Lancaster Farm Sanctuary pen pal program connects classrooms to farm animals

[Reading Kingdom LOVES this idea for encouraging students to write and explore their love of animals at the same time.]

Brooke Corridoni’s students at Susquehanna Waldorf School have been practicing their writing skills with a pen pal named Jude. The students ask Jude about his life and his friends, and in turn, tell him about their own worlds and their favorite things to do. But Jude needs some help reading the letters, and writing his replies. That’s because Jude is a cow.

The Lancaster Farm Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit farm animal sanctuary based in Mount Joy and founded in July 2017, is a rescue home to about 80 cows, pigs, chickens, alpaca, horses, goats, sheep, ducks and turkeys — basically, any animal mentioned in “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” The sanctuary provides shelter and care for local farm animals that have been abused, neglected, abandoned or are disabled or sick.

“Our mission is rescuing farmed animals and providing them sanctuary and encouraging our community to live with compassion and respect,” Executive Director Sarah Salluzzo says. “We’re just trying to get people to think about how our animals are treated.”

Read more here.