The Ultimate Endeavor: Rhonda-T Warren ’80

Rhonda-T Warren was 11 years old when her perspective on food made a fundamental

shift. “It dawned on me that we don’t eat cats and dogs,” she says, “so why do we eat cows and pigs? It went against my young sensibilities.”

 

From that time on, Rhonda-T was a vegetarian—and as an adult, she chose to pursue a vegan lifestyle. Rhonda-T’s care and concern for animals—and her commitment to veganism—have never wavered, and today, she and her husband Mitch run Terra Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit vegan animal sanctuary in Spokane County, Washington. As Rhonda-T explains, the sanctuary “takes in individuals who are destined for slaughter, abandoned, and in need of rescue.” Rhonda-T and Mitch are also certified veganic gardeners, and they share information about veganism, plant-based eating, and ethical, non-animal alternatives to everyday goods and services.

 

Even before founding Terra Farm Sanctuary, Rhonda-T was seeking out ways to make a difference. “I volunteered at sanctuaries and served on boards,” she explains. “Eventually, I found myself in a situation where my husband and I were consolidating our homes, and we realized this would be the ultimate endeavor— to purchase a home with land, allowing us the opportunity to rescue farmed individuals and create gardens to grow our own food.”

 

Rhonda-T and Mitch cover the vast majority of the sanctuary’s day-to-day expenses out-of-pocket. For the last many years, she has held a full-time role as the sales department manager for an advertising agency in addition to her work at Terra. “Donations are few and far between,” she says, “and it’s hard to get the word out.”

 

The grit and perseverance that it takes to make a place like Terra Farm successful were evident back in Rhonda-T’s days at Fay. “I was happy to come to Fay because there were two hours of sports every day. I was a very athletic kid—and where else could I shoot skeet, play tennis, and go skiing after school?” She reflects that it was a unique opportunity to attend Fay during the School’s early years of co-education. “There was definitely a feeling of girl power there for me before there was any such thing as girl power,” she says. “It was pretty amazing.”

 

After Fay, Rhonda-T attended Evergreen State College, where she pursued her interest in environmental issues, and she later worked in Chicago and Alaska before returning to Washington state.

 

Today, Rhonda-T and Mitch care for approximately 30 animals at Terra Farm Sanctuary. The donkeys, sheep, goats, roosters, dogs, and parrot currently living there can consider it their “forever home”: “When we take these individuals in, they’re here for the long haul,” Rhonda-T explains. “They’re family. There are so many beings who need saving out there, and as they come and go, we give them all the love and care that they need.”