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Animal & People Sanctuary
A SAFE place for LOVE to heal
THIS IS OUR BIGGEST DREAM. WHERE TRUE MAGIC WILL HAPPEN
Sorry for all the words, but its a good story I think. This has been a long term dream of Kabel's. It initially started as a dream to one day have an animal sanctuary and a farm for the family to live on as their forever home. As the girls grew up providing that great mix of living with nature and space while also being close to the beach. Kabel needs the ocean.
Watching a documentary one night on a lady in America who happened to be a psychologist and own an animal sanctuary; who came up with the idea to invite some of her patients to the sanctuary to mingle with the animals. She had the thought that bringing trauma affected animals and people together might do something magical.
Well it did. Both animals and people came together in their own time and began to help each other heal. They both had something in common and the animals offered the people a way to breakdown their barriers and find themselves again.
That night the project for the Love Is The Answer Sanctuary was born and our passion for making it a reality went into overdrive.
A SAFE PLACE FOR ANIMALS AND PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER WITH NATURE TO HEAL
Who we help
Some of the people that we will make the tiny homes, family home, dormitory and other services available to are:
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domestic violence survivors
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veterans
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trauma victims from family loss and/or tragedy
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homeless
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troubled youth
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indigenous people
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women and teens affected by violence
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LGBTQIA+
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refugees
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mental health sufferers
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local community
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national community
THOSE helping OTHERS - charities, nfp's, social enterprises, community groups. We plan to work closely with many of these types of organisations. So that they can utilise the Sanctuary as a place where their clients can come to rest, find peace, heal and also find themselves again.
Accomodation
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ACCOMODATION FOR 1-2: Depending on the size of the property we plan to have between 5-10 tiny homes (preferred as they can be moved around depending on the seasons) or small 1-bedroom cabins with a queen bed and self-contained. These are safe places that allow people to get away from their day-to-day life and find themselves again. To just be.... If they wish to get involved with the animals and farm activities, then they can.
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These cabins will be in beautiful private locations around the property. If I can get the tiny houses on consignment, then they can be sold to people who stay in them and may want to buy them.
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Potentially naming each dwelling after a cause it serves
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ACCOMODATION FAMILY: We would like one bigger tiny home or cabin that can take a family of up to 6 for families that have suffered trauma.
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ACCOMODATION FOR GROUPS: We also would like group accommodation bunk house style for 20-30 so that schools or community groups can use it for programs they run on the property.
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CAMPING: We would like to have a small place on the property that people can come to camp, bush camping style by themselves or a small group of friends or family. It will only be used by one of these groups at a time so that it fits in with being a place of peace. Definitely NO yobbos allowed. Sorry.
The Local Community
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LOCAL COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY GROUPS: We plan to engage heavily with the local community and community groups. Holding various events throughout the year for people to meet the animals and get involved with the sanctuary. We will be employing local people to work on the farm and the accommodation as well.
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Local community groups will play a large part in finding people who need a break to stay in the accomodation. They will also have access to the Group Accomodation for school and community groups for programs they may want to run.
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LOCAL ARTISTS: We will invite local artists to come onto the sanctuary and create relaxing and healing spaces all over the sanctuary. Places for people to find and just BE.
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LOCAL THERAPIES: We plan to tap into the local mental health professionals (if they meet our standards) and other natural therapies i.e. massage, yoga, meditation, energy balancing etc to be available for guests at the sanctuary and to perhaps run group sessions at the sanctuary
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LOCAL COOKS: As we will have a large vegie garden and orchard available, and we will have a large outdoor cooking facility with fire we plan to host vegan cooking open days on the days the property is open to the public and also when groups attend the sanctuary, or we have enough guests
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LOCAL GARDENERS: We plan to engage local gardeners to help run the vegie garden and orchard and they can use it to run classes etc. We also will have them assist us in managing the broader property landscape.
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LOCAL HANDYMEN: We will need a large shed for machinery and storage or potentially a few sheds. We can run workshop days where people can utilise this space to run workshops for adults and children.
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YOUTH IN NEED: We believe that our children are truly going to change this toxic world and we want to play our part in that. We want to work with groups that help troubled, homeless or youth in need to help them find the right path in life. We plan to employ people from the local community to help run the sanctuary and this could be a great area to employ young people and to teach them skills.
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Where, What and When?
BIG QUESTION - kismet has been a massive part of Kabel's life since the accident. Long story short kismet is helping bring this together in some amazing ways.
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WHERE: If all goes well it will be close to Forster in NSW. As a family we simply love this area and have had some magical family holidays camping there. The beach, bush and people are special. It means it is also within driving distance of Sydney.
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WHAT: The Sanctuary will be a property between 200-500+ acres in size. Someone amazingly has offered us a 200 acre property to lease in the area we would prefer (30-40km NW Forster). The area looks great and so does the community so although it is early days the owner of this property essentially has it on hold for us when we are ready to start. We would also like to buy some adjoining land if possible to increase its size. About 50 acres will be dedicated to the animals.
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WHEN: At this stage we are hoping 2022/2023 as there is a lot to learn, organise and establish before we can open the doors. To be honest I'd move there tomorrow but we don't yet have the funds to do that. This will be a special place so it is important to execute the doors opening phase very well.
Our plans for the Sanctuary
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SELF SUFFICIENT: Ideally it is our dream to have a self-sufficient property. Each dwelling to have solar power with battery storage. Rainwater tanks to collect fresh water and grey water tanks so water is not wasted when used. Potentially having a dam or few on the property for additional water collection would also be ideal for recreational use and the water needs of the sanctuary. The current location has 2 streams running through it.
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NATURAL LANDSCAPE: We plan to use indigenous cool burning practices on the property to keep it healthy and safe from bushfires. We would like the property while cool burning is being down to be utilised as a training and education opportunity to expand this practice across Australia. We will invest in replanting local native trees on the property to reforest it. Guess what? even animals like shady trees. As much as possible we would like native bushland throughout the property.
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VEGIE GARDEN AND ORCHARD: Everyone will have free full access to the very large vegie garden and orchard. Gardening can be very therapeutic and anyone can work in the garden if they wish including the community. We are thinking of 1-3 acres for the size of the vegie garden so we can be as self-sufficient as possible for food year round. We will have plenty of poo so the garden will be very healthy. If the local community is keen, we can even open the garden to them to rent small plots to farm for themselves or a scheme where if you work in the garden then you get produce in return for labour. We can also sell addition produce if there is leftover.