When you sponsor a resident for a year, you make a HUGE difference in their life. Your donation helps us cover the cost of Tommy’s daily care — from routine vet visits to feedings multiple times per day.

With your yearly sponsorship (payments recurring monthly) you will receive quarterly updates and pictures of your resident in your email, your name on the IFS website, plus a spot on our exclusive sponsorship slideshow, viewable in the IFS store. You will also receive a free pass for all Sanctuary Strolls for the duration of your sponsorship!

Come out and meet the animals you’ve sponsored, so they can thank you themselves! This is the gift that keeps on giving, for you and for Tommy!

For your convenience, this sponsorship will automatically renew each year until you choose to discontinue sponsor support.

Meet Tommy, a tender lamb with a fierce will to live and a heart longing for safety.

Born into brutal neglect during the bitter Midwest winter, Tommy came to us bearing the marks of deep suffering — his hind legs and ears ravaged by frostbite, and his front legs shaped by painful deformities that made walking nearly impossible. His earliest days were spent in the hands of someone who offered neither warmth nor care, and when he was no longer deemed “worth the trouble,” Tommy was cast onto the auction floor. He was missing part of one leg, soon to lose another, and still forced to stand before bidders.

Though the farmer who profited off Tommy’s pain earned just fifteen dollars, the cost to Tommy’s body and spirit was immeasurable. But even in this bleak moment, compassion found a way in. A kind stranger, struck by the injustice and unable to walk away, stepped in and bought Tommy, not as a possession, but as a promise: that he would never suffer like that again.

With no experience caring for farmed animals but a heart full of empathy, this Good Samaritan reached out to us. When we saw the fragile body of this tiny lamb, standing against all odds with a flicker of hope in his eyes, we knew he belonged here. We welcomed Tommy into sanctuary, where his healing journey truly began.

Tommy’s path forward won’t be easy. He will need ongoing medical care and specialized treatment. But what he needs more than anything is to feel safe. To be held, not for profit, but for comfort. To be seen as someone, not something.

Already, Tommy is showing us just how resilient he is. He greets each new day with quiet courage, learning that gentle hands and soft voices mean love, not harm. His recovery will take time, resources, and unwavering support, but we are committed to walking every step of that road with him.

Tommy is no longer just surviving; he’s beginning to feel what it means to live. And we will ensure that, for the rest of his life, he knows nothing but compassion, dignity, and peace.

NOTE: For sponsorships, please allow up to 3 business days for your sponsorship package to be created with care and delivered to the recipient's email address.