ThanksLiving 2019

ThanksLiving is our most anticipated event of the year where we honor our rescued turkeys and celebrate creative innovations in vegan cuisine. The event includes passed hors d’oeuvres, a multi-course gourmet vegan meal, an open bar with wine and beer, gift bag filled with exclusive vegan products, a silent auction and raffle, and more—all to raise vital funds for over 400 rescued animals and our Sanctuary’s education and advocacy work!

Tickets are now sold out. Click here to sign up for our wait list.

Wait List Signup!

Corporate sponsorships are available, please contact Kirstie Kimball, Development Director, to join us as a sponsor.

Click here to view photos from last year’s benefit.

This is our largest fundraiser of the year, and funds are needed now more than ever at our Sanctuary in High Falls. Since this is our gala benefit, the recommended age for attendees is 14+. Thanks for your understanding!

This year marks our 14th annual ThanksLiving gala benefitting our Sanctuary in High Falls, New York. We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Lagusta Yearwood of Lagusta’s Luscious, and Commissary! and author of Sweet + Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates as our guest chef for our banquet this year. And we’re delighted to welcome back Maresa Volante of Sweet Maresa’s and Confectionery! serving elegant and gorgeous vegan desserts.

We’ll again be recognizing advocates and activists who are making a difference for the animals with our Woodstock Warrior awards–this year’s honorees include musician-filmmaker Rob Zombie and actress Sheri Moon Zombie, who both champion animal causes using their careers as a platform, and lauren Ornelas, founder and executive director of the Food Empowerment Project.

Gold Sponsors:

Host Committee:

Liz Dee & Nick Garin

Leesa Rowland

Jackie Shafiroff

Auction Committee:

Anne Sullivan

Photo credit: Rob Fenn, Inc.

Although their onstage and onscreen personas reflect a love of horror and grindhouse films, the Zombies are both staunch animal advocates and dedicated vegans. Rob Zombie, filmmaker, solo artist, and founding member of heavy rock band White Zombie, has written and directed films including “House of 1,000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects” and two “Halloween” sequels — all starring his wife and collaborator Sheri Moon.

In addition to starring in those films, Sheri Moon has been a dancer, model, and fashion designer who has used her large fanbase and social media platform to discuss her vegan diet while on tour and on set, and to spread the word about the horrors of modern animal agriculture.

Zombie has also supported numerous animal rescue groups throughout his career as a musician including Fur & Feather Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill shelter in Southern California. Rob Zombie the rescued Muscovy duck at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary is named in his honor.

Photo credits: In Her Image Photography

We’re proud to announce lauren Ornelas, founder and executive director of the Food Empowerment Project as a Woodstock Warrior awardee. lauren has been active in the animal rights movement for more than 30 years. She is the former executive director of Viva!USA, a national nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that Viva!UK asked her to start in 1999.

While lauren was the director of Viva!USA, she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns. In cooperation with activists across the country, she persuaded Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat and achieved corporate changes within Whole Foods Market, Pier 1 Imports, and others, and she helped halt the construction of an industrial dairy operation in California.

lauren was also the spark that got the founder of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan. In addition, she served as campaign director with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for six years. Watch lauren’s TEDx talk, The Power of Our Food Choices.

Lagusta Yearwood – Founder and Owner of Lagusta’s Luscious, and Commissary! and Author of Sweet + Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates

Lagusta Yearwood is a restless rabble-rousing chef-turned-chocolatier. She trained at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City and is the founder of Lagusta’s Luscious, the first vegan chocolate shop in the world.

In addition to their flagship production space in New Paltz, NY, Lagusta’s Luscious operates a café, Commissary, and a retail sweets shop, Confectionery! in the East Village in NYC, which is a collaboration with her best friend’s vegan macaron business, Sweet Maresa’s.

Her first book, Sweet X Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates, Truffles, Caramels, and More from Lagusta’s Luscious is published by Da Capo Press.

Maresa Volante – Founder and Owner of Sweet Maresa’s and Co-founder of Confectionery

Since 2011, Maresa has been whipping up breathtakingly gorgeous confections and defying all the conventions of vegan baking with her airy french macarons, decadent éclairs, and elegant wedding cakes.

maresa Her bakery won Hudson Valley Magazine’s Best New Bakery in 2015, and she’s been taking the world of vegan baking to new heights. In 2015, she opened Confectionery! in Manhattan, a joint venture between Sweet Maresa’s and Lagusta’s Luscious serving organic and fair trade vegan sweets.