Watch your donations at work on a morning feed run this week at our American Wild Horse Sanctuary!
Dear Friends,
It may seem like we at Return to Freedom are obsessed with hay.
We are.
At a large sanctuary like ours, hay bales can feel more valuable than bricks of gold. Hay is vital to the hundreds of displaced wild horses and burros that we feed, every day, year after year (20 years, so far!), with hardly a break.
Running out of hay is not an option, and we never have—thanks to our horses’ loyal supporters. But we could—unthinkably—run out without your ongoing support. That’s why we’ve been writing you to ask for your help in securing weekly semi-trailer loads of hay—green “gold”.
Our wild horses and burros remain happy and healthy—and we intend to keep them that way.
We still have some distance to go to pay our feed bill. We also know that because of a drier-than-normal winter that the green breaking out on the hills and pastures around us will not last through the long days of summer. We need to raise $40,000 by April 22 to be on track. That’s a lot, but our supporters have always come through. Already, almost 200 of you have contributed to this crucial effort.
If everyone among the thousands of supporters who receive our appeals each contributed even just $5, about the cost of a mocha at Starbucks, it would put us well on our way to reaching our goal.
Thank you to those who have already generously responded to our outreach in the past week by donating hard-earned money. Last year’s rescue of the 120-member Gila herd—many of whom would likely have gone to slaughter without your support—increased significantly the number of horses in our care. We knew that would make keeping in a good supply of “gold” more challenging than ever, but we could not look away from those animals in need.
We will never waiver from our efforts to speak for the wild horses and burros living on the range and in government holding facilities, but Job One remains keeping our promise to the family bands to which we’ve given a home.
If you have not yet been able to chip in to our hay drive, may we gently inquire again?
Whether or not you can, letting your friends and family know about Return to Freedom and our urgent need for support is important, too. You can forward this email, pass along a link to our website, https://returntofreedom.org or share our posts on Facebook and Twitter, letting your friends and family know why you are a valued member of our team.
Thank you for all that you do to help the wild ones. We never forget who makes this work possible.
With gratitude,