Her Kingdom of Kindness
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Lisa McDonald with Piper
Philanthropist Magazine recently profiled Flat Rock resident, Lisa McDonald, and quoted her self-description as an “unapologetic entrepreneur, philanthropist extraordinaire and lifelong animal advocate.” During a recent conversation with Lisa, it quickly became obvious that she is a person of both exceptional energy, big and benevolent ideas, and seemingly boundless compassion for the delightful menagerie of animals that share a home with her on the Sweet Bear Rescue Farm animal sanctuary.
The sanctuary is located just off Rutledge Drive in Flat Rock and, as of this week, is home to five dogs, five cats, two pigs, two turkeys, two goats, approximately 27 chickens - and one thoroughly delightful 2-legged vegan who exudes an undeniable passion for the personalities that populate the farm.
Many residents of Henderson County know Lisa as an owner of Sanctuary Brewing on East First Street. At the brewery, Lisa and her ex-partner, Joe Dinan, developed a unique business model that combined the for-profit brewery with a nonprofit called Kindness Empire. Kindness Empire pursues a broad scope of objectives that include emergency relief, animal advocacy, and issues around housing insecurity.
The breadth of Lisa’s many philanthropic ventures have been well documented - see the links at the end of this article - so Flat Rock Together’s conversation with her focused on her life and experiences at Sweet Bear Rescue Farm and the incredible relationship she maintains with her furry, four-legged, and feathered “kids.”
In her own words…
FR Together: Tell us about your life before arriving in Henderson County.
Lisa: I was born and raised in Chicago but I’ve actually lived all over the world. I’ve lived in Australia and Singapore and London. I was in Los Angeles, Arizona, and Boston. I was a consultant so, just by the nature of my job, I was kind of like a globe trekker.
FR Together: How did you find your way to Flat Rock after traveling around the world?
Lisa: About 11 years ago, my ex-partner and I both quit our jobs, and we bought a conversion van. We visited about 40 states and we were basically “interviewing” cities around the country. We wanted to live somewhere where we could grow food, rescue animals, and have an outdoor lifestyle year-round. We are both big hikers and campers.
During our travels, we lived in Asheville and stopped in Hendersonville on a trip to DuPont Forest. We went to Southern Appalachian Brewery and we met Kelly (Cubbin) and we completely fell in love with the area and decided that this is where we wanted to move.
The house we ended up buying (now Sweet Bear Rescue Farm) we saw the day it went on the market. Coming up the driveway, I knew that this house was it. The house was in rough shape, so we had to spend about a year remodeling it. But the property is perfect. The front half of the property is trees and nature and the back is where all the animals hang out now.
Nala, affectionately known as “Bear”
FR Together; Where did the name “Sweet Bear” come from?
Lisa: Bear was my nickname for a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix I adopted as a puppy when I was young - in my 20s - and I had her for 15 and a half years. It was really like growing up with someone. She drove around the country in the van with us and was about 12 at the time. It was the adventure of a lifetime for an old dog.
Bear is probably the living being that I will love the most throughout my life. A huge inspiration to everything I do. And when she died, there was such a massive hole in my life that I was just like, “Okay, this is it. I'm committed to saving as many animals as I can.” And that kind of set it off (the process of creating Sweet Bear Rescue Farm.)
FR Together: You are in a transitional phase now. Can you tell us about the changes recently and your upcoming plans?
Lisa: My partner Joe and I broke up about a year ago and so we've been spending the past eight months just trying to figure out how we're going to divide the business and change it. The outcome is that I own Sanctuary Brewing - the flagship recipes, the logo, etc. - and Joe is keeping the space on First Street and is opening a new brewery there called Oklawaha Brewing.
My plan for Sanctuary Brewing is to do something much bigger next year where it will be not only a brewery and a restaurant, but it will have overnight accommodations and event space. I'd like to do yoga, weddings, vegan cooking classes, brewing classes, and classes on compassion and kindness towards animals. I really just want to create a utopian space; a safe space.
FR Together: How has the pandemic affected you and your animals?
Lisa: It's been tough during COVID. I’m on a pretty strict quarantine because currently, I am the sole caregiver here. If I get sick, we're all in trouble.
It's kind of funny. My entire adult life I've been very, very ambitious, and then all of a sudden everything just stopped. I was running three different businesses and traveling a ton and doing a lot of things and then nature interfered and now I'm really just giving myself the opportunity to spend some peaceful time with these animals and give myself a break.
Maggie and Shadow
FR Together: Where do the animals at Sweet Bear come from?
Lisa: My two goats (Maggie and Shadow) actually came from the Sandberg farm because I used to volunteer there. I got very bonded with Shadow when she was born. She kind of changed my life. She was the first farm animal that I really bonded with and now she lives here and I just think that's so sweet because I've loved her since the day I met her.
