Meet the Tour Guides
Kate Altizer
Kate (she/her) became passionate about humane education and animal welfare while conducting her graduate research on music and farmed animals at Upland’s PEAK Sanctuary in Indiana, where she fell in love with the animal residents and with sanctuaries as places of hope and community. As the Education Director at the Refuge, Kate is enthusiastic about helping people and animals connect as individuals, countering dominant narratives about animal agriculture, and engaging art that enhances our senses of wonder, care, and responsibility. Some of her favorite authors on human-animal relationships are Vinciane Despret, Aph Ko, Syl Ko, pattrice jones, Carol J. Adams, Laura Wright, and Elan Abrell. After many years in higher education, Kate is excited to join the Refuge team to welcome and learn with individuals of all ages at any stage in their commitment to a more compassionate world for humans and nonhumans alike.
Kate is also a professional pianist, and in her spare time she enjoys watching movies and comedy with her husband, painting watercolor miniatures of animals, snuggling with Rita (pittie mix), Artie (tuxedo cat), and Al (orange tabby), and going for walks with her young daughter.
Josh Baldwin
Josh found the Refuge during the 2020 Durham Vegan Mac & Cheese cook-off while meeting some Refuge volunteers tabling at the event. He quickly signed up for volunteer efforts and started with house cleaning shortly after. His first day at the Refuge turned out to be the last day for tours due to shutting down for COVID-19, so he never officially went on a tour. Now he gives tours! You will find Josh with his wife Taryn at the Refuge nearly every Sunday.
Josh grew interested in animal liberation after becoming vegan in 2020. In addition to the Refuge, he works with Counterglow to help organize activists and shed light on the cruelties of our animal agricultural system.
When not working to remedy the plight of the animals, Josh can be found reading or listening to heavy metal music. He lives in Cary with his wife and three cats.
Jeremy is a Raleigh native and vegan of over 7 years. He began volunteering at the Refuge in 2023 to actively experience the personalities and love of non-human animals. He bonded closely with the turkeys & chickens - beings that many regard as menu items before individuals. Seeing each bird (Blackberry and Charleston, in particular) experience their reality in a safe haven was mindblowing - it erased any doubt that some individuals were less worthy of love, or less aware of their experiences. Almost immediately, this propelled him into further animal activism and vegan outreach where he resides as an active member of NC Animal Advocates United. Jeremy works and lives close to downtown Raleigh, where on top of activism - he's an avid basketball player, charcoal artist, and piano player.
Jeremy Keyes
Kelli Holt
Lenore Braford
Lenore Braford is the Founder, interim Executive Director, and Animal Care Director at the Refuge. Her drive to advocate for populations in need began in middle school when she began worked with children with disabilities. That work continues today, but her circle of compassion was widened to include farm animals when she began to question how our society views and treats them during her studies at Oberlin College.
Since that time she has been steadily working to advocate for farm animals while educating the general public about the truths behind their treatment and their worth as individuals. Lenore has been vegan since 2007 and enjoys playing music, being outdoors and spending time with her friends and family.
Kelli has been teaching for over a decade and started volunteering at the Refuge in 2023, wanting to get out of the classroom and harness her veganism in a tangible way. She wrote her dissertation on the cultural history of animal welfare and rights and tries to remain informed on these subjects with a lot of reading (and podcast-listening). When not teaching or volunteering, she’s likely hanging out with her companion animals and husband (who cooks the most amazing vegan meals, for which she’s very grateful).
Tory Fox
I’m from Canton, NC – about 30 minutes outside of Asheville. I started at the Refuge this summer, working as an Animal Care Intern and helping take care of the residents. When my internship ended in August, I began as an official Refuge volunteer and Tour Guide. I’ve always wanted to care for animals professionally for conservation, and the Refuge has taught me how to prioritize the animal residents in their care, enrichment, and socialization. The skills I've learned at the Refuge have allowed me to build strong bonds with the residents, and I deeply cherish all of the time and love I’ve shared with my Refuge friends. In my free time, I love on my five cats, crochet them toys and blankets, and explore nature to find new bugs and birds I have yet to identify on my iNaturalist!
