Hello and Welcome to the Shannon Foundation! My name is Rhonda L. Stephens, President/Founder of the Shannon Foundation, a retirement farm. We offer rolling pastures, shelter, enrichment and love for many types of animals. I wake up every morning knowing I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

It all started when I was five years old, taking care of my first dog, a black American Cocker Spaniel. This eventually led to training and showing a wide variety of dogs in obedience and conformation. The other love in my life has always been for horses. I think I was born loving animals. Here I am doing one of my favorite things as a little girl.

I have lived on this farm for over 20 years, beginning when I came to work for Charles L. Hughes as a farm manager. Charles was a great voice for all animals, but he especially loved his llamas, and could watch them in the pasture for hours. We also had zebras, camels, and many other types of "critters". Unfortunately, he lost his battle with leukemia in 2001 and left a large void, both emotionally and financially. It was at this point that I decided to concentrate on the rescue aspect. It was becoming apparent that so many animals who had been loved all their lives now had no place to go after losing their precious owners. There were also many calls from shelters and rescue organizations pleading to take their abused and handicapped animals.

So, this is the road I am now traveling, trying to support these wonderful, loving animals, but your help is very much needed!  My dream for the future is as follows:  enriching the animals lives by putting up a Cat Cottage with a large enclosed yard and natural play area, getting larger play areas for some of the animals, and building an agility course for the dogs,  and secondly, replacing our fencing which is old and in very bad shape because of recent storm damage. Hopefully these dreams will come true, but I know it all takes time.
 
I feel very blessed at this point in my life to be able to give back to all the animals who have brightened my life throughout the years. It is very important to me that every animal on this farm always has a clean, dry place to sleep, good food to eat, clean water to drink, are well groomed and feel good about themselves.  Also, they must always have kindness and love shown to them.  Nothing matches the moment when they realize their lives are going to be okay and they will no longer have to worry about being safe.