Patron Hunt

Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary is Erika Gutel, Founder and President of Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary, a 501c3 non profit, located in beautiful, rural Vermont. Together with their husband Mark, and 3 kids, Sara, Mason, and Noah, they care for approximately 300 animals, including cows, pigs, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and guineas. Their journey began many years ago as a “traditional” farm on the eastern plains of CO, but after an “aha” moment, they decided to change their lifestyle and transform their animal “farm” into an animal “sanctuary”. Fast forward to 2016, with a newborn baby, and 6 cross country trips, they made their big move to VT to grow food, help the community, and help more animals in need. In the last four years they have become not only a sanctuary for animals, but a sanctuary for people as well. They are a safe haven where people can come out and catch their breath, grab a cup of coffee, take a walk in nature, connect with an animal, or just sit peacefully to gather their thoughts. After Covid 19 pushed them to close their small business in town, they now run a small donation based coffee shop at the farm, allowing them to focus all of their energy into the sanctuary. With your tax deductible donations, they can provide feed and bedding for the animals, provide veterinary care, improve and build infrastructure for animal housing, repair and build fencing for existing and future pasture areas, and help more animals in need. In the near future they plan to launch “Camp Compassion” for kids, as well as building yurts and natural structures to house visitors for a “wellness retreat”, develop programs for the elderly, and disabled, as well as expand their food forest, gardens, and eventually expanding their acreage for pastures and hay. They strive to live a “kinder way”, to be compassionate to all beings, and to the planet, to do good, and to share it with others. Will you join them on their journey? Long story short, we were living in the foothills of Colorado, using our land solely as pasture land to raise and sell beef cows. We were in a rut with our old lifestyle, and we knew we would need a change, but just weren’t sure what that change would be. This all changed when our daughter Sara shared with us the sanctuary model at Coral Creek Little Angels, based in Miami, Florida. She informed us that it was now our job to care for them, as they were Sara, Mason and Noah’s helpers, each being a different species. Our “aha” moment! It was clear that these animals, the cows, chickens and pigs, all needed us, even though what we did for them was very limited. There was so much work to be done, and although we both had full time jobs outside the home, who else was going to do it but us? Using the knowledge we gained from our daughter Sara on the Coral Creek sanctuary, we closed our small business in town, and began our journey of adjusting to a new lifestyle. We donated our initial 200 acres of land to our son Noah and daughter Sara, as we knew we would continue to gain property throughout our journey. Our first property of 38 acres was just over the border in VT. Finding the first piece of land was like realizing we could finally breathe, but it was so small that it would require us to seek more land at our first opportunity. Many people thought we were crazy to think that we could take on these animals and this very large project, knowing that we had other full time jobs and a newborn baby at home. Despite their warnings, we were compelled to proceed, and that is when we got our irst plot of land in Viola, VT, where we now reside.

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