Meet Nicole Brecht | Executive Director & Founder, Good Life Refuge, farm animal sanctuary

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

Hi Nicole, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have been in the animal rescue scene for almost two decades now. After a while, it became clear that there is an endless need of rescue for animals. So many are neglected and abused or just left to fend for themselves. One of my personal goals in life is to have impact and to make the world a better place for animals and this was the seed which started Good Life Refuge. There are many shelters and dog, horse and cat rescues, but not that many rescues who help farm animals. Farm animals are as precious, emotional and smart as many of our domesticated animals and my love for them and their need for help was another deciding factor to start a farm animal sanctuary.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Good Life Refuge provides a safe haven for neglected and at-risk farm animals. We believe in the ethical treatment of all animals and practice careful and responsible stewardship of our organization and for the animals in our care. Moreover, we believe in the benefits of a plant-centric lifestyle and in strengthening and nurturing the bonds between humans and animals.We believe in our community and that building strong community partnerships are important.

I am proud that Good Life Refuge was able to sustain during the pandemic. We were able to grow and to rescue almost 40 animals additionally in the last two years as well as are constantly thriving to improve their lives on site too.

Planning and constantly learning has helped me be a better leader and to grow our organization and there is still a lot to master. Running a non-profit isn’t easy and it is time consuming, but being open to learning and to improve has helped me to become better and to better manage our organization. One of the most valuable lessons I learned is that planning is the key to run a successful organization and it is also one of my areas of improvement.

As founder I would like to get people to know about the Good Life Refuge and more importantly to learn about our animals stories and to connect with them. Every single animal in our care has a unique personality, loves life and deserves to live and to be recognized as a sentient being with emotions and the right to live.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There are so many favorite spots in Colorado. I would opt for a little road trip to cover some of my favorite places. Aspen is always worth a trip. There is no better view than the Maroon Bells. Mesa Verde is another place that would be included in the road trip as it is impressive and tells the story of the people of our land. Ouray has lovely hot springs and is beautifully located between the mountains and the greenest area I have seen in Colorado. And lastly, when back home I would take them out to dinner at Tasty Harmony in Fort Collins or Watercourse in Denver.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without the support and encouragement of my late friend Hannah Hennig Good Life Refuge wouldn’t exist. She always supported my dream of building a sanctuary, believed in me and dedicated funds to the Good Life Refuge which still support us financially today. Further, my friend Janice Kurkewiccz has been a building stone in the early stages of Good Life Refuge and is still supporting us financially. My husband, Elmar Lenz has been supporting the sanctuary financially from the start and I wouldn’t be able to run the sanctuary without the support of my wonderful board of directors Cindy Gordon, Claudia Lifton and Savanna Adel and animal care manager Melissa Schubert and Sarah Brookins. Additionally, Good Life Refuge is mostly volunteer run and we wouldn’t be able to provide the care for our animals without the commitment of our terrific volunteers. Our volunteer crew dedicated over 8000 hours in 2021 to care and provide for our residents and are a tremendous asset to us! Mary Dichtl is always ready to jump into action when help is needed, Alyssa Schmit is a fantastic volunteer coordinator, Jenn Schmeisser is managing our events and there are so many more who dedicate their time to us. And last, without the financial support of our community we couldn’t run the organization. We are very grateful for our donors.

Website: https://www.goodliferefuge.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodliferefuge/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-good-life-refuge/

Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/goodliferefuge/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCupo3holnAdgQCcjqn63nsA/videos?view=57

Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodliferefuge?

Image Credits
Nicole Brecht