A Man In Need

I live in the Ottawa area. Hence, the propensity to say "eh" after every sentence, exclamation, and utterance. Eh.

The above has absolutely nothing to do with this post, except that it stipulates that I live in the Ottawa area, which means I live in the Ottawa Valley. This actually happens to be a rather serious post about a rather serious subject, so I apologize for trying to be humorous above. I can't help it sometimes. Oh. It wasn't funny? Okay then.

I happened to meet a guy a couple of years ago at an exhibition. Nice guy. Sitting on a stool. This guy, his name is Andy Parent, had a booth at this exhibition. A booth displaying his business: giving all animals a safe haven. Andy's business is situated in Kemptville, which is also in the Ottawa Valley. Hence, the explanatory phrases above regarding the Ottawa Valley and its subsequent accent and preponderence of "eh" everywhere you turn.

Big Sky Ranch was established in 2002 by Andy, and privately funded and operated by him until 2004. He discovered that many animals needed rescuing, and not only dogs and cats. We're talking larger farm animals. Animals of all sizes and types being abused, abandoned, or left behind to fend for themselves. And he found that he would soon be drained financially if he continued trying to fund this all on his own.

Andy discovered that a big part of the problem was that animals were being misunderstood, and therefore, abused. Oftentimes, these animals had nowhere to go. That's where Big Sky came in.

Andy knew that something had to be done, and he created the Big Sky Ranch sanctuary. To date, it is the only non-kill sanctuary of its kind in all of Eastern Ontario in Canada. In 2004, Andy had 125 animals living at the sanctuary. No longer was private funding a possibility. Now it was obvious to Andy and everyone else that the community needed this ranch as much as the animals needed it. So, Andy went to the community to gain its financial support. And support he got.

Now Andy himself needs help.

He was recently diagnosed with leukemia, and is now in the fight of his life.

I know this is pretty much a local story, and this blog is read by many people all over the world. However, even though Andy is a Valley boy, his generosity and dedication, and his plight, are universal, which is why I'm writing about it. He needs help with donations to keep his ranch alive, to keep his dream of saving helpless animals alive. Andy has helped about 1,300 animals live the lives they were meant to live.

It's time to lend a helping hand to someone who has given so much to so many (Andy also helps other charities, seniors' centres, and countless children in addition to the countless animals). As Andy said in a recent television interview, "The most important thing to me is that the family and the animals will always be taken care of. And if I don't have much time left, then all I can say is I'm leaving this earth a very happy man."

If you can, please show your support by visiting Big Sky Ranch's site here.

Comments

Shupe said…
I am not sure what to say- so I will just do~
Unknown said…
I'm off to visit Andy's page now.
ShanaM said…
I looked at the website. Wow. What a great guy Andy Parent is. That is sad. Thanks for sharing.

(I never even realized that I said
'eh' after every sentence until I lived in the States for a few years and people kept asking me why I said it.)
Akum said…
Thanks for sharing... He true is a cool guy...
Jane! said…
What an angel. Makes you wonder when such bad things happen to such good people.
Unknown said…
talk about feeling like a very small person! what a GREAT guy Andy is! I am going to forward this link

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