased Monroe Animal Hospital & Pet Wellness Center and continued his interest with exotic species by treating birds, reptiles, rabbits, ferrets and just about any animal that fit through the door. He was the veterinarian for the Sanctuary for Animals in Westtown, NY caring for animals including an Elephant, over 40 camels, primates, lions, bears and many other species.
Dr Kasman joined The Newman Project as farm Veterinarian and CFO. Having owned and operated a successful practice for many years he brings with him extensive knowledge in budgeting, analysis, financial planning and reporting as well as his humane and compassionate veterinary care. He too believes that we can help animals, help to educate the community all while helping our environment!