Legacy Fund

When I founded Sunrise Sanctuary 20 years ago, I had no idea the hard work, the heartbreak, the sleepless nights, the tears of joy and pain that would go along with rescuing the hundreds of precious souls that we have saved.  It is exhausting but immensely rewarding. I think of those no longer with us, like my precious Wesley who passed in the Spring of 2020.  He came as a baby and was destined to be killed at a young age for veal.  When he came here, he was more than a number, he was a beautiful soul who loved everyone he met.  He changed many lives and made many people truly understand how sweet, smart and emotional cows can be.  I mourn him but am comforted by the knowledge that we gave him the best life possible.

 

I am 68 years old and have cut back considerably on my daily farm activities.  I am fortunate to have put together an incredible team to carry on in the future; some you may have met over the years.  Cammy Ripley serves as the President of the Board and since 2010 has worked tirelessly for the animals volunteering, fundraising, planning events and any other task or project that needs done.  Liz Maselli joined our Board as Secretary last year and has been volunteering since 2015. Liz is our social media Director and uses her incredible talents and skills to capture our beautiful babies and share their incredible stories with the world. She develops and implements our fundraising campaigns and plans events, and works with local vendors and donors.  Greg Combs has volunteered with Sunrise since 2012, serves on our board and is always available to help transport an animal to safety, fix a broken fence, pitch in when extra help is needed, maintain our pastures to ensure our babies have good grasses to keep them well satisfied.  Sandy Horvath is our primary caretaker who feeds, provides medical care, coordinates volunteers, and spends quality time with every baby here to ensure they are living their best lives.  She also serves on our board as Treasurer.  Sandy purchased the property adjacent to the sanctuary and retired from the practice of law to be available to these babies 24/7/365.  In addition to our core group, we have many volunteers and corporate groups that lend a hand to keep the Sanctuary well maintained for the comfort and safety of our residents.  We all share the bond of the love of animals and in particular our Sunrise babies and we are all volunteer.  We try to be good stewards of the funds donated to us by being a volunteer-based organization.

 

Looking to the future.   We have recently been offered a tremendous challenge and we have accepted it gratefully.  A generous donor, who does not wish to be named, has offered to match the first $100,000 we raise for our Legacy Fund once this amount is raised, and we have one year to meet this goal.  If we fall short of goal, there is no match. 

 

How did this come about? Initially, this donor who is giving us a great deal of farm equipment which will help us tremendously offered a pole barn to store it in.  Although an extremely generous offer, this facility is enough of a distance that the back and forth might be difficult.  Seeing this obstacle, he made the $100,000 challenge offer instead of the building. The purpose of the funds is to ensure the infrastructure is sufficient to continue our mission for years to come.  Our immediate need is a shelter for equipment storage.  Farm work is very labor intensive, and it is imperative that we keep our equipment stored and maintained to ensure a long life of the equipment and to save funds on maintenance and replacement of equipment down the road. The balance of the funds will be used to ensure we have appropriate and adequate shelter, fencing and infrastructure to support our many aging and special needs residents.  We have been given flexibility with the use of the funds and can use to meet our changing needs as we move forward. For example, equipment & tool shed, separate animal barns, pens & fencing, health/medical facility, food/feed facility, energy (water, electrical, waste) facility, parking, office… on and on.

 

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and as much as we always hate to ask for money, we can't afford not to ask.  Will you help us meet this goal?

 

Suggested Donation Levels:

 

• Become a Legacy Partner with a donation of $25,000 or more, the first donor at this level will have the newly constructed shelter named in their honor.

• Become a Sanctuary Hero for a donation of $5,000 to $24,999

• Become an Animal Champion for a donation of $1,000 to $4,999

• Become a Friend of the Sanctuary for a donation of $500 - $999

• Become a Sanctuary Supporter for any donation of $50 to $499

*Unless you choose to be anonymous, donors will be listed on a plaque and prominently displayed on Sanctuary grounds at the conclusion of this initiative.

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Thank you for your consideration.

 

Mindy Mallett, Founder and Executive Director