Refuge Farms (www.refugefarms.org)

As people out there discover us, their hearts are moved to assist and donate to us so that we may continue and expand the outreach of our missions. To every single one of you – regardless of the donation – we graciously and heartily thank you and assure you that your intentions are noted, appreciated, and your donation will be used as thriftily and to the greatest potential as possible.

Sometimes, these gifts of assistance are not in the form of hay, or meds, or tack. Sometimes, these gifts cause us to put our creative hats on and require us to explore worlds not related to horses! And sometimes, these gifts of assistance require your help in turning them in to hay funds.

What am I talking about? Here are three current examples:

Bette Midler One-of-a-Kind Caricature

Sabra B. of Bloomington, MN recently discovered Refuge Farms and Refuge Farms is thrilled to have her join us as a member of The ‘Other’ Herd. Sabra is a life-saver every day in her ‘regular’ life. She has a job, sure, but she lives and breathes the purpose of rescue and is a strong influence on people around her.

Recently, Sabra took one of her possessions – a Bette Midler piece – and is auctioning off this piece with the intention of donating the proceeds from the auction. What is this piece? The best way to introduce you to this Bette Midler autographed piece is to give you the description off of the auction site:

Up for auction is a great piece of Bette Midler memorabilia...a one of a kind item that can be yours if you are the highest bidder. During her mid-eighties "A View From a Broad" book signing tour, Bette Midler autographed this 8" x 10" caricature at her stop in Minneapolis (actual autograph: Thank You! Bette Midler XX). This colored pencil caricature was created in July of 1983 (7/83 is noted on the drawing) and is signed by the artist. It is in excellent shape and comes housed in a wooden frame. A very nice collectable for any Bette Midler fan! [Remember: this auction is for an autographed caricature of Bette Midler - the book IS NOT part of the auction.

If you, or anyone you know, are a Bette Midler fan and find this wonderfully creative caricature as fun as we did, jump on the auction and place a bid! What a conversation starter! What a great piece to have hanging in your music room! What a great gift to that Bette fan who would look at it and scream, “That’s her! Really! That’s just like her!”

Here’s a link to the auction site for more pictures and the full listing of this one-of-a-kind Bette Midler piece. And thank you, Sabra!

Bette Midler caricature can be seen [HERE].

Sports Cards…and more Sports Cards!

It started out with an email. A simple email that lead to a generous donation with huge possibilities…

Mary and Pete found Refuge Farms through our website and wanted to somehow assist us in caring for these rescued horses we call The Herd. What attracted them? Mary said that the fact that we kept the horses we rescued and did not subject them to still more change and even threats of more mistreatment is what made the difference for her. Me too, Mary.

So, emails progressed and soon I found myself on the road with CityGirl traveling to meet Mary and accept their donation. What was this donation???

100,000 Sports Cards!!!

Pete had assembled sets and boxes of sports cards to donate to Refuge Farms with the intention that we convert these cards in to hay for next winter! Hallelujah!

What kind of sports cards? We have baseball cards. We have NHL hockey cards. We have Canadian hockey cards. We have English hockey cards. We have boxes with “Stanley Cup” written on them. We have AFL and NFL football cards. We have Canadian football cards. We have boxes with “Ryan” and “Aaron” written on them. We have sets. We have singles. We have cards from the 70’s and 80’s and the 90’s. We have autographed cards. We have cards!!!

All of the cards are new and in mint condition. All cards are in boxes so they have been protected from dirt and sun and handling. What a treasure!!!

How can you help? Do you or do you know anyone who is interested in buying sports cards? We will sell the cards in quantities of 100. And the top bidder will take as many bundles of 100 cards that they want for the bid price per bundle. Then we will contact the next highest bidder for as many bundles of 100 cards that they want. And so on. Until all of the cards are gone.

The cards will be carefully counted and bundled by Refuge Farms in to 100 card bundles. No presorting. Only the sets will be counted and kept in their original box and sold as a set of 150 cards, for instance, at 1.5 times the price of 100 cards. See how that will work? We will keep football together. Baseball together. Hockey together. And card manufacturer together, as well. On your bid form, you can specify which sport or league you would prefer. But no, someone won’t be able to come and look through 100,000 cards and pull out the 100 cards that they want. That would be unfair to the other bidders.

We will accept bids on the sports cards until the Open Barn Event. Then the bids will close and we will start movin’ ‘em out! Just in time to convert the cards to hay!

Want to bid on the cards? Simply email THE FARM on this bid form and you’ll be in the running! And later, if you want to up your bid? Just re-email us using this form found in this blog or in the Gift Shop of our website. Happy bidding!! And thank you to Mary and Pete! The Herd will find these sport cards delicious next winter!

To place a bid on the sports cards [CLICK HERE].

Printers! Calling all printers!

Here's what was donated for us to convert to vet bill payments. And it will be a great deal for the first one to respond to this one!!!

We have Lexmark OptraColor 1200 color toner cartridges. We have 3 Yellow cartridges part number 12A1453, 2 Magenta cartridges part number 12A1451, and 3 Cyan cartridges part number 12A1452. Each cartridge carries a “normal” retail of $220 to $235!!!

Please email your contacts that have big color copiers/printers and ask if these would work for them! Refuge Farms will sell each $200+ cartridge at $55 each or $400 for all 8 cartridges. A great deal for whoever can utilize them and a great deal for THE FARM! All funds from this deal will go toward the vet bill with Dr. Brian.

To purchase these cartridges, contact/email THE FARM [HERE] and the first email – based upon date and time stamp of the email – will be the winner!

So there you have it! Auctions and sales going on at Refuge Farms that have nothing to do with horses! Well, almost. Except that every single person donating these items has done so with the intention that we convert these gifts to hay and supplies needed to support our missions. Because our missions of healing horses and Humans alike have reached out to them and they, in their generosity, have decided to reach back to us. It’s that "magic" thing working at it’s best!

Thank you to Sabra and Pete and Mary and Bob at United Stationers! And thank you to you out there for your bids and spreading the word!

Enjoy the journey of each and every day,
Sandy and The Herd