News
On the nose, news.
Meet our new Board Member
Punta Gorda, FL. May 18, 2023 –
We’re excited to announce that Allison Chlebek has joined Little Bear Sanctuary as a new board member.
Allison was born and raised in the suburbs of Chica go, Illinois, and now resides in Punta Gorda, FL, with her fiancé and two pups (right down the road from the sanctuary). She studied Biotechnology and Sociology at Bradley University and is currently enrolled in an executive leadership education program at Stanford University.
Allison began her adult life working in restaurant management at an international high-grossing casual restaurant. By the end of her career in restaurant management, Allison had spent 8 years perfecting the management of all aspects of the business.
From there, she took her knowledge of brand building, P&L balancing, sales, and budgeting and started a career in Natural/Specialty and better-for-you CPG. Starting with a small outsourced sales company helping new brands create go-to-market strategies to grow sales, the bigger goal was to help fix the broken food system.
Currently, Allison is a National Account Manager with Oatly (a company founded to help fight climate change by creating products that are less taxing on the environment- being 100% plant-based, vegan, and non-GMO doesn’t hurt either!) managing their Global Whole Foods business. She is excited to bring her love of nature, animals, community, and growth to Little Bear.
Meet our new Board President
Punta Gorda, FL. May 16, 2023 –
We are excited to announce we have a new Board President. Please give a warm welcome to Bonnie Brown.
Bonnie Brown has several years of hands-on executive experience in finance and accounting, management, information systems, entrepreneurship, and business leadership.
She is the co-founder and CEO of New Earth Partners, providing outsourced CFO and accounting services to companies working to take animals out of the supply chain. She is also Board Treasurer and Secretary of Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.
Previously, Bonnie was CFO of Tecogen Inc. and prior to that, a partner at Sullivan Bille PC, where she provided financial, accounting, audit, tax, and business consulting services for start-up to mid-sized companies.
Bonnie is a CPA, with a BS in Accountancy from Bentley University and a MS in Computer Information Systems from Boston University. She grew up on a small family farm in Massachusetts, has been vegan for about 20 years, and resides in Southwest Florida with her husband Paul and two beautiful cats, Lil and Carrie.
Congratulations Bonnie! On behalf of the staff and board of Little Bear Sanctuary, we’re looking forward to doing amazing work together!
New Website
Happy Friday amazing supporters! It’s a big day for Little Bear Sanctuary! Today we officially celebrate our 5th anniversary, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to unveil our upgraded website at https://littlebearsanctuary.
I’m so proud of the way it turned out.
Our new website offers user-friendly browsing, news, events, and an improved user experience.
What does this mean for you? You can easily make donations as you’ve always done. We will send separate instructions to our monthly donors on how to change to the new system. (Don’t worry, It’s easy, and no rush).
If you’re not yet a monthly supporter, you can become one for only $5 a month. Check out how your, $5 a month helps! Here’s the direct link to sign up: Donate the cost of a cup of coffee per month – $5/Month
Please look around and let us know what you think. We love to hear from you.
Thank you to all our supporters who have helped us grow over the past five years. As a public nonprofit, we solely rely on donations to continue our work.
We are looking forward to the next five years!
Christopher Vane
Executive Director
GOAT GAMES 2022
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. July 12, 2022 – Here we “goat” again! Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS), one of the world’s leading sanctuaries for farmed animals — is pleased to announce that it will host the third annual Goat Games. From August 12-15, CAS will be joined by 13 additional farmed animal sanctuaries located throughout the U.S. that will rally the support of animal lovers nationwide in support of their life-saving work. To register or make a donation, visit thegoatgames.org.
GOFUNDME HERO OF THE MONTH - GOFUNDME
In 2017, Chris Vane took a chance on a long-time dream and purchased a 30-acre property in Southwest Florida. This was no ordinary home purchase, though. Chris wanted to create a safe space for abandoned and abused animals to live out the rest of their lives in peace, free of cages. With the support of community members and total strangers alike, Chris has been able to love and care for over 150 different animals at his sanctuary over the years—and he has big plans to help countless more.
SWFL animal sanctuary founder hailed ‘hero’ by GoFundMe - WINK NEWS
Step out into Christopher Vane’s backyard and you’ll quickly learn that the Punta Gorda man has a whole lot of pets.
“We have over 150 farm animals, 74 pigs … these animals have come from hoarding, situations, neglect, abuse,” Vane said.
Pigging out on dreams at Little Bear Sanctuary - SUN PORT CHARLOTTE
Chris Vane lost focus as he sat in the crowd at a real estate seminar. It was 2015. He was more than a decade into a second career. As the speaker offered up million-dollar ideas, Vane’s mind was a million miles away.
Man opens sanctuary for abused animals: 'You can't be depressed here' - TODAY SHOW
Christopher Vane opened Florida’s Little Bear Sanctuary in honor of his late mother, who taught him compassion. He’s saved more than 150 farm animals.
Meet 150 farm animals at Little Bear Sanctuary in Punta Gorda - FOX 4 NEWS
A day at Little Bear Sanctuary in Punta Gorda
CHARLOTTE COUNTY — You might recognize this local man, after being recently named GoFundMe’s Hero of the Month.
This Man Opened a No-Cage Sanctuary for Abused Animals - real simple
His mission is to make sure that every animal in his care lives a cruelty-free life.
