McDonald Ranch closing; owners seek homes for animals

[sharingwisdom]

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4...eek?artslide=0

For years, McDonald Ranch east of Santa Rosa has rescued animals and taught children about the value of caring for critters in need during its popular summer and after-school camps.The nonprofit now is shutting down and looking for families to adopt the several dozen animals ranging in size from horses to guinea pigs at its St. Helena Road sanctuary.

The property will be put on the market as a short sale, said Linda McDonald, who founded the program 23 years ago. She estimates she has two months to find new homes for the dozens of animals before she and her husband, Richard Crenshaw, must abandon the sanctuary property where they live with several international volunteers.

There are a pair of horses, four miniature horses, two dozen ducks and four dozen chickens.They also have about 40 cats. Although a third of them are feral, the rest are family-friendly.

McDonald and her husband first purchased the 55-acre ranch off the winding Saint Helena Road two decades ago to serve as an animal sanctuary and summer camp where children could milk goats, pet chickens and ride horses.

People interested in adopting an animal can call Linda McDonald at 707-537-0955. The couple have set up a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of feeding the animals while they look to rehome them. It can be found atwww.gofundme.com/mcdonaldranch.

[Shandi]

Posted on Facebook, and Tweeted with followers, in addition to sending personal requests to friends. Please help this valuable resource stay alive to serve the animals, children, and all of us!

MacDonald's Ranch needs your Xmas gift more than many on your list. Think about it. "Need" is a priority over "Want". Your compassionate gift can SAVE this place. YOU can MAKE a DIFFERENCE!! Do it now, before it's too late....www.gofundme.com/mcdonaldranch.

...McDonald Ranch east of Santa Rosa has rescued animals and taught children about the value of caring for critters in need....The couple have set up a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of feeding the animals while they look to rehome them...

[Icssoma]

..."Need" is a priority over "Want"...

love your idea of need over want, i volunteer full time to run a horse rescue, and a youth at risk program, which really has been a community for people in transition, & in need of healing by healing horses.
that said, on saturday i reached out to mc donald ranch to help with re.homing their horses
the contact woman Holly, was lovely, & said " we may be able to place many of the horses with private owners. In order to conserve valuable resources needed for your rescue operation we will try to place as many as possible and then make arrangements with you to rehome the rest."

we also offered grass hay to feed the horses in transition, & the "go fund me" campaign has raised sufficient money to cover those costs.

if fact, the campaign has been so successful that they are no longer looking at re.homing animals, or closing, but "shifting our GoFundMe campaign to potentially SAVE McDonald Ranch and our Youth programs that have benefitted (sic) our community for so many years. It will take $65,000 to avoid the property going up for a short sale and get the Ranch set on the road to financial sustainability. This would not only save Linda and Richard's home and the animals still housed on the Ranch but also the Youth programs"would encourage all to look towards gifts that give year round.

(salvation army has gift baskets to feed families in need, we have subscription programs to save, heal, rehabilitate and re.home discarded, abused, and slaughter-bound horses, perhaps we could do a link to some great gifts, from $15, some products, some cards, that change our community, and bring light into our world).