Meet Alli Chambers | Entrepeneur/small business owner/farm animal sanctuary co-founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alli Chambers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alli, what matters most to you?
I love this question! It’s the perfect way to begin talking about The Zend: Final Farm & Sanctuary. Hands-down, compassion and the principles associated with veganism matter the most to me. Since becoming an ethical vegan, I see the world and the choices we all make in a completely new light. I haven’t always seen things from this perspective, but now that I do there is no other way to view the world. It wasn’t until I was 36 years old that my eyes were opened to the realities of how we treat non-human animals and the wild idea that we should have dominion over everything we can control and manipulate. When I see an animal, I see an individual deserving of respect, love, and bodily autonomy. They all have their own likes, dislikes, personalities, and the desire to live without discomfort and fear. When I see animals being used for entertainment or sport it breaks my heart a little. When I think about how we’ve destroyed so much of our oceans by overfishing I fear for future generations. Realizing how much our everyday choices directly impact the lives of animals, the planet, and our health has completely changed our lives for the better. It’s relatively easy for everyone to love and protect their pets (dogs, cats, hamsters, and goldfish, etc) but find it difficult to extend the same grace to the animals society has deemed are less than and exploited for our human greed, appetites, and profit. Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as is possible and practicable – all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals. Compassion is the root of veganism. When you become aware of the suffering and misfortune of others and choose to refrain from any involvement with it, that is compassion. One of my favorite quotes (not sure who first said it, but it pops up from time to time on my Yogi tea tag) is “When you act with compassion you will never be wrong”. It’s pretty much that simple for me. Adopting a vegan lifestyle was the catalyst of deciding to start a non-profit farm animal sanctuary in the heart of north Texas. We went ALL in!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Starting a farm animal sanctuary took a huge amount of research, studying, and preparation. Not just when it comes to caring for the animals, but making the initial move. In order to sell our home we’d been in for 17 years, we knew we had to relocate our 14 animals to my mom’s so we could show and sell our home. It was during this time that my mom decided she was going to sell our family home as well and purchase The Zend together with us. After deciding that, we now had 17 animals between our two households to relocate. Then, I was contacted by a client who had a 3 day old lamb who had been rejected by her mother and asked if I would take her. Even though we were still living in the suburbs of Suburbs of DFW I couldn’t say no. I knew we’d have a farm for her soon enough. So, now we had 18 animals and were in the same position of trying to relocate everyone so we could update, show, and sell her house! I had to find a bank that would give us a bridge loan to purchase the new property and get everyone moved over so she could sell. This was no easy feat, but I managed to find a bank who agreed to the bridge loan so that’s exactly what we did. We took everything one step at a time and before we knew it, we had closed on the new property and we were preparing to start the biggest move of all of our lives!

I think one of the most helpful lessons we’ve learned through this whole process is to take the big picture and break it down into individual steps. When you take it apart and tackle one obstacle at a time, making dreams come true becomes more manageable and actually possible! Trying to look at the end goal without any solid plan to get there can stop you in your tracks. We overcame so many obstacles to even get to the sanctuary so once we started rescuing animals in need we followed the same recipe for success. One rescue at a time. It’s a lot easier said than done because there are so many animals that are in need of sanctuary. I realized very quickly one of the hardest parts of rescue life has been learning to say no. It’s one of the hardest things I have to do regularly. There are more animals needing rescue than we can provide sanctuary for. We get so many rehoming requests that take away from being able to step up to help when emergency situations arise. As much as I would like to say yes every time, we can only rescue as many animals as we can properly and responsibly care for.  We’ve taken in several sick, handicapped, and dying babies and done our best to help them survive. Sadly, we’ve lost many, but have been able to save more which keeps us moving forward. Animal rescue is full of devastating circumstances, but being able to provide love and refuge to the most vulnerable among us is incredibly special work to be a part of.

As a non-profit, one of the most important jobs I have (second only to caring for our residents) is to grow our donor base and spread the word of the work we’re doing with the world. There are many well known sanctuaries across the country with huge followings and I hope to be able to grow The Zend in the same way. The more supporters we get on our team the more animals we can save. While I wish there was no need for the existence of sanctuaries, the harsh reality is that there aren’t enough of us. In order for any of us to be able to do this work we need supporters. We need funding. We need to seek out and build relationships with individuals and companies who resonate with our mission and can extend a helping hand when needed. The best way to help support our work is by following us on social media, interacting with our posts, sharing our story with your friends and family and donating when you can. Our dedicated, monthly sponsors allow us to be assured we can meet the needs of our residents. It feels like we’re always fundraising, but thankfully we have amazing people who help us when we need it most. We only ask for help so we can help others and the response has been incredible. Right now we’re hitting record high temperatures and currently fundraising to purchase more fans, misters, and equipment to keep everyone cool and safe as we brace for this extreme heat.

