Projects

Education & Advocacy Efforts

Avian Advocacy

We began as a chicken sanctuary and continue to advocate for roosters and hens.

Rooster Rehab

As the first sanctuary to devise a method of rehabilitating former fighting roosters, we continue to rescue and rehabilitate rooters, to teach other sanctuaries how to do so, and to encourage authorities to re-home rather than euthanize birds seized in cockfighting busts.

Backyard Birds

The fad for backyard hen-keeping may seem innocuous or even kind but actually hurts chickens in many ways, including the killing of male chicks by hatcheries, exploitation and neglect of hens, and a spate of unwanted birds dumped at shelters. We educate the public about these effects while encouraging other ways of welcoming birds into one’s backyard.

Cockfighting Counterpunch

The cruel blood “sport” of cockfighting persists despite its illegality. Our new anti-cockfighting campaign targets social sources of cockfighting, such as toxic masculinity and stereotyping of roosters. We believe that this innovative effort may succeed where the law enforcement approach has failed.

Humane Education

VINE offers two humane education programs: Pasture Pals, which brings children and youth on-site learn from animals at the sanctuary, and Barnyard Buddies, an online program that allows classes, library groups, and other youth groups to “adopt” sanctuary residents and to take virtual field trips to the sanctuary.

Dairy Alternatives Project

THE BIG IDEA

We will increase both demand for and access to dairy alternatives while simultaneously promoting more profitable and environmentally sustainable plant-based agriculture in rural regions currently devoted to dairying.

A Coaltion Effort

While VINE Sanctuary conceived and coordinates this project, it is a national coalition effort in which several organizations cooperate. Please do contact us if you work with an organization that might want to partner with us in this endeavor.

An Ecofeminist Endeavor

This project arose out of an ecological and intersectional analysis of the problem. Our strategy attends closely to social constructs such as race and gender while also taking material realities into adequate account.

A Systems Approach for Truly Effective Altruism

This ambitious multi-year project is designed to intervene in the social and material systems that maintain dairying at precisely the points most likely to make a substantial and sustainable impact.

Empathy... for Everybody

Mothers of all species want to nourish and nurture their own offspring. Children of all races deserve wholesome food that their bodies can digest. Farmers of all regions want to feed their own families. A plant-based post-dairy food system will meet all of these needs better than the current state of affairs.

Queering Animal Liberation

As an LGBTQ-founded animal sanctuary working within an intersectional analysis of the structural relationships among different forms of oppression, we have spent more than 20 years exploring the linkages between LGBTQ and animal liberation while building bridges between those two movements.

Vermont Vitality

Springfield,

Creating Community

Our on-site events and in-town potlucks bring people from Springfield and surrounding towns together for mutually rewarding conversations and activities.

Revitalizing Springfield

From a summer camp for local children and and volunteer opportunities for local teens on-site at the sanctuary to film showings and other intellectually stimulating events downtown, we are part of the ongoing process of renewal in Springfield.

Economic Development

As a job creator bringing in grants and donations from elsewhere to spend locally, our sanctuary already contributes to the much-needed economic development of Springfield. Looking ahead, we will be partnering with other local organizations on several projects that will enhance Springfield’s economy.

Vermont

We Love Vermont

We LOVE Vermont and are excited to help make the Green Mountain State even more “green,” both environmentally and economically, by promoting the transition from dependence on the declining dairy industry to a more vibrant and viable plant-based agricultural economy.

We Are Mapping the Path

We’ve compiled a database of plant-based food and farming projects in the state. The next step will be to code this into an online map that will help vegan consumers find Vermont products and help like-minded Vermonters find each other.

We Are Growing Together

We work with other Vermont non-profits to promote enhanced vitality through plant-based eating and veganic gardening as well as to encourage environmental awareness and empathy for animals.