Paris Connolly knew she had to become vegan after learning about the atrocities of factory farming. But she decided she wants to take her love of animals a step farther. Her goal is to open a farm sanctuary to save animals from deplorable conditions and educate the public on how important it is to live a vegan life for their health, the environment, and of course, the animals. She already has a name for this oasis she hopes to open in Orange County, California: Loveland Farm Sanctuary.
Originally from the Boston area, when Paris and her boyfriend Dave were looking for a place to settle down in Southern California, they came across a plot of land for sale on Loveland Lane. While they didn’t end up moving there, the name Loveland, “a land of love for every being” stuck, and she knew she had the name for her future sanctuary.
Orange County is the perfect place for Loveland Farm Sanctuary (LFS) since there are areas with a lot of open land, and there isn’t anything like it in the vicinity. Paris says, “It would be a great honor to be able to offer guided tours and educational opportunities on vegan living for members of our community. If we can raise the appropriate amount of funding to start us off, we’d like to be up and running by 2017.”
Besides applying for grants and asking for funds from donors, Paris is raising money through her project Sign Up for Love, where the sales of decorative sign
s with vegan messages goes towards supporting the sanctuary. She sells her merchandise at local veg fairs and from her Etsy shop.
Paris shares, “At LFS, our goal is to offer members of the community opportunities to interact and get to know the unique personalities of our future residents, and begin to see farm animals as friends not food. In addition, we’ll have a learning center on our grounds, which will guide people on how impactful vegan living is on environmental regeneration and physical health. In turn, we hope this will empower our visitors to adopt a vegan lifestyle. We’ll also provide vegan-based startups with the tools they need to extend their learning beyond LFS out into their own communities. Our three-tiered solution is comprised of:
- Educational opportunities on vegan living for the public
- Training opportunities on building a business for vegan-based start-ups
- Investment opportunities in vegan-based start ups for funders
Our mission is to offer a hands-on, interactive learning experience to the community, businesses and investors.”
To learn more about Loveland Farm Sanctuary, visit Paris’s website: http://www.parisconnolly.com/loveland-farm-sanctuary/
