Who We Are / Dr. Mars J. Läns
The Founder and Director
Dr. Mars J. Läns is a first generation son of Immigrant Parents of Latvian and Swedish ancestry. A native of New York City, “born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens”, Dr. Läns’ education, with regards to compassion for humanity, began in earnest with his volunteer work at New York University Goldwater Memorial Hospital on what used to be known as Welfare Island, now renamed Roosevelt Island. There, he worked with chronically handicapped patients, and rallied many of his friends to do so as well, gathering them together on Thursday evenings for the weekly “Social Club” where they would provide entertainment and company to the Patient-Resident attendees who were all wheel-chair or gurney bound for life, many of them on portable respirators to keep them alive.
Dr. Läns’ educational pursuits continued with his graduation from Howard University College of Dentistry, Washington, D.C. in 1981. He spent most of his twenty plus years as a practicing Dentist doing discounted and pro bono work for people whose previous dental encounters were for the most part visits to a hospital emergency room. He implemented a Denture House Call Service in New England, where he would transport and set up a portable Dental Laboratory in the kitchens of home-bound and handicapped Senior Citizens, and fabricate prostheses in one day, start to finish. He received recognition from the Southwestern Vermont Agency on Aging for his endeavors.
Dr. Läns became a very active participant in a Boston based project called Fair Foods-Fair Exchange headed by Ms. Nancy Jamison, where he and other volunteers salvaged surplus produce and bread from the Chelsea Market, distributed it to area pantries, soup kitchens, schools, and charities, and helped to see the effort grow into one of the premier Charitable Organizations in the country.
Today, having seen his daughters grow up and be successful in their own right, Dr. Läns is concentrating his creative talents on the Foundation that he has started with his wife Rita. The many wonderful people that are supporting the cause, and the many more that come on board with every passing day bears testimony to the reality that people do really care about each other. Sometimes we lose focus, but we should never lose the vision.
Memo from The Director
Just because we, as a people, are in a very difficult situation right now, does not mean that we cease to survive. If anything, we should be learning lessons on how not to live.
The Earth Tire Foundation is predicated upon creative intelligence, aesthetic function, and above all, fairness. Fairness will always be the impetus that defeats disrespect, apathy and corruption towards our environment.
Our Mission is to convert discarded tires into valuable marketing and advertising pieces, hence "AdverTires™" as well as creating interesting artwork that will appeal to persons in all walks of life.
While we admit that starting up a new endeavor might be difficult at this time, difficult has never meant impossible to us. Whether you are an individual that can contribute a few dollars, or a Corporation interested in having us make a thousand displays, it all adds up. With some major Corporate volume orders, we will be in a position to start planning a facility to accommodate disabled Veterans as our employees. All workstations will be ergonomically designed for a handicapped person’s ability. We want our Foundation’s production facility to be a model of what can be done to furnish a creative, comfortable and stimulating work experience for the men and women who gave so much so that the rest of us can have the liberty to pursue our dreams.
Director
The Earth Tire Foundation
