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Each month we spotlight a local nonprofit that's in need of help. It's a way to connect our listeners with charities that make an impact.

Get Involved Spotlight: Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary

Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary

From Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary, this month's Get Involved spotlight organization:

Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary is a small qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit on ten lovely acres near Elgin, TX offering lifetime sanctuary to farm animals and operates on the belief that hope is the key ingredient of life. The animals who live here, and the people who visit and volunteer, find new life and hope in this place, hence our logo, “Hope Lives Here.” A recent volunteer remarked, “I’ve NEVER seen such happy animals!”

We care for horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs , chickens, ducks, Guinea Fowl, turkeys, geese and a few swans who live all together with the freedom to choose their friendships. Our most remarkable friendship is between Onyx the goat and Grace the goose; these two are inseparable. You’ll have to meet them to believe it!

Goat and goose friends for life

The animals’ needs are both physical and social. Donors and volunteers are invaluable in this work, indeed our survival depends on your donations as well as the gift of your time and labor. Donations help cover the $3000-$3500 per month we spend for animal feed and hay to keep our animals in excellent health. There are, of course, also vet bills, the cost of sheep shearing and the various health care supplies. Every dollar we receive goes to animal care and grounds improvement.

Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary recently tore down the old, unsafe barn and is in the process of building a fine new 9-stall barn. We have also begun gradually replacing the fencing and doing badly needed erosion control work. None of this is cheap but it preserves a high quality of life for our residents as well as the land they live on.

In time we would like to build a small cottage, perhaps a tiny house, to accommodate overnight guests or interns who want to come, experience and learn. Such a house would also allow one who wants to escape the stressors inhibiting their lives to spend a time with us, a time to listen, experience, heal and even join in the work. Hope lives here; healing also happens. How? Through what one valued volunteer calls “the magic of Dreamtime.”

We have been closed to visitors during the pandemic but are close to reopening to small numbers of visitors because the truth is that we want to share this place and our vision with all who come here. Stay tuned.

We can be found in the following ways:

Facebook as Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary

Instagram @dreamtimesanctuary

Check out our website, currently awaiting reconstruction, at http:// www.dreamtimesanctuary.org.

All donation options can be found on our link tree at:

@DreamtimeAnimalSanctuary | Linktree

We even accept Venmo for those who prefer that avenue of gifting Dreamtime Animal Sanctuary.

Peaceful end to the day

Mike is the production director at KUT, where he’s been working since his days as an English major at the University of Texas. He produces Arts Eclectic, Get Involved, and the Sonic ID project, and also produces videos and cartoons for KUT.org. When pressed to do so, he’ll write short paragraphs about himself in the third person, but usually prefers not to.
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