2024 Evening at Hanaeleh: Our 20th Anniversary

On Saturday, October 19th, we celebrated our 20th anniversary at our annual Evening at Hanaeleh! We haven’t had an in-person fundraiser at the ranch in a few years, so this was also a very special event, and we were able to see so many old and new friends!

Some of our most loyal volunteers and supporters were able to come out, including the officer who helped rescue Lou Dillon, who came down from Washington with a special “horse-de-vours” basket for our silent auction!

We also had a special visit from a wonderful family who helped us rescue horses from being sent to slaughter; they drove all the way from Arizona!

It’s amazing that we have been able to survive and succeed in helping to make a difference for 20 years- it has only been with a small group of dedicated volunteers and our incredible supporters that we have been able to make that happen.

• Thank you to all of our devoted volunteers!
• Thank you to everyone who has come out to a workday!
• Thank you to everyone who has donated items to the rescue!
• Thank you to everyone who has helped to foster or adopt a horse!
• Thank you to everyone who has helped us transport horses to safety!
• Thank you to everyone who sponsors a Hanaeleh horse – we can’t do this without you!
• Thank you to all our donors who help us financially so that we are able to save more horses!

We are only able to do this work because of you, and we are so grateful that you all continue to support Hanaeleh.

Obviously putting together this event involves a lot of work, and we are grateful to those volunteers who came out every weekend for the past few weeks to help get the ranch looking its best! Additionally, we had several people offer help.

Also, let’s give our newest board member Ayla props for taking on her first Hanaeleh fundraiser!

Supporting Organizations

Additionally, we want to give a shout out to the following organizations which helped support us!

1. 1. We had our amazing dessert trays donated by Rockwell’s Bakery in Villa Park! You can check them out at @rockwellsvillapark on Instagram.
   2. Our vegan and gluten-free cookies from Evolve Bakery in Lake Forest were so good that Gypsy didn’t get any!
   3. We ordered extra food but it was so good that people kept going back for more! Catering was done by Wise Guys Pizzeria in Orange- you can also contact them on Instagram: @wiseguyspizzeriaorange
   4. All guests were able to walk around and meet the horses with a self-guided tour. We printed out each of the horse’s stories so people could interact with the horses at their leisure. America’s Printer printed all of these posters in a short time for us!
   5. It seems weird to thank a porta-potty service, but many thanks to Andy Gump- They were also very gracious about us having to cancel at the last minute because of the fire, and were able to reschedule us for the new date with no problem!
   6. In order to reduce the headache of parking in the canyon, we arranged to have a shuttle take our guests to and from the ranch. We graciously thank both the valet service, Valet Parking Pros, for shuttling everyone back and forth, and we also thank Saddleback Valley Unified School District for allowing our guests to park at the elementary school up the street. Both the valet service and SVUSD were also accommodating with the change of date!
   7. Finally, we had so many incredible silent auction items donated that helped to raise money for the horses- we definitely need to thank all of you! Big thank to the following:
      1. Dee T.- Donated zoo tickets and stuffed animals and a HUGE gardening basket!
      2. Sonia D.- Donated the beautiful “horse” de-vours basket!
      3. Gorjana- They donated a beautiful jewelry set, shopping spree & gift card! Wow!
      4. Kendra Scott- They donated a gorgeous set of earrings and necklace!
      5. Set & Stone-They donated a lovely gold horse shoe necklace!
      6. Elaine Heney- She is a prolific author of a number of horse books- She donated several incredible books that were purchased by a retired teacher- so you know they’ll be read!

Thank You to everyone who made our 20th anniversary night so special!

We know that some of you weren’t able to make out, but we hope to see you next year! Or maybe at one of our workdays or our new quarterly self-guided tours.

We hope everyone had a wonderful evening – the horses and all of us certainly did – and we look forward to another successful 20 years!