From an article in the Daily News on Jane’s work as President of the Mayor’s Alliance : Photo by NANCY SIESEL FOR DAILY NEWS
Nominated by the ASPCA for her tireless work- pretty awesome and love the black cat theme.
Jane Hoffman Sets the Bar for Animal Treatment
It was the late 1980s
and Jane Hoffman had signed up to participate in one of our earliest Walk
for Farm Animals events in New York City’s Riverside Park. She not only walked and earned kudos as our top fundraiser, but she’d make the fortuitous choice to visit our New York Shelter and embrace the Farm Sanctuary family as her own (first as a dedicated supporter and in 2003 as a member of our Board of Directors).
“I just love them all…cows and goats and chickens and turkeys and sheep and ducks and donkeys,” reflects Jane. “They are all such individuals and make me so happy to see them safe and happy.”
Jane with goats Harper and Dana!
This visit additionally cemented Jane’s activism and desire to help all animals, including farm animals, achieve the quality of life.
Today, in her Farm Sanctuary Board of Directors role of Secretary and Audit Committee Chair, Jane regularly goes the extra
mile through these advisory roles, guiding us alongside her fellow Board
members in spreading our message of compassion. Her approach in encouraging this is realistic –
and in concert with Farm Sanctuary President and Co-founder Gene
Baur’s own explanation that “We all started somewhere.” Jane emphasizes
that the best way that we can make a difference is to approach challenges with
patience and understanding.
“Living compassionately means keeping your cruelty
footprint as small as possible while living in the world as it is today,” Jane
explains. It is important to work within the context of where society currently
exists, so we can make realistic improvements that we can uphold long-term.
Jane’s extensive background in animal rights and law is a
valuable asset in fostering compassionate development throughout society, as she
regularly applies the skills established throughout the course of her career in
our work to improve recognition and treatment of farm animals everywhere.
Jane pays a special visit to Kalfin, Francis and
Hazelton.
Jane’s
day-to-day endeavors focus on improving conditions for companion animals in New
York City; as president and co-founder of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
– a public/private partnership – Jane and her team support more than 150 animal
rescue groups and shelters in developing creative solutions to companion animal
overpopulation and animal control issues. Through these measures, the Alliance helped
bring the Community Live Release Rate in NYC to 90 percent last year, and serves
as a model for similar groups and activities across the country.
Jane is especially proud of four of the Alliance’s
endeavors: the Wheels of Hope Transport program, which runs a small fleet of
custom cargo vans – seven days a week – to move animals out of crowded city
shelters quickly and safely; the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, which promotes
trap-neuter-return (TNR) as the only efficient and humane way to control the
outdoor community cat population; the Alliance Mega-Adoption Event Program,
which presents several large, family-friendly adoption events each year to find
homes for NYC’s homeless cats, dogs, and rabbits; and the Helping Pets and
People in Crisis Program, which collaborates with traditional social services
to provide assistance to individuals and families fleeing domestic violence,
seniors requiring medical care outside of their home, and families facing
eviction or other temporary setbacks.
Throughout these initiatives, Jane taps
into people’s innate desires to do good, while establishing reputable programs
and resources to help people apply their good intentions to achieve successful
results. Clearly, Jane’s ability to merge public concern with realistic steps
to hone societal compassion is a trait we prize at Farm Sanctuary, and we value
her strategic input as we work to create a more compassionate world for all.
Jane’s input on Farm Sanctuary’s practices, strategies, and
goals is not only valued due to her legal knowledge and practical expertise,
but because the decisions she helps us make are ones that she, as a long-time Farm
Sanctuary supporter, would like to see implemented. Having stood by our side
for nearly three decades, Jane continues to be motivated by the animals
themselves, and her logical advice is likewise heartfelt.
Jane and Senior Caregiver Mike Cogliano carry Willow goat safely to her new pen.
For example, Jane
remains a committed supporter of our annual Adopt a Turkey
Project, doing all she can to support these magnificent ambassadors for
their species.
“I always adopt the turkey flock every year while mourning all
those turkeys who are slaughtered for this ‘holiday’ and I love the Celebration
for the Turkeys,” says Jane. “I love watching the wild turkeys at my house in Vermont. After
all, these majestic birds were who Ben Franklin thought should be our national
symbol.”
Jane with fellow board members James Costa and Tamar Huberman with turkeys Robin Williams and Kai.
Through Jane’s advisory and emotional support, animals
—
farm, companion,
and all species by extension
—
are being brought to the forefront as society becomes
more and more aware of the species with whom we share this earth. As we don’t speak
the same language, animals are often misunderstood
—
but with humanimals
like Jane on our side, we can effectively grant these beings the recognition
and care they deserve.
Jane feeding Miranda Lee with her helpers.
Thus, it is only logical that we honor Jane with our
inaugural Hero of Compassion Award, in which we pay tribute to members of the
Farm Sanctuary family for the incredible service they provide to animals and their
fellow humanimals everywhere. We invite you to check out Jane’s interview,
conducted by Director
of Engagement and Outreach Matt Ball, to learn more about Jane and the
individuals and activities that inspire her to spread messages of compassion,
making the world a better place for all animals and the people who love them.
Thank you, Jane, for your continued support of Farm Sanctuary and the work you
do to improve relationships between our species!
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