Most (of the animals) come from abuse or neglect situations. Rico (the cat) came back from (a relief trip to) Puerto Rico with me. What I saw there was so devastating that by the second day I knew that I was going to take a life off that Island and bring it home with me
I adopted two turkeys (George and Paul) a couple of years ago that were involved in an event that happens in Arkansas every year called the Yellville Turkey Drop- which is as bad as it sounds. A woman saved four turkeys and named them John, George, Paul and Ringo - the Fab Four. George and Paul came to live with me, but 6 months later George died of a heart attack - he just never got over the trauma of what he had experienced.
Seventeen of my birds were rescued from a religious ritual sacrifice called Kaporas. The dogs and cats will often come as animals that people have found, or they have been abandoned in shelters. One of my dogs was on a hoarder farm and chained to another dead dog when he was saved. I’ve had him for almost 11 years now.
FR Together Do you have a favorite animal?
Lisa: (Laughs) Well Charlotte (the chicken) is definitely in charge! She’s the boss of all this. I actually have a tattoo of Charlotte now. She's very gregarious and extroverted. When we give tours, she likes to lead them. She's a great ambassador for chickens because she is so outgoing and curious and she's really interested in other animals and people. People always assume that the pigs are in charge. But, oh no. It’s this chicken named Charlotte right here. She's the boss of all of this.
Everybody that knows me will say that Piper is my favorite. Five years ago we were driving back from Home Depot and we were on Four Seasons Boulevard which has six lanes. We were stopped at a light and I looked at Joe and I said, “I can hear a cat.” And he was like, no, you can't. And I said, “Yep, I can hear a cat.” So we pulled the car into Wendy's parking lot and I started looking in the storm drains and, lo and behold, there's a tiny kitten in a storm drain. So cut to five hours later and we are there with the police department, the fire department, animal control, and two reporters.
When we finally got her out, I thought she was going to be feral. But when I got her home and opened the humane trap, she walked into my lap and it was like an imprint moment. I was like, “Oh, this is what it feels like to experience the birth of a child.” I fell head over heels in love with her in that moment. It was such a powerful moment.
Piper ended up being easily the nicest member of this family. If anyone is sick, she's the nurse that watches over you. She's just very gentle. She wants to make sure everyone else eats first and then she'll take care of herself. She's just really an absolutely beautiful person to know.
George (the turkey) is the person on this farm that impresses me the most. He is literally the bravest soul I know. I cannot imagine what he has lived through and he's still happy. It's remarkable what animals can overcome. George went through his mourning and the day it was over, it was just over.
And then I would say my first pig, Oliver. He’s one of my great loves. And then obviously I've mentioned Shadow. I've known her since she was a baby and now she lives here, so they're all wonderful, but that cat has my heart for sure.
FR Together: What do you learn from your animals?
Lisa: They teach us so much about bravery and forgiveness and overcoming tragedy and living in the moment. I think the reason I'm so big on meditation is because I spend so much time with animals that are always present and always harmonious with nature. I strive to be more like them. Anybody that meditates or has any sort of practice, that's the state we're trying to get to. And the animals, they just live it all the time. It's fascinating.
The chicken is content with being a chicken. She's not ruminating on her past life or planning the future. She's in the moment. She's in that peaceful space of living in the now and that's what we all really want, just be in the now. But we can’t. We carry our past around and then we have all these expectations for the future and animals just don’t. They're just breathing in life and just being beautiful without any agenda.
FR Together: Do you think humanity’s relationship and understanding of animals has changed through the years?
Lisa: I think any social justice movement that requires people to change their behavior is like a massive brick wall. And every time you chip away a piece of that rock, that’s a cause for celebration. I do understand the enormity of animal agriculture and that the world isn't going to change overnight.
But I will say that I've seen it change in an accelerated way over the past five years that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I just never thought there would be a vegan burger at Burger King. You know what I mean?
It's getting very close to a tipping point and it's just incredible to watch. And I also think people are now starting to make the connection that this isn't really just about animals, it's about the planet, it's about slave labor, it's about global warming, it's about our health, it's about showing true, compassionate living, our actual morals. Every day I see that start to become a little bit more normalized. Really such an incredible thing to be a part of.
FR Together: You refer to the animals on the Farm as people or persons. Is that an intentional construct for you?
Lisa: There is a concept in veganism called “personhood.” If animals are individuals and they have individual personalities, then that does make them people. So pushing back against the construct that only human beings are people is something that I'm pretty deliberate about.
FR Together: Thank you for everything you do to make our community a better place to live. Your story really is inspirational. How can people help support the mission of Sweet Bear Rescue Farm?
Lisa: Here you go! For donations, you can go to paypal.me/kindnessempire or Venmo to kindnessempire.
And people can see our Amazon Wishlist here to make donations of some of the things we need most at the farm.
I really look forward to having visitors come back to the sanctuary when the COVID crisis has passed, and we are so thankful for all the love and support we’ve received over the past few years.
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Learn More about Lisa and Sweet Bear Rescue Farm:
philanthropist.com
Virtual Tour of Sweet Bear Rescue Farm
Oral History Interview with Lisa McDonald 2018
Vegangelist Lisa McDonald makes disaster aid trip
Oklawaha Brewing Co. to open in Sanctuary space
