Community Highlights: Meet Alyssa Morris of Our Farm Sanctuary

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa Morris.  

Hi Alyssa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Our Farm Sanctuary began in 2018 by happenstance. The building left vacant by our tenant Veterinarian leaving to form her own practice became a temporary refuge for a few cats that a friend had asked for our assistance with housing. What was believed to be just seven cats in need of help turned out to be over 20 and thus, Our Farm Sanctuary was born. The area once a vet clinic now has a room of free-roaming rescue cats fully vetted and awaiting adoption. What was once an income property is now a certified non-profit sanctuary, dedicated to the betterment of animal welfare and providing refuge to those ill, injured, threatened, or otherwise in need of a safe place until they land permanent homes of their own. Since we have grown in numbers and species, currently counting over 400 cats, 20 dogs, and one rabbit, all spread out between our facilities and in approved foster homes, as well as a number of chickens, alpaca, llama, pigs, horses, donkeys, and goats that permanently reside at the sanctuary. We are steadily expanding, in numbers of animals under our umbrella at one time, numbers of volunteers and foster homes at our core, and facilities for our sub-groups of animals; Kittens, senior cats, etc. We strictly volunteer and donations run, so our ability to help animals in need and grow to meet those expanding needs depends on the generosity of the public. “It takes a village” so they say. Some things about us you may find interesting: We grow our own hay to feed our farm animals throughout the winter months. We use pine pellet equine bedding as litter for our cats as well as stall bedding for our farm animals, and we compost it all when it’s beyond its use. Our director and a few of our regular volunteers are passionate about language and literature as well as the animals, which has led us to obtain a grant to fund our new literacy center, which will double as a senior living center for our resident senior cats and dogs. Once complete, we hope to partner with local schools and bring to the community a program for children to come to the center and read to the animals to improve their literacy skills. Children need to develop the foundational socio-emotional tools to help guide them through, not just their formative years, but the adult as well, and those unfold with each book able to be read. What better way to grow than by reading to animals? We are always looking for ways to become further involved in our community. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road, and each day is filled with challenges. Struggles we’ve faced along the way are the same struggles we still face each and every day, as is the norm for most any rescue. Securing funding to continue daily operations while saving more lives is a struggle we will always have to face. Seeing animals neglected, abused, and treated as property and not living, sentient beings is another daily struggle that truly weighs heavy on the heart. While we have many sleepless nights over these cases, they are also the driving force behind our determination to continue our mission of saving lives and giving voices to the voiceless. A higher population means a higher rate of illness, leading often to too expensive treatments and specialists that cost so much more than our meager budget allows. Volunteers are in constant rotation, and more often than not, we have a core group of regular volunteers taking on the duties of many to cover the blank care shifts left by one. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Our Farm Sanctuary specializes in saving lives. Not just animal lives, but human lives, as well. Each of our volunteers, whether they come out for a session or two, or end up staying on and taking shifts regularly, has come to us in need of some form of healing. We are proud to say that we are a small community of individuals who have come from all walks of life; politics, religion, and personal preferences you most likely won’t find two of us alike in any matter. But we come together to help the animals, with no judgment, with no pre-requisites, and we allow everyone to just BE. In that sense, we’re able to offer our community the opportunity to find those missing pieces they need to feel whole again while fulfilling the lives of our animals – most of who have never known love until landing at the sanctuary. This is what sets us apart from other sanctuaries. This is what we are proud of, as an organization. Our acceptance in a world full of rejection, both human and animal. 

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Our hope is, over the next 5-10 years, to be able to expand and improve our facilities and eventually offer paid positions to a few full-time staff to more appropriately distribute the daily workload for caring for hundreds of animals. We hope to not see any negative shifts in this regard, but, as we are at the mercy of the public financially, we never know what one year will bring versus the next. However, we see a growing trend of youth taking a more humanitarian and empathetic approach to animals. No longer are they viewed as property, but they are viewed as they are: living beings, deserving of love, care, and basic necessities. That gives us much hope for the future of our mission. 

Contact Info:

• Email: ourfarmsanctuary@gmail.com
• Website: https://ourfarmsanctuary.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourfarmsanctuary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourfarmsanctuary

Image Credits
Katie Copeland
Mitch Lear
Adele Durrum
Sophia Kartsonis