Founder Ellie Laks started The Gentle Barn after adopting a sick goat from a run-down petting zoo in 1999. Now, thousands of animals later (including cows, chickens, pigs, goats, horses and many more), The Gentle Barn has become an extraordinary nonprofit that brings together a volunteer staff of community members and at-risk teens to rehabilitate abandoned and/or abused animals.

As Ellie teaches the volunteers to care for the animals, they learn a new language of healing that works wonders on humans as well. My Gentle Barn weaves together the story of how the Barn came to be what it is today with Ellie’s personal journey. My Gentle Barn is a heartwarming, feel-good account that will delight animal lovers and memoir readers alike. It is a story about animal rescue, human recovery, love, life and achieving your dreams.

In these times of gangs, drugs, crime, violence and war, it is essential that we make efforts to ensure a more peaceful future for our children. We feel it is imperative that we teach our children kindness, compassion and empathy for all living beings. When a child meets another, looking different than themselves, with perhaps a different religion, race, sex, or language, if that child knows that we are all the same on the inside, then perhaps that child will accept the other and we will be closer to having peace on earth.

At The Gentle Barn, we work with children from the inner-city, group homes, mental health care facilities, foster homes, and schools to teach them that even though we are all different on the outside, on the inside we are all the same and are deserving of the same rights, respects and freedom. 

 We can’t do this work without you and are grateful for your support. Enjoy the website and check back with us from time to time to see what’s new. The best way to help is by making a donation, sponsoring an animal or sponsoring a group of school kids, at-risk kids or special-needs kids to come to The Gentle Barn.

Ellie Laks & The Gentle Barn is available for corporate events, private shows, milestone celebrations (birthday, anniversary), fundraisers, festivals, and more.