“It’s a good life. It’s not a big life, but it’s a good life.”
—Bonnie M.
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Bonnie M., age 77, runs an animal sanctuary called Bonnie’s Ark that she has had for 17 years. “I love loving animals and having them love me back,” says Bonnie.
Mom to All Animals
Bonnie says she has always had animals and can’t imagine life without them.
“I just can’t imagine my life without animals in it,” she says. “When I was born—I was born in Germany—and my mother was an interpreter for the army and my dad was a staff sergeant, so he had a service dog. Her name was Perla, and they would go to restaurants and leave me outside with the dog. The dog would be my babysitter, so I’ve had a dog, a pet, ever since I was a baby, so I can’t imagine being without them.”
Bonnie’s late son would also always bring in animals, whether they were injured or needed help in some way, and she eventually started the animal sanctuary.
“I started it because I lost my youngest son, and this has gotten me through it. You never get over it, but you get through it. . . . When he died . . . I needed to not be able to dwell on stuff I couldn’t do anything about, so I became a foster mom for children and I started this sanctuary, Bonnie’s Ark, for the animals and for discarded animals because so many are discarded. I’m not like most rescues that will have just dogs or cats—we have dogs, cats, ferrets, Guinea pigs, bunnies, birds, and right now we have two rats and two hermit crabs. And they come to me for all kinds of reasons,” explains Bonnie.
(Pictured: A hermit crab Bonnie is caring for)
Bonnie also often keeps the animals of those who need time to get back on their feet or are going to serve overseas safe and cared for until they are ready to come get them.
Bonnie says helping people in this way helps her too.
“I think I benefit from it probably more than anybody else, you know, because they’re my purpose,” she shares. “They fill up my world and I’ve been a vegan for like 32 years and this just feels symbiotic. Like, I would never eat an animal because I care for them, you know. And that’s not to say that people that eat meat don’t care for their animals. But for me, it’s important that it is continuous from what my purpose is to what I do for myself.”
(Pictured: Bonnie feeds carrots to some of her bunnies)
Being Involved in the Community
Caring for all the animals keeps Bonnie busy enough, but she also drives for a rideshare company and is involved with other local duties.
She is on the board of NAMI Bucks County Pennsylvania, a National Alliance for Mental Illness. She is in charge of facilitating two programs in that role. She is also involved in an international nonprofit organization called Kiwanis, a service organization dedicated to the welfare of children. In addition, she is on the board of Bucks County Children and Youth.
“Even though I don’t have foster kids in the house anymore, because I have too many animals . . . they’ve allowed me to stay on the board so I can do the activities. We have a holiday party and a hay ride; we have a summer event. I keep my hand in a lot of things,” she says.
Bonnie is also part of the Farmstead Alliance, an effort to restore a historical property for commercial use. And last but not least, Bonnie says she still has a dream to open a bed and breakfast.
She says some people tell her she is too old to start a project like that, but to that she says, “What’s too old? I mean, I’m looking at 20 years of vitality ahead of me. You know, I plan to make my dream come true. Why should I stop? And the thing is that I can get closer to my dream if I keep going toward it.”
Bonnie says of all the things she is involved in, she is usually the oldest person but that has its perks.
“I’m usually the oldest person in the group, but what they do is they tend to look at me like I actually know something. And you can fool some of the people all the time, you know, they say so, and I love being looked at as a person who’s active still,” she shares. “You know, I’m a judge of election, I think that’s the one time it’s more impressive than any other time because, you know, I’ve been there since 2006 and I always take an animal to the polls.”
Bonnie continues, “I try to interject the dogs, the animals, whenever I can. The dogs do a program in the elementary schools called Reading to Rover. So, children that are challenged with reading skills like to read to the dogs—it’s less intimidating than reading to an adult, so we do that. And also a lot of older people don’t like to have cats or dogs, so some of my bunnies are so gentle you can actually put them in somebody’s lap, and they won’t do anything. They get to hold something soft and fluffy, you know. So it’s a good life. It’s not a big life, but it’s a good life. . . . I have my son and his wife, and they’re wonderful to me—my grandchildren, my four grandchildren . . . they’re wonderful to me, so I feel blessed.”
