New Haven Project

Tagged in:

Company: New Haven Project
Website: new-haven-project.fwscart.com

More about New Haven Project

New Haven Project is an animal sanctuary and wildlife haven and includes a plant nursery and sustainable living. We want to be able to show the local community and those on social media that everyone can live together in a cruelty-free, vegan world. We are trying to self-fund by making high-quality, 100% natural cosmetics and candles.
Growing organically using vegan permaculture and no dig ethics.

Key information

Online sales, opening to the public in the future.

Contact information

Website: new-haven-project.fwscart.com

Email: [email protected]

Veganism

Are all the products your entity (business, brand, organisation) produces and/or retails suitable for vegans? If no, then, unfortunately, you cannot register as we only accept submissions from 100% vegan entities.: Yes
Which of the following best describes you (professionals and sole traders) or your organisation?: Vegan

Ownership

Is your organisation an independent business/brand or a corporate owned business/brand?: Independent
Are you a Grassroots organisation (for projects, charities/NGOs)?: Yes
Are you a BAME (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) owned/run business/organisation?: No
What type of business/organisation are you?: Charity / non-profit
Are you a woman-owned/run business/organisation?: Yes

Social, Economic and Environmental Justice

Which social, economic or environmental justice causes does your entity (business, brand, organisation) support or promote (e.g. through social media posts, donations, attending protests and other direct actions etc.)?

Animal rights

Climate justice

Environmental justice

Food justice

What do you do to support or promote each of the causes you have identified?

Ex hunt sab, AR, marches, online etc

Does your business/organisation have an ethical labour policy or code of practice (either formal or informal) which ensures fair labour practices?

Yes

Does your business/organisation have policies and practices which actively promote diversity and inclusion?

Yes

Do any of the products you produce and/or retail, or ingredients you use, have fairtrade certifications?

Some (less than a third)

Do you source products and/or ingredients from companies and suppliers that support fair labour practices?

As much as possible

Environment and Sustainability

If any of the products you produce and/or retail, or ingredients you use, have a sustainable production certification, please indicate which certifications apply?: Other certification
Overall, how many of the products that you produce and/or retail, or ingredients you use, are certified by the sustainable production certifications listed in the question above?: Some (less than a third)
Are any of the products that you produce and/or retail, or ingredients you use, produced using sustainable production methods albeit uncertified?: Unsure
Are any of the products that you produce and/or retail, or ingredients you use, free of palm oil?: All
Do you reuse, recycle and/or donate any waste products (e.g. food, plastics, packaging etc.)?: Yes
Do you only use recycled or recyclable materials for packaging?: Yes
Is all of your packaging biodegradable?: Yes
Does your business, organisation or project follow a zero waste philosophy?: Yes

Energy, Transport and Distribution

How many of the products you produce and/or retail, and/or the ingredients you use, are made in the country in which your entity (business, organisation) is based?: Some (less than a third)

Giving Back

Does your business support or give back to the local community in any way?: Yes

Ethical Banking

Does your business/organisation use an ethical bank or building society?: No

What was the motivation behind your project? What did you want to change in the world?
Who is the team behind your project?

A childhood dream of wanting to stop animals from being slaughtered is a main trigger. I became vegetarian at 13 (1979) although never ate much meat. I dreamt that if I ever had the funds I wanted to take in animals and let them live their natural lives and lifespans. I was never going to have the funds. In 2013, I started fighting the badger culls in West Somerset with my children Jamie, then 21 and Vienna then 17. It was a real chance to get to know vegans and as a family, we soon changed our diets and carried on fighting for animal rights. My son's dream was to grow plants and trees, so after a lot of discussions we decided to sell our very modest home and buy land in Wales, the agreement was to live as sustainably as possible and I'd take in some pre-slaughter animals. We sold everything, even clothes and Teddy bears 😂.

It's not been easy as the land we were buying fell through as the house sold and money was eaten up by rent but finally we found this land on a hillside in Wales. Everything has taken time as it's been on a shoestring.

The whole project means bringing back this land from decades of neglect, encouraging the wildlife back with sympathetic planting, drainage, ponds etc. Setting a plant nursery for my son to have some income and provide the plants and trees as well as food. Allowing the animals to live natural lives and be able to forage, while also keeping them moving so that the land doesn't suffer and the animals don't get bored.

As soon as we are fully established we plan on becoming a CIC and offering the vulnerable in the community a chance to come and learn skills, interact with animals, grow their own food and hopefully get locals to show their skills. It would be amazing to show people the true beauty in nature and animals, how to react kindly to them and open their eyes to another way of life. I'm hoping that the New Haven Project Facebook page already lets people see that the animals have personalities and they aren't just numbers but also that there is so much beauty in a kinder life.

What one thing about your project would most surprise us?

Every product I make, I call it my hobby as it helps my mental health 😊 every penny profit goes to the animals and enhancing their lives. Going into this project, we knew that there was no money behind us and didn't want to ask for donations. So came up with the idea of making small batches of high-quality products in exchange for donations. So far this has worked. All ingredients are as ethically sourced as possible, all vegan and we try to keep the prices affordable. To be honest, I've never been in a position to splash out on anything.

If your project could be granted one wish, what would you wish for?

One wish would be that our journey may help others to take this step or stop seeing animals as food. We know that we can't help ALL of the animals but we'll do our best with those we can.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us about your project?

We love working alongside other vegan charities, selling products at a wholesale price and knowing that we are helping these charities make money for their cause.