047: Designing Sanctuaries Around Animals: How Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge is Transforming Rescue Care
Release Date: 01/12/2026
049: Grant Writing for Sanctuaries: From Overwhelmed to Funded with Stephanie Mathers
Better Life for Animals
Across the United States, most farmed animal sanctuaries operate with limited staff, inconsistent funding, and an overwhelming daily workload. Many rely almost entirely on donations while carrying the emotional and financial responsibility of caring for animals society has discarded. As Stephanie Mathers, Founder and CEO of Grants for Animals, says, “The sanctuaries already have 200 percent heart.” What is often missing is structure, and that gap is where sustainability is either built or lost. In this episode of the Better Life for Animals Podcast, Kathleen Gage talks with Stephanie...
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048: Lighting a Lamp in the Darkness: Robin Singh’s Mission to Reduce Animal Suffering
Better Life for Animals
Billions of animals suffer each year because of human choices. While rescue saves individual lives, preventing suffering at its source creates lasting change. In this episode of the Better Life for Animals Podcast, Cheryl Moss talks with Robin Singh, co founder of Peepal Farm, an animal rescue, veterinary clinic, and awareness organization in India. Robin shares how his pursuit of happiness after leaving the tech industry led to emptiness, until meeting an elderly woman caring for abandoned dogs shifted his life toward purpose. That experience became the foundation for Peepal Farm’s mission....
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047: Designing Sanctuaries Around Animals: How Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge is Transforming Rescue Care
Better Life for Animals
What would sanctuary life look like if animals were not housed for human convenience, but instead were given environments designed around their instincts, ancestry, and emotional well being? In this episode, Cheryl Moss speaks with Lenore Braford and Paul Drake of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge in North Carolina. Lenore is the Founder and Executive Director, and Paul is the architect behind the refuge’s innovative approach called animal centered design. You will discover how studying animal behavior changes everything about how sanctuaries are built. For example: Cows avoid enclosed barns...
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046: How to Heal After Losing a Beloved Animal — A Conversation with Kaleel Sakakeeny
Better Life for Animals
Why Losing a Pet Hurts So Deeply — with Animal Chaplain Kaleel Sakakeeny Did you know that more than 20,000 people every month search for help coping with the heartbreak of losing an animal companion? That number tells a powerful story. The grief that follows the loss of a beloved animal is real, intense, and often misunderstood. For many, it is one of the deepest emotional wounds they will ever experience, yet society doesn’t always acknowledge the depth of that pain. This is the life’s work of Kaleel Sakakeeny, grief educator, ordained pastor, animal chaplain, and Executive Director of...
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045: Dana Wilson on Ending a 400-Year Tradition of Dancing Bears and Saving Begging Elephants
Better Life for Animals
Ending a 400 Year Tradition of Dancing Bears: How Wildlife SOS is Transforming Animal Protection in India What happens when someone leaves a long corporate career to follow a calling rooted in compassion for animals? In this episode of the Better Life for Animals Podcast, host Cheryl Moss talks with Dana Wilson, Director of Marketing and Communications for Wildlife SOS, about what real animal protection looks like on the ground in India. Dana shares how his early volunteer work with animals eventually led him into full time nonprofit work. Today, Wildlife SOS operates inside one of the...
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044: From Local News to National Reach: Animal Sanctuary PR Strategies with Heather Ripley
Better Life for Animals
What if national media coverage for your animal sanctuary did not start with a big pitch or a major publication, but with your local newspaper? In this episode of the Better Life for Animals Podcast, host Cheryl Moss sits down with Heather Ripley, founder and CEO of Orange Orchard PR, to unpack what actually works when it comes to media visibility for animal sanctuaries. Heather shares how a successful career in traditional public relations evolved into purpose driven work after she went vegan and aligned her professional skills with animal advocacy. That shift led her to create Orange Orchard...
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043: From Restaurants to Rescue Work: Deborah Blum on Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary
Better Life for Animals
Goats can see nearly 340 degrees around them. That single fact alone changes how most people think about goats and farm animals. In this episode of Better Life for Animals, host Cheryl Moss talks with Deborah Blum, founder of Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary in Sebastopol, California. Deborah shares how her life shifted from the restaurant world to farm animal rescue and what goats have taught her about behavior, trauma, and trust. In this conversation, you will learn: • Why goats are browsers, not grazers, and how that shapes sanctuary care • How rescued animals experience trauma and what...
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042: Rescuing the Forgotten: How Tim Woodward is Transforming Massive Animal Hoarding Cases into Hope
Better Life for Animals
When the mortgage industry collapsed, Tim Woodward took a hard look at his life and realized something was missing. A volunteer role with In Defense of Animals exposed him to the hidden crisis of animal suffering across the country and set him on a path that would change everything. Seventeen years later, Tim is the Executive Director of Animal Rescue Corps, a national organization built to serve communities with no shelters, no animal control, and no resources when cruelty strikes. ARC works directly with law enforcement, responds at no cost, and steps in whether the case involves ten animals...
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041: From Bullying to Brave Change: Michele Fasnacht’s Journey to Solid Rock Community School
Better Life for Animals
Discover how compassionate education is transforming the lives of children and rescued animals in this powerful conversation with Michele Fasnacht, founder of Solid Rock Community School and the Sanctuary at Solid Rock. Michele shares how her personal journey through childhood trauma, chronic illness, and a life changing shift to plant based living shaped an education model unlike anything else in the country. In this episode, you will learn how rescued pigs, primates, ducks, and other farmed animals have become mentors for students, teaching empathy, responsibility, and emotional awareness...
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040: The Gift of a Safe World: How Buddhist Compassion Inspires Vegan Action
Better Life for Animals
What if compassion could change the world again, just like it did more than two thousand years ago? In this episode, you will meet Rayane Laddi, a Buddhist vegan who is proving that kindness is not an idea. It is a practice. His work shows how ancient teachings can transform modern problems, from animal advocacy to fundraising to environmental health. This conversation takes you inside Dharma Voices for Animals, the first organization to align Buddhist teachings with vegan living. What started with one simple question has become a global movement grounded in mindfulness, non harming, and...
info_outlineWhat would sanctuary life look like if animals were not housed for human convenience, but instead were given environments designed around their instincts, ancestry, and emotional well being?
In this episode, Cheryl Moss speaks with Lenore Braford and Paul Drake of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge in North Carolina. Lenore is the Founder and Executive Director, and Paul is the architect behind the refuge’s innovative approach called animal centered design.
You will discover how studying animal behavior changes everything about how sanctuaries are built. For example:
Cows avoid enclosed barns because they need open visibility
Ducks feel safest when they can quickly retreat to water
Goats prefer to sleep at elevated heights
Chickens thrive in shaded, forest like environments
This conversation explores how environment affects healing, trust, safety, and dignity for rescued animals, many of whom have experienced trauma before arriving at sanctuary.
We also highlight the new documentary Forever Home, created by Emmy winning filmmaker Allison Argo, which follows the stories of animals at the refuge and the evolution of animal centered design.
Learn more or get involved:
Forever Home documentary
https://foreverhome.love
Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge
https://piedmontrefuge.org
Better Life for Animals
https://BetterLifeForAnimals.com/047-Piedmont-Farm
If this episode inspires you, please share it so more people can learn how thoughtful design and compassionate care can transform the lives of animals.