Bonnie’s Daily Routine
Bonnie typically gets up early in the morning, about 6:00 a.m., and her day starts—and ends—with caring for the animals.
“I take care of the animals from 6:00 to 7:00, and I have a morning [video] call—it goes from 7:00 to 8:00,” she shares. “And then, I finish up the animals by usually 11:00, at least the ones I have to do in the morning like the kittens, and then I work doing phone calling until 3:00, and then I drive for [a rideshare company] from 3:00 to 6:00, and then I come back home and do the animals until I go to bed.”
Bonnie adds, “I wanna continue doing this until I can’t. My son and daughter-in-law are super kind and they want me to come and live with them. I told them I’d probably be ready in about 20 years. And I’’m not allowed to bring animals with me when I go there, so that’s going to probably indicate when I want to go. . . . I want to continue to feel good. I want to continue to take care of the animals.”
She Gives Balance of Nature Supplements a Try
Bonnie says she first gave Balance of Nature supplements a try at least five years ago.
“It was just because I wanted to round out my diet,” she explains. “I think it was because I started listening to one TV station and they were forever having Balance of Nature ads. So I looked into them and I thought, ‘That makes a lot of sense.’”
Bonnie researched Balance of Nature supplements and discovered it doesn’t have anything unnatural in it. “It doesn’t have anything foreign in it. I can read all the ingredients and understand them and doing that, knowing that there’s nothing artificial in it, makes me pretty happy.”
Bonnie says she can’t get that much variety of 31 fruit and vegetable ingredients in one day no matter how hard she’d try. “I felt like I was filling in the cracks. . . . And I can tell the difference.”
Bonnie says there was a period of time in her life where she forgot to take Balance of Nature supplements, but she got back on them after realizing how much she missed taking them.
Bonnie has been vegan for 32 years, so Balance of Nature supplements fit right in. “I really eat healthy. I don’t skimp on my diet. I eat three meals a day, and I try to make every one count.”
She takes her Balance of Nature supplements every morning. “I take 3 of the red [Fruits supplements] and 3 of the green [Veggies supplements], and I feel like my day has gotten started correctly,” she shares. “I love taking Balance of Nature [supplements]. No doubt, no doubt.”
Gifting Balance of Nature Supplements
Bonnie says she won’t ever stop taking Balance of Nature supplements and recommends that others try it. “I recommend it to other people all the time, and I even give them free bottles to start with. I buy their first bottles, and I tell them, ‘Stay with it for three months.’”
She adds, “I got it for my brother for a Christmas present one year, and I said to Balance of Nature when I called, I said, ‘You know, you should advertise giving Balance of Nature [supplements] for gifts because this is a really good idea!’”
Bonnie says Balance of Nature supplements are the single most important thing she purchases for herself every month—aside from her mortgage.
Bonnie tried getting more variety of fruit and vegetables ingredients in her day on her own, but she couldn’t.
“It was impossible,” Bonnie says. “The thing with Balance of Nature [supplements] is there’s vegetable [ingredients] in there and fruit [ingredients] in there. . . . You get them in powder form, but boy, it’s fast and easy and . . . I think that the six capsules are just exactly right. I’m planning to keep on taking it for as long as I can.”
It’s a No-Brainer!
Bonnie says Balance of Nature is an easy choice. “It’s like a no-brainer,” she says.
She concludes, “I don’t try to compare it to any other time. I just know that I [can do] . . . what I need to do every day because of Balance of Nature [supplements] combined with my diet, my lifestyle. . . . I just think it’’s a life choice.”
To learn more about Balance of Nature, visit our homepage at BalanceofNature.com!
