Woman’s Day highlights B’ville nonprofit

By Sarah Hall

Editor

Any small charity will tell you their biggest challenge is getting name recognition, which will keep donations flowing in to help them accomplish their mission.

Baldwinsville nonprofit Purpose Farm just got a big boost in that regard: they’re showcased in the national publication Woman’s Day in the magazine’s “Doing Good” feature.

Purpose Farm owner Sandra Seabrook said the magazine learned of the organization, which pairs youth ages 6 to 18 who have experienced neglect or abuse with animals who have come from similar backgrounds, when it was part of LaCi’s Giveback. Purpose Farm won the social media-based contest, in which LaCi’s Tapas Bar asks Facebook fans to nominate deserving charities and vote for their choice. The charity with the most “likes” is honored at the giveback party and earns all the proceeds from ticket and vendor booth sales.

“When we were in the LaCi’s contest and everyone was sharing the post for us to win it, the post made its way all the way to NYC,” Seabrook said. “It came across the editor’s news feed and she thought it would be a great story for the magazine.”

A Woman’s Day editor contacted Seabrook in September and conducted several interviews with her and her oldest daughter, Raven, 18, throughout the month to put together the story. The feature appears on page 67 of the March 2017 edition, on newsstands now.

Seabrook said she hopes the national exposure will help bring even more awareness to Purpose Farm’s mission to help troubled youth and animals.

“Being on a national level, you never know who may read it that may want to be a part of making Purpose Farm a success,” she said.

Seabrook was thrilled with the way the story turned out.

“I think the article came out perfect, and the picture, taken by Gabrielle Garland Photography in Liverpool, captured the true essence of the unity on the farm,” she said.

But she’s not sure she’s ready for the national spotlight — Seabrook said the experience is “really surreal.”

“To make it in a national magazine is not something the everyday person does,” she said, “and for Raven, only being 18 it is even more amazing. Raven is a great example of giving of self to help all lives, human and animal, and maybe other youth can see that you can achieve anything with God, and putting others before yourself is the only way to be truly satisfied in life.”