My Nonprofit Reviews

Wild Love Preserve is a beautiful place. Set in a rugged valley along the Wild and Scenic John Day river, the land itself speaks to the heart. It is the landscape of all our Western stories, inhabited by the ghosts of the great explorers, noble cowboys and even the tragi-comic epic enacted by the cult of Rajneesh, who briefly built a communal "city" on land across the valley, inspiring a showdown with locals opposed to the cultural and literal invasion. It is a place for big stories. A perfect place to reclaim and return to it's natural state. To undo harm and create a better future. 10,000 acres, neglected and overused. There are now no roads across this landscape, few trails and fewer people. No trash, no cel service, no noise. To see a herd of 250 wild horses running up the hillside there invokes echoes of a time we sadly left behind. A last wild place. Andrea Maki, with the backing of donors. has secured this place for a noble purpose, surely. But when the work must be done, the horses protected, the encroaching poachers, regulations and disruptions dealt with, when the fences need to be erected and the natural water systems resurrected, the partnerships with neighboring landowners solidified to mutual benefit and the endless bills paid, it all comes down to hard work. Andrea is a hard worker, unstinting when it comes to her passion for the horses. She is a fearless, smart and unwavering leader for a foundation built by sweat equity. Those who visit or volunteer come away astonished at what she has been able to create and sustain. As a non-profit, Wild Love is an inspiration with all the right motives and goals, a worthy cause with good leadership. This is just the kind of non-profit, one that deserves wide recognition and support. I will continue to do all I can, and hope that others get on board. The work to benefit ratio is undeniable. And at the heart of it, re-establishing wild horses on a patch of paradise is a truly moving thing to support.