June is a remarkable time here at the Sanctuary. The weather is usually at its prettiest for warm temperatures and blue skies, after the winter or spring chill but before the humidity sets in.
Many animals are born in the springtime, a good number of our rescues have spring birthdays. One such fellow is Dudley! Born June 1, he is Lucky 7 this June! While we call our springtime open house Dudleyfest in honor of his birthday, we actually celebrate the birthdays and lives of all of our rescues. This month, Audrey Heifer, Leona, Osa and Jaina have had birthdays! (did you sign Dudley's birthday card?)
The outpouring of support for our Dudleyfest Open House is heartwarming. All but a few of the car tickets are sold, helping raise funds for the care of the rescues (paying for a month of hay!) We have just started the lively and lovely UFS Dudleyfest Online Auction created by Volunteer and Board member Ann Wehr. Pictured: Nancy Haddad and her lovely donated portrait.
I am extremely pleased to have a diverse array of vendors and information tables for 2022!
Nirvana Tea House and Cafe, Clarke's Cakes & Cookies, Sethjis, The Donut Shack, Like No Udder, Ocean Dreams Market, Rescue Inc, Stray Pets in Need, Sherborn Sustainability, Sherborn Forest and Trails and the Peace Flag Movement. We are excited to show off new items in our own Unity Duck Haven Store too.
Free “Facepainting by Sybil” is going to be VERY popular.
I dedicated this June blog to our Lucky 7 Dudleyfest 2022 because it is the entire community that makes this possible. Grover Excavation worked hard to make sure our vendor parking was ready in time. Justin Spina of Justified Designs (shop local!) worked overtime to get our silk screening work on shirts to us in time to sell at our event store.
When you see all the organizing and preparations that had to happen, Tyla Doolin the Farm Manager and her staffmembers Sam, Tyler, Paul and Kenzie have been working so hard behind the scenes to get everything ready (and they will be here all day Saturday assisting with parking and helping everywhere).
Our town Health Department, health inspector, and Board of Health all contribute to our success with yummy foods our vendors safely provide for guests.
Lisa Hopkins Doolin is volunteering again to help run the Dudleyfest Unity Duck Haven Store (with Tyla, Jennifer, Brian and Lis & Lisa too). We have so many new items it will be a lot of work! Thank you to our vendors and Information Table friends for committing to a day with us.
We have an all volunteer Board of Directors that are amazing! Ann Wehr, Lark Heilbrun, Wendy Weitzner, Diane Stevens and David Wirbal keep us running. I could not manage half the things I do without Leah, Sandy, Emily and Morgan at Get Fully Funded too. Fundraising to fund the Sanctuary is more than a full time job!
Our onsite volunteers are the crucial element to making the Sanctuary effective and the lives of the rescues better. I am grateful everyday for them and so happy that Erika Tarantal of WCVB "5 For Good" honored our volunteers with a great segment on us in May. (thank you Judy Brown for the photo)
We are truly blessed here at Unity Farm Sanctuary, and never take it for granted that it takes each and every one of us in this special “village” to make this happen.