The Gathering raised funds and awareness for Lily’s Place at their May event.
Ms Driscoll’s class at Belleisle Regional High School built a house for The Littles and a wooden garbage bin for the sanctuary. Simply Seamless finished siding and did the soffit and fascia on The Little’s house.
Thanks to our volunteer coordinator, Robyn, we were able to participate in STU’s volunteer day in September. A half-dozen students came out and tackled a variety of tasks, which was a huge help.
Participated in a discussion with Vegius entitled “Animal Welfare Debate: Effective Altruism vs Sanctuary Duty of Care.” (Youtube)
Communications
We launched our blog for those who aren’t on social media or want to read updates about specific animals (without going through our whole social media feed of posts). Those who would like to stay up to date via email can now sign up to be notified of new blog posts.
Posted more than 520 Facebook posts, keeping social media followers updated about what was happening day-to-day.
Send out at least one Good News email a month to our newsletter list, including animal recovery stories, event news, and volunteer opportunities.
Infrastructure
Our barn bathroom got a serious upgrade thanks to a grant from The Kindness Club and the work of S&K Electric. The bathroom is winterized now and has a laundry tub rather than a small sink. No more hunching over a freezing hose trying to wash dishes in a snow bank while simultaneously trying to avoid making an icy hazard!
In the fall, thanks to the generous support of the Eric S Margolis Foundation and the hard work of Gateway Fence, LP gained an additional 4 acres of pasture space with permanent fencing.
Improvements to make the barn safer by upgrading some electrical systems, which included running power to the Little’s house, extra lines down both sides of the barn, and additional power in the hen house.
Additional fencing was installed, a bridge was built, and trails were cleared to a small pasture, increasing the space attached to the forest house. Thank you, Judas!
We also had an upgrade by getting the barn ready for a backup generator to be plugged in, should we need it. This upgrade will enable all essential animal care systems to run during a power outage. Thank you to TremTech Electrical Systems Inc. for doing the work on short notice during a major power outage. We’ll be working towards getting a generator that can be plugged in and is big enough in 2026.
Two ramps were built thanks to Erik and Robyn; one on the forest house for Bob and Josie’s arrival, and one on their permanent house once they were ready to move out of quarantine.
Installed more Marweld panels to create additional stalls in the main barn. Thank you to Erik for doing the labour-intensive installation of the additional panels!
A (new to us) lean-to was delivered to the sanctuary in May that provides shade in the pasture as well as an emergency shelter once gates are installed.
People
A significant step towards better stability and sustainable long-term care: Our first part-time paid employees outside of a grant were hired thanks to a generous donation at the start of the year; Sophia (Animal Care on Saturdays), and Jamie (that’s me! I’m now able to devote my afternoons to being Lily’s Place’s Executive Director).
Welcomed volunteers who are now filling major roles, including Michelyn as our board of directors Treasurer and Sarah as our board chair. We also welcomed Sam to the programs side of things as our HR specialist, and Lindsay as our Donor Appreciation Volunteer and our Monthly Sponsorship Support Volunteer.
Keys 4 Kindness, an initiative by REALTOR® Tim Clancy, supported LP with several donations throughout 2025.
The New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition generously donated $1500 towards animal care.
A friend of the sanctuary sent Rosie and Josie a sheep chair to make their care easier for them and for us.
Several supporters explored employee-giving programs and found they could donate to LP through their retirement benefits or volunteer hours.
Several Canadian artists, including Andrea Mulder-Slater and Taunya Goguen, created custom portraits of our residents for the online auction we hosted in the spring.
Lindsay H donated a flight & hotel package to our auction that went over really well with participants looking to visit Newfoundland.
We had our very first matching gift during “Goatmas”, and people from near and far contributed to Bob’s Bottle Drive.