The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton Ontario
By Graham Rockingham, Contributing Columnist
It started out as a musical friendship and developed into a rescue mission that has found safe homes for 1,000 animals – dogs, cats, bunnies, turtles, hamsters, even rats.
Melissa McClelland, Janine Stoll and Lisa Winn met some 15 years ago singing on the local club circuit, harmonizing their voices in a group called the Ladybird Sideshow.
In recent years, the success of Whitehorse – the folk-rock partnership McClelland forged with her husband Luke Doucet – saw the Ladybirds singing together less and less.
The friendship, however, stayed alive through the trio’s love for animals. In 2011, McClelland, Stoll and Winn formed a charity called the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary.
“We were all musically connected for so long, and then we all went our separate ways,” says McClelland, who grew up in Burlington but is now based in Toronto.
“We stayed close friends, though. That didn’t change. One night, we started talking about our passion for animal welfare. Lisa had worked in shelters since she was in high school and had picked up a cat named Oliver from Hamilton Animal Control. He had feline leukemia and she was trying to find him a home.
“We thought maybe we could start with Oliver and see what we can do. Janine built a website and featured Oliver. We got the word out and we got Oliver adopted.”
Since Oliver, the trio have found homes for another 999 animals, many of them abandoned, abused and neglected.
They raised money through concerts, built a volunteer foster network of about 30 homes, fine-tuned the website and reached out to local veterinarians.
They even got some help from Grammy-winning singer Sarah McLachlan. McClelland and Doucet are longtime members of McLachlan’s touring band. Last fall, the Ladybird Sanctuary announced that McLachlan had adopted a stray female kitten named Queen Peanut.
Oliver, by the way, is still alive and doing well.
“It just goes to show what you can accomplish when you get a bunch of people together to work as one giant wheel,” McClelland says. “We have our foster system, our donors, our rescuers, our adopters, our web people, everybody is doing their part.”
Stoll gets paid a bit in contract work for doing the accounting and maintaining the website, but otherwise it’s all volunteer. Winn is the principle animal handler, and McClelland works on fundraising.
On Thursday, April 11, McClelland, Stoll and Winn will host the fifth annual Ladybird Soiree at Shawn & Ed Brewing Co. in Dundas, with catering by City Farm.
It’s the sanctuary’s major fundraising event of the year and will feature a full performance by Whitehorse and a Ladybird Sideshow reunion. Tickets are $150.
The goal is to eventually build a physical sanctuary to ease the pressure on the foster homes.
“We don’t want to rush into it because it’s a big undertaking,” McClelland says. “I think over the next couple of years, we’ll start making plans to find land and open a space.”
Fifth annual Ladybird Soiree
What: Benefit for the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary, featuring Whitehorse and the Ladybird Sideshow, complimentary local wine, craft beer, vegan fare and silent auction
When: Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Shawn & Ed Brewing Co., 65 Hatt St., Dundas
Tickets: $150 available online through ladybirdanimalsanctuary.com
