We identified the location of our animal sanctuary property in October of 2020. This lush farmland, located only 15 minutes away from downtown Chapel Hill, boasts several large and open pastures, three small creeks, several rolling hills - and acres and acres of trails and forest. It has always been our intention to work with the land as we create this place of hope and healing for animals in need of refuge to connect with children living in at-risk and underserved communities.
Since the very beginning, all clearing out of old brush, on-surface and buried trash and invasive plants and trees has been done with an eye on conserving the bucolic, natural beauty of this property. We feel strongly about conservation and green building. Our goal is to build out the entire sanctuary village as environmentally responsibly as possible. That means being fully solar-powered, implementing systems for the reuse of rain and waste water, and incorporating a multitude of energy efficient resources. It means staying away from harsh chemicals and pesticides when developing our landscape, including planting natural pest deterrents on some parts of the land and fortifying designated habitat areas for pollinators on other parts of the land. And it means educating visiting communities on the merits of conservation and environmental responsbility through our outdoor youth programs and our ongoing development of on-site educational resources.
There is so very much to go - but see how far we've come to date.
November, 2023 Update!
We poured concrete for the foundation slab of our Welcome Center! We'd had to reschedule this a few times because of weather but then were blessed with a full week of dry sunshine, and our awesome construction crew worked from dawn until way past dark, laying down a perfect slab on which we will build the center, along with a front and back patio. We also set up all or our plumbing and drainage areas to enable all of our operations within the center.
Next up is building the Welcome Center structure where we can greet our community, offer pet care education, host a variety of youth programs, volunteer orientation programs, foster care appreciation events, community programs and much more! This will also be where we can offer an interim space for homeless pets and their puppies or kittens to have a quite place to decompress. Mamas who have given birth in the shelter need to be pulled as soon as possible as overcrowded shelters can be quite dangerous for vulnerable puppies and kittens. Having a quiet area for them, a safe harbor after the stress of the shelter, allows us to care for them medically and give them the attention and affection they deserve, while also working to find them foster homes - and then permanent homes - once the babies are a little older.
October, 2023 Update!
We have BROKEN GROUND for the Welcome Center at Beautiful Together! We stood there and cheered as the footprint for the building clearly emerged. From there we packed the ground and laid out the plumbing - next up, we pour concrete!
September, 2023 Update!
We are officially SOLAR POWERED at Beautiful Together, and we could not be more excited about it! Since Day One, we have made it our mission to build out our property with as much of an eye on green building and conservation as possible, so to be able to power our entire clinic operations at the sanctuary with solar power is a huge win for us. We will continue to build out all additional structures at the sanctuary with solar power, along with additional eco-friendly power generating methods, too.
We have also further beautifying our grounds - from planting new grasses and flowering plants to setting up a covered outside area, adding bright and colorful picnic tables, benches and more. We fully welcome volunteers to help us build out our sanctuary property! More updates to come but, after three years of working on all the invisible infrasture parts that enable us to finally build all the visible parts of our sanctuary, we are thrilled to be fully solar powered!
he Since identifying the location of our animal sanctuary property in October of 2020, we have accomplished a lot of work. We started with 83 acres of completely undeveloped land.
