By pattrice jones | Coordinator, VINE Sanctuary
Greetings, and thank you again for supporting the animals here at VINE Sanctuary! Everything we do is rooted in our on-site care for the hundreds of animals in residence, and that always begins with breakfast. By contributing to our feed fund, you help to make it all possible!
It's been a busy year already! Here's what's been happening:
25th ANNIVERSARY
It's our 25th anniversary this year, and we've been looking back as well as looking ahead. You can meet the first birds to come to the sanctuary, including Viktor, Violet and Chickweed, and Che.
If you missed them, you might want to check out our cofounder's descriptions of her first visit to a factory farm and first recue of hens from an egg factory.
NEW WAY TO HELP HENS
Speaking of hens in egg factories, we've got a new way for you to help hens. With the prices of eggs now so high, many people have become more open to considering alternatives to eggs. We've attached a PDF of a brochure that you can print yourself and hand out to not-yet-vegan friends and family. You can go the extra mile and print a stack to leave at a food co-op, public library, or other place where free literature can be left for people to read. The QR code in the brochure links to our new Instead of Eggs page, which gives more details about 26 different alternatives to eggs in cooking and baking.
HUMANE EDUCATION
Classrooms in Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Vermont have been receiving their monthly Barnyard Buddies updates, lessons, and supplemental materials. Here's how it works: Teachers sign up their classrooms in the fall and receive monthly materials throughout the school year. Each class "adopts" a "buddy" at the sanctuary. Sanctuary staff collect photos, videos, and stories about each buddy, passing those along to a team of volunteers, who combine those new materials with our teacher-designed lessons to provide the monthly updates. Teachers receive supplemental materials that they can use in their classrooms in between updates.
MULTISPECIES ASSEMBLIES
VINE Press has published a new book! Multispecies Assemblies by Dutch philosopher and novelist Eva Meijer is a short and accessible introduction to her ideas about new ways of doing democracy. At a recent VINE Book Club event about the book, animal advocates from around the world said that they found the book to be inspiring and easy to understand.
NEW ARRIVALS
Cows Rosie, Ariel, and Bella came to VINE after their original rescuer died. We can't say for sure whether they are sisters, but they act like triplets, going everywhere together and often acting in unison. We're gradually getting to know them as they gradually get to know their new herd-mates in the back pastures. The day they arrived, all of the other cows were so excited to meet new friends that the newcomers were a bit overwhelmed. But they've settled in now, and are getting to know the grounds as well as the other cows.
RAINBOW-PALOOZA
If you live near enough to attend, mark your calendar for June 28 from noon to 5 for our annual Rainbow-Palooza combined Pride and VegFest. We've got an exciting array of speakers, activities, and exhibitors lined up, and we're working out the menu for the free vegan lunch. Live too far away to come? Never fear! We'll have a month-long line-up of virtual events too! Follow us on social media to be sure to be notified of upcoming events!
SPRINGTIME UNCERTAINTIES
We know we're not the only non-profit coping with the national events that have simultaneously driven costs up while pushing donations down. Around here, what that looks like is higher prices for staple foods like hay, grains, and birdseed at the same time as some donors have lost their jobs and some foundations have less money to grant because of stock market shocks. We buy from local feed stores, which are able to source some grains from here in Vermont but rely on Canada for sunflower seeds, the price of which has skyrocketed.
In such challenging times, any bit of certainty brings a little bit of calm. If you're already a monthly donor THANK YOU for letting us know we can count on you and making our budgeting easier. If you haven't yet signed up to give month, please know that no amount is too small to make a difference! Five people giving $10 each can buy 500lbs of hay!
As an added incentive, an anonymous donor who is concerned about the long-term well-being of the sanctuary has pledged to match the first month's gift for each new recurring donation between now and the end of spring!
Thank you again for supporting the animals at VINE Sanctuary!
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