Broken Shovels Animal Farm Welcomes Visitors, Donations In Wake Of Bomb Cyclone

HENDERSON, Colo. (CBS4)- After the Bomb Cyclone, an unprecedented blizzard tore its way through Colorado earlier this month, the "Broken Shovels Animal Farm Sanctuary" was left without a shelter, and much of its feed. Following the storm, founder Andrea Davis organized a "snuggle fundraiser."

That fundraiser welcomed people of all ages to visit the farm in exchange for donations.

For a suggested donation of $5 per person, the public was allowed to spend their day petting goats, pigs, cows, horses, alpaca, chickens and puppies. All of the animals were once rescued and are at the farm as part of a rehabilitation process.

Hundreds responded to the invite, raising thousands of dollars for the sanctuary.

"(The turnout was) definitely more than I expected," Davis told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.

Some visitors donated money to the cause, while others donated food for the animals like lettuce. While the food helped feed the animals for weeks to come, the money was designated to a fund to rebuild a shelter that was lost in the storm.

"We lost some shelters. We lost a lot of hay and feed," Davis said.

Davis said the new shelter for the animals would be more like a barn than a pop-up structure. She said the money raised Sunday would help them build a sturdy structure which would allow them to better facilitate the animals they rescue.

"This is absolutely a great example of the community coming together," Davis said.

In hopes of paying it forward, Davis said she planned to take some supplies to Nebraska, which was hit more severely by the same storm.

Davis said she, and others, were going to take food and their medical backgrounds to Colorado's northeast neighbor in hope of helping farmers get their operations back on track.

LINK: Broken Shovels Animal Farm Sanctuary