Lenore Braford and Paul Drake–co-founders of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, a highly-innovative animal sanctuary in North Carolina; owing to Drake being an architectural designer, each structure is uniquely tailored to the species housed there, reflecting their behavioral inclinations and preferences—discuss “Forever Home,” the new documentary by award-winning filmmaker Allison Argo profiling the Refuge.
In addressing the genesis of “Forever Home,” Drake recalls attending a screening of an earlier Argo
documentary, “The Last Pig,” gushing to her afterwards, noting the film’s deft capturing of “pigness”—and briefly describing to Argo the animal-centered design he and Braford had cultivated at the Refuge. She instantly replied that maybe she should make a film about that. About nine years later, she did–and it’s out. “Forever Home” presents a rich profile of the Refuge, as well as Braford and Drake, a couple with contrasting, yet complementary personalities—in broad strokes, he’s a creative dreamer, she’s a disciplined realist—and neither comes across as an extrovert eager to land a big hunk of screen time. In our interview, they confirm that impression, noting they’re pleased with the movie’s portrayal of them—they absolutely recognize themselves in the Big Screen Lenore and Paul. They’re a pair whose history dates back to meeting on their first day of school at Oberlin College, sitting shyly at a table, and a memorable encounter when Paul’s parents plopped down. Post-Oberlin, Lenore recalls how a budding interest in launching an animal sanctuary put her on the path to securing internships and other opportunities at assorted sanctuaries—to learn, to get experience, to assess if she liked that kind of work. She threw herself into this, with an overachiever’s zeal, including early in her stint at Farm Sanctuary, memorizing the names of all 300 or more animals living there. Meanwhile, Paul began pursuing a Master’s Degree in architecture at
North Carolina 
State, and as Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge was starting to take shape, he was receiving academic credit towards his degree for the Refuge structures he was designing. When he describes in “Forever Home” why, let’s say, the goat house has vertical spaces, or why the chicken house bears large “wings,” of all things, (they fold down at night to protect against predators)—and shares some similar explanations in our interview regarding positioning and temperatures of these structures—you quickly recognize Paul as a creative mastermind. We conclude our conversation by discussing how, in an echo of Lenore’s experience traveling the shelter learning curve, folks who work at shelters—or aim to start one—reach out to the Braford-Drake team to seek help, exchange ideas, arrange internships, and so on. They also explain they’ve helped establish the “Sanctuary Swap,” whereby the staff of the Refuge annually switches places with the staff of another sanctuary—and all kinds of learning, analysis, insights, and new practices ensue. (https://www.piedmontrefuge.org/)
ALSO: I spoke with Christina Antoniou, Director of Community Engagement at Animal Rescue Coalition, or ARC (aka ARC Spay & Neuter Specialists), a longtime Sarasota organization, Antoniou explained, devoted to reducing pet overpopulation—fervently committed to spay/neuter as the means to achieve that—while also providing other forms of animal care, and helping place adoptable animals in homes. In service of its mission, ARC holds events to raise awareness—and, ideally, funds—such as the ARC Walk slated to happen May 3, from 9am to 12:30pm, at Payne Park, in downtown Sarasota. Key elements of the morning, she noted, include the titular walk (participants can take their dog, or not, as well as choose to run or walk the route), food trucks, t-shirts made specially for the Walk, free dog treats, and raffle baskets geared for both dogs and cats. Dogs on leashes are welcome, and the event is free to attend, but if you’d like to RSVP, buy an ARC Walk t-shirt, or donate, you can do so here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/arc-walk
COMEDY CORNER: Kyle Kinane’s “Cat Sneeze” (DS edit & title) (https://kylekinane.com/)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.
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