Staff Report
Happy Endings Animal Sanctuary is competing to win a grant of up to $25,000 from the “Help a Horse Day” project of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
To help qualify for the grant, the nonprofit organization is hosting an open house, picnic lunch and tour of their facility from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 28.
Help a Horse Day is an annual ASPCA event. Qualifying equine groups will be competing for a portion of $100,000 in grant money by holding events open to the public that celebrate horses with a renewed perspective for the “unwanted” horse.
C.C. Beaudette-Wellman created Happy Endings Animal Sanctuary in 2007, primarily focused on horses. Tucked away in Quail Valley east of Solvang, her 10-acre ranchette is home to a small brood of her four-legged babies.
Happy Endings takes in horses that don’t have any hope of a quality life, or any life at all. The sanctuary rehabilitates and adopts out those horses that can become trusting and safe. Those who cannot be rehabilitated live out their lives, loved and pampered, at the sanctuary. At the moment, the sanctuary has 10 horses in residence.
“The competition (by the ASPCA) is for equine rescues and sanctuaries to raise awareness about the life-saving work that we do year-round to care for at-risk horses that have been abused, neglected or abandoned in our community,” Beaudette-Wellman said.
“We’ll have a miniature education program, telling the stories of some of the horses and what the rehabilitation process is,” she added. “We’ll explain what we feed and why, and what the adoption process is. Most of our horses are elderly with special needs, so we have some strict adoption criteria.”
The judging criteria in the grant competition include the number of people who attend an organization’s Help a Horse Day event, the amount of money the group itself raises, and photographs of the function.
Happy Endings is always looking for volunteers with horse experience. Anyone interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities at the organization, from fixing fences to brushing horses, is encouraged to attend.
One of Beaudette-Wellman’s goals is to provide more service for local children in foster care and at risk. Inspired by the Horse Helpers Program by Barbara Perkins of American Charities Foundation, she hopes to inspire a local connection in the Santa Ynez Valley.
For more information, visit www.happyendingsanimalrescuesanctuary.org. To learn more about Beaudette-Wellman’s foundation, click on the “Donate” tab or visit the events page.
Anyone interested can keep up to date on social media with the handle @happyendingssanctuary on Instagram or @happyendingsanimalsanctuary on Facebook.
For more information or to RSVP, call 805-448-7138 or email happyendingssanctuary@gmail.com.
