Diana Basehart Foundation Gets Donation from Silverhorn Jewelers

Front: Ruby (namesake of Ruby's Friends Fund at Silverhorn). L to R: Carol Ridding, Silverhorn + Ruby's owner; behind Alice is Troper with Tootsie (a recipient of funds from DBF for Tootsie) and Diana Basehart with her Little Nell. (Mo McFadden)

Front: Ruby (namesake of Ruby’s Friends Fund at Silverhorn). L to R: Carol Ridding, Silverhorn + Ruby’s owner; behind Alice is Troper with Tootsie (a recipient of funds from DBF for Tootsie) and Diana Basehart with her Little Nell. (Mo McFadden)

Visitors to Silverhorn are often greeted by the store’s mascot, a six-year-old Shiba Inu dog named Ruby.  The friendly pup is a mainstay of the iconic Coast Village Road jewelry store owned for 30 years by Carole and Michael Ridding, longtime generous supporters of area nonprofits.

The Ridding’s team shares their love of animals, and recognize the need to help less fortunate ones.  They were determined to do something and so the Ruby’s Friend’s donation fund was born in 2010. The fund provides an annual donation to an organization assisting domestic or wild animals in need.

The 2013 recipient of Ruby’s Friends $2,500 gift is the Diana Basehart Foundation which has as its mission is to help elders and others on limited incomes care for and keep their beloved companion animals by providing support for veterinary, behavioral and nutritional needs; while also minimizing the number of animals being turned over to shelters.

“There are so many worthy causes in our community and we support a good deal of them, but I always feel a special and painful tug at my heart for helpless animals that are not able to express their own needs.  My husband Michael and I are so blessed to have a business which will allow us to make a difference to some of the creatures who share the planet with us,”  says Carole Ridding, CEO and President of Silverhorn.

Silverhorn is located at 1155 Coast Village Rd. in Montecito and at the Four Seasons Biltmore, 1260 Channel Dr. in Montecito.

For more information about Diana Basehart Foundation go to http://basehart.org.
—Leslie Dinaberg
Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on December 26, 2013