Sara's Sanctuary Animal Rescue
SARA'S SANCTUARY provides a safe haven for abused and disabled exotic wildlife, domestic farm animals and birds. Sara's Sanctuary is committed to protecting and rescuing animals from abuse, injury and neglect, by giving them the care they need, including an abundance of love, in their lifetime home. Our thriving family of animals are a testament to accomplishing our goal.
Description:
Sara's Sanctuary was developed to provide for abused and disabled exotic wildlife, birds and farm animals that were homeless. We inspire the spirit of volunteerism by providing a unique opportunity to work one on one with animals. Sara's Sanctuary functions with an all volunteer staff that cares for approximately 300 animals. The organization has no paid staff and operates only by the goodness of people who truly love animals, believe in our work and donate on our behalf.
History:
Established by the founder, Terri Miner in the year 1998 and incorporated as a 501 (c) 3 non profit December 2000, Sara's Sanctuary has provided for 1000's of animals rescued from the Puget Sound area.
History: How Sara’s Sanctuary Came To Be
The roots of Sara’s Sanctuary began in 1998 for twenty-five years Terri was the owner of Salon 87. With her exposure to so many people, the word of her love of animals spread throughout the community. For a variety of reasons, she was be asked to help with animals that were in need of care and a loving home. Over the years and through the Salon’s many patrons and friends she was able to place many of these animals in new homes. Many of these animals needed special attention before they could be placed. She was able to nurse them back to health or teach them the social behavior they lacked before they moved on to their new lives. If they were unadoptable, she offered her own home as a place to live out their lives in a safe and loving environment. Amazingly, despite the many types of creatures she brought in, they all learned to cohabit peacefully together, a cockatoo and dog (Sara-who the Sanctuary is named after), a cat and mouse, a pig and raccoon are a few of the life-long friends that were made there. That is how the concept of an all-species animal sanctuary came to be. The lack of resources for animals in the community was the main impetus for the creation of Sara’s Sanctuary.
March 2000: Sara’s Sanctuary became a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation. Shortly there after, a Microsoft executive offered a very, very generous offer. This wonderful man offered to buy and donate a piece of property to allow the Sanctuary to accommodate the growing numbers of animals and birds that had no where else to go. All were abused, abandoned, sick or neglected. On December 20th, the land was found, bought and dedicated to the Sanctuary for it’s lifetime. The property was to be fully donated to the Sanctuary within 3- to 5 years. Terri sold her own home and property to generate funds to operate the Sanctuary. The proceeds from the sale of her home were used to upgrade the property to fit the needs of the Sanctuary, including construction of barns/shelters, animal enclosures, and fences. This money was also used for funding the monthly operating expenses for the first three years while a donor base was developed to help financially support the care of the animals.
Year 2003: A week before Christmas, the donor of the property notified Terri that he was not would not be able to continue to keep the original agreement of donating the land. The Sanctuary would now need to either pay the amount of his mortgage payment, $3,200 per month as rent, or the Sanctuary could buy the property. Otherwise, he would sell the property to someone else and the 200+ animals would need to find another home. The Sanctuary could not afford $3,200 a month in rent. After putting three years of hard work and a large financial investment into this property, there was no other choice but to find a way to purchase the land for the Sanctuary.
Year 2004: The Sanctuary had no capital to buy the land. Terri liquidated her investments to make the down payment of $140,000 required by the mortgage company. With this down payment, the monthly payment was lowered from $3,200, to the current amount of $1,099.
Dennis Bunten, who had been volunteering at the Sanctuary along with Terri for three years, offered to give up his apartment, and leave his existing life, to move onto the property and pay the monthly mortgage.
The Sanctuary now has a
Life Time Home for the Animals!
Contact person: Terri Miner, President, (phone), (email)
Address:
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P.O Box 147Redmond, WA 98073 |
Web Site: http://www.saras-sanctuary.org
Directions:
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Nearest Bus Stop: Avondale, 30 minute walk |
Miscellaneous Information
| Liability |
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No
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| Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers? |
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Yes
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| Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18? |
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No
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| Last updated on August 19, 2009 |
