The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton Ontario
By Graham Rockingham, Contributing Columnist

The three founders of the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary figure it’s time to build a home – a farm — for the Hamilton-based non-profit group that has found safe homes for more than a thousand animals — cats, dogs, bunnies, turtles, hamsters, even rats.

And Melissa McClelland, Janine Stoll and Lisa Winn have enlisted the help of a few musical friends to help them raise the money to build that farm. It’s an impressive list that includes Bryan Adams, Jim Cuddy, Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan, Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, and Whitehorse, the group McClelland performs in with her husband Luke Doucet.

They’ll all be performing Tuesday, Dec. 1, starting at 7 p.m. in a virtual “Build the Farm” benefit concert that can be accessed online through the Ladybird YouTube or Facebook Live sites. For details visit the Ladybird website at ladybirdanimalsanctuary.com.

“All these artists just kept saying ‘yes,’” McClelland said in an interview from her Toronto home. “Maybe there is something to be said for all these artists to be sitting at home right now. It’s easier to get someone to play at your event when all they have to do is perform from home rather than having to come all the way to a venue and set up all their stuff.”

“It was really exciting to get the ball rolling. I reached out to Sarah McLachlan and Bryan Adams. Immediately they said ‘yes.’ That helped a lot to get the momentum going.”

The first hour is free and open to the public. The final 20 minutes is open only to monthly Ladybird donors. And yes, you’ll have an opportunity during the show, hosted by CBC broadcaster Tom Power, to donate or subscribe so you can see those final 20 minutes. You can also sign up now on the Ladybird website.

“The headliners are for the second part of the show,” McClelland said, “but we will have one of the stars close out the free portion.”

You can bet that the star who closes the first hour will be McLachlan. McClelland has sung backup for McLachlan for several years and “The Building a Mystery” singer has even adopted a Ladybird rescue cat named Queen Peanut.

Other participating artists include Joel Plaskett, Jeremy Fisher, Danny Michel, Jill Barber, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Terra Lightfoot, Nuela Charles and a special reunion of the Ladybird Sideshow.

McClelland, Stoll and Winn met about 15 years ago, harmonizing their voices on the Hamilton club scene in a group called the Ladybird Sideshow. Although they have performed only sporadically in recent years, the friendship stayed alive through the trio’s love for animals. In 2011, McClelland, Stoll and Winn formed their animal adoption charity.

“We’re coming up to our 10-year anniversary and we wanted to do something big, we wanted to raise money to build a farm,” McClelland says.

“For 10 years we’ve been a system of volunteer foster homes. We want to have a home base. Our original vision was to have a sanctuary, but we had to learn what we were doing first, finding out about animal rescue and how to run a charity. Now we feel like we’re ready.”

They haven’t got their eyes on a particular property yet, but they want it to be within an hour’s radius of Hamilton, the place where the Ladybirds started.

“We do most of our rescues in the Hamilton area,” says McClelland, who grew up in Burlington. “A lot of our supporters are from the Hamilton area so we are deeply connected to Hamilton. We consider ourselves Hamilton based.”

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