It was just this past June where I felt almost hopeless. I was certain that because our social media fundraising had almost dried up that we might just be looking at our last month or two of existing. I was so effing mad and sad and seething as to why everything seemed so bleak. I mostly hated myself because how could I ever say goodbye to these amazing animals that I promised to keep safe for their lifetime.
Fundraising is the bane of every nonprofits existence. Unless you have a department of fundraisers, as most large organizations do, you have to be scrappy. You first have to get over any kind of fear or shame or insecurity about asking for money. You have to stay focussed on the reason you are asking for money-the animals and the mission.
I could never let the animals down. I could never betray them. All my life I have had people who disappointed me, made promises that they never fulfilled. I never expected to be that person. I just wasn't going to let that happen to them, the kiddos here.
I had to fight. I had to figure out how to allow myself to feel shame and get past that shame when I asked for something I needed for them. I had to find new sources of potential funding. I had to do so many things that made me visible. I had to made myself seen so that Cloven Heart could be seen. I had to figure out how to make people in Central Texas understand the importance of our work on behalf of farmed animals. I had to speak to large crowds and individuals. I had to be willing to put myself in front of trains barreling past me and Cloven Heart's mission.
There's so many things about running a farmed sanctuary and sharing about being a vegan that sets people in a tizzy. Waco is about BBQ, not vegan food. Austin and Dallas is much more inclusive. Waco/China Spring is just wall after wall of disdain for the cause. I'm brave enough to withstand that to help people see these beautiful kiddos and the value of their lives, just as ours have value.
So here we are as a sanctuary, putting ourselves out there via our Vegan Vibes Block Party event. We have radio and media coverage of the event. We are expecting/hopeful a lot of people to come and see that eat BBQ and burgers the vegan way is still just as delicious. Food can be plant based and yummy.
Our new foray into fundraising was to secure corporate sponsors. We are talking weeks of going out and knocking on doors to get people to see the value in what you do. We are luck to have had a wonderful local board member who secured our vendors for the event. We have definitely leveled up in our fundraising game.
So, do we get to rest now? Nope. We have final details to get through today. Still gotta figure out and set up the event space for the vendors, for our own table at the event. Still doing the promoting and so much more. Did we manage to raise a few bucks to keep everyone fed? Yes. But we can't live in a revolving door of funding. We have to keep working at it to make sure that we can be fully funded with a surplus to fix up and improve the animals lives, grow to include more educational programs, and figure out how we can get three animal care staff so we aren't so freaking tired all the time doing every task at the sanctuary.
If you live in Texas, I hope you'll come out. If you don't, I hope you'll enjoy the social media posts. Thank you all for being on this journey with us to make Cloven Heart even more amazing.

She is still alive, don’t worry. I do want to tell you about her first two days of life. See the picture? That’s how she spent her first two days of life. This places her birth around March 1.
This picture was sent to a goat farmer by a friend who was visiting this other goat farm. When she saw the baby on the ground, she asked the farmer what happened. “She can’t walk. I’ll just leave her for the birds.”

Why would someone say that? How could someone be so callous? And here is what will make you sad. How many little babies before her were also left for the birds?

With just a little love and care this little girl is doing better. She’s not out of the woods yet. She is still healing from her respiratory infection. But she survived for two whole days on the ground with no one to look for it look after her that is the picture of her mom and twin in background.

The person’s friend sent her this picture and said you have to come get her. The rescuer is also a meat, goat farmer. But she wanted to try to help. When she realized she couldn’t continue to give better to this little goat, she found sanctuary for her.

The farmer who wanted to leave her for the birds, is a larger scale, goat farmer that currently had 500 babies born recently. Some might say reasonably how could he keep up with all of the babies being born and who isn’t thriving and still in a field. But, that is the price of agriculture of breeding of selling animals for commodity. This is why someone can say she can’t walk, so I’ll just leave her for the birds. Like somehow, it’s the circle of life. It is not because nothing about the system is natural.
It’s just plain cruelty. That means on all farms that breed and have hundreds and thousands of babies born every month the mass amount of babies that are left to die in fields because they aren’t going to make a profit is the worst way to die.
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Little fluff ball had to go back to vet this morning due to fluid in her lungs. Thank you if you can help cover her vet bill.