The Zend is “a safe refuge for gentle souls” and we need all the help we can get to continue to save lives and help make the world a kinder, gentler place for all of us. You can find us on facebook, instagram, and tik tok @thezendtx or on our website at www.thezendtx.org.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Obviously, we’d have to start with a private tour of the sanctuary! We offer private tours to the public. It’s $150 for a group of 4 then $25/person after that. We also have several Open Farm Days throughout the year which include a guided group tour and a delicious, cruelty-free meal by the pool afterwards. As we grow, we will grow our events and are really looking forward to our next one this fall after it starts cooling down again. We would also have to hit up all of our favorite local vegan restaurants! In Fort Worth there’s Belenty’s Love, Juice Junkies, Pizza Verde, Spiral Diner, and Mariachi’s which are all so great! We haven’t been to Spiral Diner’s new fine dining location, Maiden, in downtown, but have heard great things about it. If we head into Denton we always love MashUp Market and Pepita’s Vegan Taqueria. If we want to make the drive, Vegan Food House in Dallas is off the charts! Our life revolves around beautiful animals and ALL the good food we can eat! We actually cook a lot at home too so there will be lots of delicious homecooked meals as well. Maybe grab a movie at Alamo Drafthouse in Denton, which also has a pretty decent vegan menu. Other than that, I would be spending quality time with my bestie lounging by the pool, scooping lots of poop, and loving on all the animals!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are two very special people responsible for this path I’m on. I don’t know if I ever would’ve decided to choose a vegan lifestyle if it weren’t for my incredibly kind and conscientious husband, Justin. He and I sat down one summer afternoon and watched What the Health, a documentary on Netflix and then Earthlings, which you can find on YouTube. After about 4 hours we had cried all the tears we could cry and made a promise to the animals, the planet, and ourselves that we would do better. We had always done our best to recycle. We had solar panels and electric cars. I had been a vegetarian for about 12 years but, now that we knew more about how we get our food we had no choice, but to change. And change we did. It didn’t happen overnight. We were both cheese and sushi fanatics! Still are actually! (Vegan sushi is so much better than fish and there are tons of options when it comes to vegan cheese these days!) So, I know how hard it is to give up food you think you love. It just turned out, we love animals more. We had to gradually get rid of certain household and personal products and vow not to purchase them again. We are also not into wasting anything so we slowly transitioned and began to dive into learning as much as we could about what it meant to be vegan. I was even awarded a scholarship to earn a plant-based nutrition certification through Cornell’s nutrition studies department. Eventually, our entire home was cruelty-free. We were creating amazing meals and experimenting with the new concept of what we actually considered to be food. It was only a few months later that we were inspired to do more. We were already doing it, but how could we make an even bigger impact? Start a farm animal sanctuary, of course! I own The Cryo Spa and have been the CEO and brand developer for over 10 years now. I had an idea of how to get the ball rolling, but I’d never applied to become a registered non-profit. After a few months of me figuring it all out we were granted our non-profit status and the dream started becoming a reality. We have now been at the sanctuary for almost 2 years this fall and we are so grateful, honored, and humbled to be doing the rescue work we are. To date, we have saved over 100 animals from death, abuse, and/or neglect or helped to rehome and are providing them with a chance different to live in zen until the end….The Zend. We have promised all of our reidents, 12 different species, long-term, compassionate care for the rest of the natural lives. The Zend is home to dogs, cats, bunnies, pigs, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, longhorns, donkeys, and a turkeys! These animals have touched our hearts in ways I never knew possible. What I do know is that I never would’ve gotten here or be able to do what we’re doing if it weren’t for Justin. He is the strength in the work, a pillar of integrity, and he makes me a better person every day.

The other sweet soul that has made this all possible is my magnanimous mom, Ann Gambill. In the months it took for us to get our house on the market and plan to move to the country where we would have the necessary land to start the sanctuary, my mom decided she’d like to join us. If it weren’t for her joining forces with us we would’ve never been able to lock down the completely perfect property that has become The Zend. Without her generosity and willingness to jump on this ride with us, who knows where we’d be? She has always been by my side in my personal and business successes and it made absolute sense for her to champion my dream of starting a farm animal sanctuary and doing it with us. She has always believed in my endeavors and has very often provided the stepping stones that allowed me to succeed. She is an incredible life force and the very essence of what it means to be a mother. She’s the absolute best.

Justin and my mom helped get me here, but the people who keep this dream alive and well are all of our volunteers, supporters, donors, and monthly sponsors. As a non-profit, we are 100% donor funded. We have worked so hard to grow the sanctuary following outside of our personal bubble of friends and family and have managed to do so after about two years of networking, marketing, and building a social media presence. Our family and friends have been cheering us on since we broke the news of our plans 5 years ago. I think a lot of them thought we were a tad crazy and they’re probably right, but we are here and we are doing it! It’s a lot of hard work, but when you’re doing it all for the animals it isn’t work at all. Our donors have helped us be able to live up to the promises we have made to every one of our past, current, and future residents. It’s because of their support that we are able to provide the best vet care, quality food, structurally sound buildings, and everything else we need to ensure everyone is living their absolute best sanctuary life. Without the support of our donors and our community The Zend wouldn’t be anywhere near what it has grown into today. We will be forever thankful and indebted to everyone who donates their hard earned money to our mission. We couldn’t do this work alone and it’s because of other animal lovers that we are able to continue to do it. We have so much more to accomplish and we hope our supporters continue to grow in number so we can save more lives and continue to provide the very best for The Zend Kids. Thank you!

Website: www.thezendtx.org

Instagram: @thezendtx

Facebook: @thezendtx

Other: tik tok @thezendtx

Image Credits
Myself and TradeMarek Photography