Hello friends!
IT’S A BOY!!!!! That’s right, we have a new baby duck at the barn and we have named him Nemo. It has been awhile since we have had a newborn here and the animals and volunteers are beside themselves with joy. We couldn’t be more thrilled with his arrival. Nemo came from the egg of two of our rescued ducks. When Brie, the mother duck, wouldn’t tend to it we took it inside and incubated the egg assuming it had been fertilized. We are so glad we did because he is just darling. What a lucky boy to be born at such a loving, safe place. Welcome to the world little Nemo!
We are so happy to report that our inaugural “Our Sustainable World Film Festival” was a wonderful success. This was brand new territory for us and we couldn’t have pulled it off without the tremendous support of our sponsors, volunteers, the filmmakers, the musical performers, and the great community support we received. The films sparked awareness, questions, and hopefully continued action.
We had a fabulous vegan dinner and sweets prepared by our very own amazing volunteers. Not only was this event educational and thought provoking, it also offered an opportunity for everyone to mingle and discuss ideas on how they can be a part of this important movement. We all had such a truly wonderful evening and we have already begun planning next year’s event! Thank you to all that helped make this evening so spectacular and we hope to see you all again next year!
If you have been following Project: Thrive for any period of time now, you are well aware that we always have something new and exciting on the horizon. We are truly on a mission and we invite you all along on this journey. We have something very special we are working on and it is currently in the pipeline for its big reveal. For now, we will offer some information on this heartfelt project as it is in its beginning stages, but we hope you will stay tuned as it unfolds and comes to life. We are working on plans to open Project: Thrive Village. PTV, as we refer to it, is all about creating an environmentally conscious self-sustaining community which is respectful and protective of all lives and will continue and grow Project: Thrive’s mission. PTV will focus on homelessness prevention by offering housing in onsite tiny homes, provide onsite jobs and life skills as well as therapeutic opportunities. Project: Thrive Village will focus its homelessness prevention program on young adults in the GLBT community and on previous foster children. Both of these groups have been shown to have an increased risk for homelessness. We will keep you posted on our progress and may even ask for some help along the way if you are interested. Please stay tuned!
Project: Thrive is going LIVE!!! We are going to be live each Sunday during Volunteer Time (usually sometime between 12:00 noon to 2:00pm Mountain Time). Keep an eye on Facebook as we will announce when we are close to go time! You can ask us questions and tell us who you would like to say hello to that day and we will do our best to accommodate. The animals were a little nervous when we told them about their screen time but we explained to them that they have many fans and people who love them so now they are ready for the limelight! They can’t wait to say hello to all of their friends in Facebook land.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!! We will have Animal Assisted Therapy/Activity Groups for kids starting this fall. Every child will have a mentor and these groups will focus on building confidence, fostering kindness and compassion (for self and others), developing respect for self and others, and encouraging laughter, cooperation, and purpose. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer mentor for this program or would like more information on volunteering in general please go to our Volunteer Page to learn more.
Last month our animal spotlight was on little Pearl so it only seems fitting that this month we shine the light on her favorite sidekick, Poppy. Mr. Poppy came to us after being rescued from a dire situation. He was two weeks old and we began bottle feeding him when he arrived. Poppy is a character and didn’t hesitate to introduce himself to the other barn residents. He marched right up to Bodhi and stood in front of him until he was noticed and acknowledged. From the chickens to the goats to the pig, he has made friends with each one through his persistence. Poppy never knew his mama and was called a “bum” lamb. That means he was rejected or orphaned at birth. We took him into our arms and he calls to us and follows us around like we have always been his mommy (which I guess we really have). His favorite thing in the world is to playfully head butt Violet the pig from behind and to crawl up into our laps and be sung to. His little face rubs up against mine as he listens to his name being sung over and over. Our Poppy has certainly stolen all of our hearts. If you would like to sponsor Poppy or any of our sweet animal friends we invite you to read about each of them and decide which one speaks to your heart. Your generous donations are what help Project: Thrive to, well, thrive! For more information, please visit our Donate Page, or consider Sponsoring a Rescue.
As always, from the bottom of our hearts, we THANK YOU! Thank you for your continued support, for spreading the word about what we do, for allowing these sweet animals to become part of your world, for believing in our mission, and for your kindness. Thank you.
(Pictured above: Jenn who is one of the driving forces of PTV, and Poppy getting kisses from our fabulous volunteer Eden – who is multitasking and brushing Violet the pig).