Last Saturday was The Alice Sanctuary 3rd Annual Opening Day Fundraiser near Calgary, and it was a great experience!
During the bake sale at The Livery Shop, I met the sisters of Baked From The Heart, another vegan bakery with a focus on gluten-free goodies. Sarah and Vanessa approached me about participating in The Alice Sanctuary fundraiser by donating some of my gluten-free, vegan mini donuts. I agreed undoubtedly, especially when it was going for a very good cause!
For the fundraiser, I brought 45 each of the chocolate hazelnut, salted maple coconut, double chocolate and green tea mini donuts. The recipe wasn’t my favourite, so that means I need to tweak my gluten-free recipe some more.
The Alice Sanctuary
The Alice Sanctuary is a farm animal rescue organization, with animal residents from different backgrounds. Walking through the grounds, you can tell that it’s a peaceful sanctuary for the animals, what with the trees and clean air.
At the fundraiser, you had the chance to go up to the animals and hear their heart-tugging stories from the volunteers. Some were raised for entertainment, some were raised as pets who has overgrown their stay, and some were simply found wandering in the forests. It’s very touching to hear some of the stories of these rescued animals, and it makes me so happy that this organization is taking care of them!!
Seeing the work that they do at the sanctuary is really admirable. I’m not much of an animal guy, but I hate to see them suffer or in pain. All animals are smart creatures, and they don’t deserve inhumane treatment.
The adorably cute pigs stole my heart!! It’s not a petting zoo (nor should it emulate to be), but I really just wanted to rub their bellies!!
All the Vegan Food!
And of course, there must be food! The organizers did an amazing job reaching out to vegan and vegan-friendly business in and around Calgary! Some of my favourite vendors were there including The Coup, Happy Veggie House, Glowfood, Raw Eatery and Market and Little Tucker!
There were a TON of people but also a TON of food as well! I could only grab so much on my plate, so I got some vegan cheese, vegan “meat,” noodles and some fruit for balance. I really wanted to go back for seconds, but since the line was so long, I opted not to. Even after an hour, the line was still super long!
Apart from the food and up-close-and-personal with the animals, they also held some raffle giveaways with amazing prizes, such as a food basket from The Coup! I bought 20 tickets myself, but I didn’t win anything…so close yet so far!
It was such an awesome experience to see what actually goes behind an animal sanctuary like this! It was also great to see so many people come out and support such a great cause! I can’t wait to come back and hopefully volunteer for the vegan cause, whether it be donating food or actually doing the hard physical work. 🙂
Thank you to everyone who came, and to the volunteers who made this fundraiser possible! I hope the fundraiser went well, and I hope you guys raised enough money to sustain the sanctuary for the next year! Best of luck!