Setting Up the Sanctuary

In July of 1998, I became a non-profit corporation. I went to the State capitol in OK City, with my articles of incorporation, and bi-laws, and filed for not for profit. I received my Certificate of Incorporation in the State of Oklahoma. With all this in hand, I went to an attorney in Purcell, OK and started proceedings for a 501(c)(3). The first thing the attorney said as she shook my hand, was that she had never met anyone that was willing to work for nothing. I paid out of pocket for my incorporation fees. I paid out of pocket expenses to the attorney for her fee, filing fee, user fee to the IRS, and to the Accountant for their fees. In March of 1998, I received my advanced ruling from the IRS, for my 501(c)(3) for nonprofit. A corporation must prove self supporting by the end of the three years, which we have already done. I had to form a board of directors, I wrote grant proposals, letters of intent, etc. I filled out mountains (or so it seemed) of paper work to join The Association of Sanctuaries (TAOS.) This was indeed an honor, after three visits from board members, that I received my Certificate of Approval that certifies Mindy's Memory is an accredited sanctuary. In Oct. of 1998, I received grants from four foundations to make improvments to the sanctuary, consisting of large, and extra large, outdoor enclosures. Running the Sanctuary I operate with volunteers for donations, and for projects such as putting shade cloth on enclosures, 20 ft. in the air. No easy task as the winds blows fiercely in OK. Bob Ingersoll has gone up and hooked all the cloth to hog rings (funny name, has nothing to do with hogs). I personally work 7 days a week, with no vacations. I start at 5AM with computer work until 7AM when I start feeding the primates and other various animals that reside here. I work steady until 8-9PM feeding, cleaning, watering, then I have my own house to maintain, bills, laundry, normal work a person does running a household. I receive no salary, never will. All I do is a labor of love for God's creatures that I revere. Sanctuary Description The sanctuary consists of 7+acres, although we are in hopes of purchasing an additional 5 acre plot west of us and connecting to our property. It sits 1/4 mile off the main road, our drive is that long. We have a 10'x10'x15' enclosure just behind our house, it connects to a porch that is connected to our house, this is home to the geriatric, aged and feeble monkeys. They have a room petitioned off with fiberglass surround and concrete floor, I can wetmop the ceiling, walls etc. They are on a special diet due to their ages. Next is the patas enclosure, 10'x35'x15.' It is connected to a building with a propane heater, thermostat controlled for winter. Then one capuchin enclosure, 40x40x15', it has a heated building. Then our capuchin enclosure for two old grumpy monkeys, 12x15x20' with its heated building. Next, our capuchin enclosure with attached heated building, 20'x30'x20' Then our pig tail enclosure, 20'x20'x20' with warm up hut that is heated with heat lamps on thermostat. Next our other macaque enclosure, 40'x40'x20' with warm up hut and heat lamp heat like the pig tail enclosure. This is all the adding on we plan on doing this year (1999.) We have 14 primates now and will fill the cages and then consider adding more enclosures in the future if we can receive public interest and funding to support what we now have. You can view pictures of the sanctuary in our Photo Album. UPDATE: Since this intro was written the sanctuary has continued to grow way beyond the original fourteen. The need is great. As this is being written more monkeys sit waiting for us to be able to accomodate them. Please visit our Newest Rescues page to meet the newest members of our community. The Meet Our Monkeys page contains links to the stories of most of our residents. Please understand that things happen so fast it is usually impossible for this website to keep up with them, especially since we depend on volunteers to write up changes and to do all of our website work. We will continue to add updates as time allows. If anyone out there has experience with HTML and would like to lend a hand keeping our site updated, it would be much appreciated. BACK TO HOME PAGE