Can you help Bella and the alpacas travel more safely?

Update from Bella: Thank you all so much! Thanks to all of YOU, we’ve raised enough to purchase a new trailer! Anything more we raise will go to help cover needed medical care for my alpaca friends and me. Thank you so, so much for loving us and taking care of us!!!

Hello Friends!

I’m Bella the alpaca. I’m almost three years old and I live at the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice Farm at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. I love jumping and running with my alpaca herd members and greeting our many visitors.

I have an important job. I teach visitors on the Sisters of Providence grounds here at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and other friends about taking good care of our earth. We alpacas are special. We are easy on the Earth. We provide a great natural fertilizer for the organic gardens at the Woods. We also provide soft and wonderful fiber that can be made into scarves, socks and other lovely items.

I love attention. So I especially love an opportunity to greet visitors and share about our Eco-Justice ministry and organic farmlands. Sometimes I even get to go on the road to share with people outside the Woods. We go to colleges, elementary school events, 4-H events and more. It’s so much fun!

There is just one problem – getting us there.

Right now we alpacas travel in a minivan. As cute as that looks when people pull up beside us at a red light, it really is not the best way for us to travel.

Getting into a minivan is scary. We have to climb up high or step onto a wooden pallet. Sometimes my friends and I are too afraid to even get in and the humans who take care of us have to bring a different alpaca. Once we do get in, it’s not very comfortable. We can’t stand up fully in the van so we have to sit or stoop. I’m already a little nervous when I travel, and that makes it worse.

Sadly, my alpaca friends and I don’t always behave minivan-appropriately. We’re outdoor animals and aren’t accustomed to van etiquette. When we have to go, we just go. I don’t think our friends driving us appreciate our potty habits, or lack thereof. Sometimes we get agitated and need to spit. It’s what we do. But we are told that is not the best minivan behavior.

I’ve heard our friends on the farm having to turn down bringing us on a visit because the van isn’t available. ☹

Educational visits aren’t the only time we alpacas need to travel. When we need specialized medical care, we have to travel nearly two hours to Purdue University Veterinary Hospital. You may not know it from looking at me, but I’ve needed more than one surgery to get me in the wonderful health you see me in today. It was hard to deal with the stress of the van on the way to and from my surgeries when I already didn’t feel well.

Can I tell you some good news? The people who care for us at the Farm have a plan to help us be more comfortable when we travel! It will also allow us to see friends at more events. They just need your help to make it happen!

Our friends plan to purchase a livestock trailer. This will allow us all to travel more safely and more comfortably and more often. Yay!

Can you help? Our friends say they need to raise $10,000 to buy the trailer and everything we need to go with it.

Thank you so, so much for any help you can give! We alpacas (and our drivers) sure do appreciate the special care you give to us.

Love and nuzzles,

Bella

P.S. If you want to chip in some extra money to help keep me and my friends in our best health when medical needs arise, we sure would appreciate that, too. I am so thankful for the renewed health that was given to me.

P.P.S. We love you! Come by and visit us next time you are at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Or maybe we will see you on the road — in our new trailer!

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