Long-running Colorado animal sanctuary facing "a lot of hurdles" during critical fundraising period

The founder of an animal sanctuary in Adams County says because of a cellphone company cutting her phone line and that leading to her landline phone not working, she's down thousands of dollars. With winter coming, she's now worried about how she's going to keep nearly 200 animals fed.

Maxine Mager is the owner and founder of Creative Acres, a nonprofit organization which provides no-kill and free-roam sheltering to animals like horses, pigs, and chickens among many others. She says because of the phone issue, she could not get the word out about her fundraising efforts.

"They cut my line and apparently they cut it five times. I haven't had a phone for over a month," said Mager. "During that time, we couldn't do any fundraising through the phone, and we also couldn't get calls in."

Mager said every year the fall season is the busiest time of the year for her fundraising efforts and bringing in donations of food and supplies for the animals at the sanctuary. The donations help her and the animals get through the winter.

"As you can see here, the snow just hit us, and so it's hard to carry hundreds of bags of feed," said Mager.

She also said she always fundraises before the winter comes and typically brings in $40,000 in donations.

"We've been around for so long, so we have a reputation. So when I call around and everything, most people know my phone number," said Mager.

Mager founded the sanctuary nearly 40 years ago. She says due to the issue, she believes this winter is going to be one of the most challenging.

"In my bank account, we have $200. It's pretty bad," said Mager. "The feed will probably last about a week or two weeks."

On top of the rising costs of everything, she also said her generator is out, her vehicle isn't working well and there's a falling tree in the yard where animals are.

"We've been paying three times the money for feed, three times the money for propane is insane," said Mager. "There are a lot of hurdles."

While fundraising is low, she's hoping more people can donate time or money to ensure the animals are fed and can make it through the winter.

"I'm more worried about my outdoor animals. No one is going starve," said Mager. "But we'll always make it. There are things here we can sell. We just we got a phone now so we can call people."

For more information about Creative Acres or how to help, visit creativeacres.org.