We’re very thankful to The BMA Foundation for their contribution of $5,000 toward the building of the Good Shepherd Conservancy. BMA has a personal interest in the Good Shepherd Conservancy and are looking forward to seeing this important project completed. The Anselmo family started their Foundation in memory of their son and brother, Brian Mitchell Anselmo, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 28.Â
Brian had been working in partnership with Frank Reese at the Good Shepherd Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas for 4 years at the time of his death. Under Frank’s expert training, Brian had quickly become somewhat of a poultry expert himself. In addition to his job of marketing and daily duties maintaining the birds, Brian worked for the Animal Welfare Institute. He examined farms across the country and trained farmers on how to ensure a humane and good quality of life for their birds if they wished to receive the Animal Welfare Seal of Approval for their poultry. Brian believed strongly that the birds, along with all farm animals, deserved to be treated humanely and live a free-range life.Â
He was also committed to preserving the Standardbred heritage birds that Frank had been working so hard to save for years. Brian, along with Frank, had the dream of building the Conservancy as a means of helping farmers learn how to continue the traditional methods of the Good Shepherd Ranch and to carry on this critical work. I’m personally honored to now be working with Frank and be able to take up the task that Brian was so tragically unable to complete. I’m also looking forward to the launching of our Farm Fellowship program, which will teach Farmers to carry on Frank and Brain’s work for generations to come.
The BMA Foundation’s contribution will certainly honor Brian and his commitment to a better world and the preservation of Standardbred heritage poultry. It is their hope the Conservancy will also ensure both Brian’s and, particularly, Frank Reese’s legacy.