Jessica Ginocchio
Jessica has been volunteering on and off for the Refuge since 2015, when there were only chickens and turkeys living here! Over the years, she has also been an active volunteer and foster caregiver with several companion animal organizations, including the SPCA of Wake County, Beautiful Together, Orange County Animal Services and Oregon Humane Society. She went vegan in 2014 after she completed an online course on Animal Welfare, where she was frustrated by discussions of “humane” slaughter and marginally improving conditions for farmed animals. She also finally saw how commercial dairy and egg production necessarily involve animal slaughter. She credits excellent vegan food—especially cookbook authors Isa Chandra Moskowitz and local restaurants Remedy Diner (RIP) and Fiction Kitchen—with showing her early on that animal products are not necessary for healthy, satisfying, and delicious meals. Recently, she was lucky enough to live a year in Portland, Oregon, a city full of amazing plant-based food and bakeries.
Besides her volunteer work in animal rescue, she is finishing a Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill in Comparative Literature, where she is researching animal figures in Eastern European literature. She enjoys teaching students about language, literature, and writing, and she hopes to bring this love for education and sharing knowledge to her work as a tour guide at PFAR. In her spare time, she loves hiking, yoga, and tabletop games.
Steve Griffin
Steve, along with his husband Tim, woke up and became vegan in 2014, after having been pescatarian for a year and realizing that wasn't good enough. Very shortly after that he discovered the Refuge through their Facebook page. They came for a personal tour given by Lenore and immediately fell in love with the Refuge, Tony and Flower in particular, and all the amazing rescue work that was being done. Steve had been very involved with a cat and dog rescue group for a number of years, but when hot dogs and hamburgers were served at their fundraisers he became acutely aware of the disconnect and how hollow and incomplete that concept of animal rescue was. He was very thankful to have discovered the Refuge, and he and Tim have been volunteering and attending events over the years since. He has often said that the Refuge is not just a sanctuary for the animal residents, but for him as well, a place of love and peace that can, at least temporarily, shut out the ugliness and violence of the world outside its boundaries. After he retired in early 2023 it was a given when he was asked to join the Board later that year and now also volunteers as a tour guide. Steve and his husband Tim live in Sanford and spend a great deal of their time and effort tending to and spoiling six rescued cats. They enjoy the daily visits from the birds, squirrels, deer and wild turkeys in the woods that surround their home.
Nathalie Martin
Nathalie began volunteering at the Refuge in early 2016. She has always been an animal-lover and immediately felt right at home at the Refuge. Initially, she was an animal care volunteer, but over time her role at the Refuge has diversified. She currently helps with guiding tours, landscaping, gardening and various Refuge projects. You may find her working on projects with her partner, Rich, who also volunteers.
As a tour guide, Nathalie enjoys meeting new people, discussing the mission of the Refuge, animal facts and the stories of individual residents. She is excited to help others learn about the residents, the impacts of factory farming, and veganism. Apart from volunteering at the Refuge, she enjoys spending time with her partner and dogs, photography, hiking and painting. One of her favorite sayings is “we must speak for those who cannot speak for themselves”.
Danielle Rafetto
Danielle attended her first tour at the Refuge in November of 2017, shortly after becoming vegan the month before. With intentions only of meeting some turkeys that she might pay respect to during the month of November, she was surprised to find one particular turkey standing of her feet, fluffing up his feathers, and changing the colors in his face. The tour guide told her she had been “chosen” and that this gentleman was essentially flirting with her. She has yet to be flattered in such a way since. ;)
Learning about the animals and getting to experience their unique personalities has been her driving force in volunteering and veganism.
Aside from being vegan, Danielle is an early elementary public school teacher, music lover, doting aunt, and lifelong cat mom. Her favorite forms of activism are educating and sharing food.
Ronnie Morson
Ronnie loves all animals but right now goats are probably her favorite. Ronnie also loves watching Pixar movies, hanging out with friends and relaxing. She has been volunteering with the Refuge since 2021 and it has changed her life. Ronnie is vegan for the animals and loves that she is able to give back to the animals she once took from while educating herself on their individualism.
Jenna Quinn
Jenna became a tour guide in 2022. Originally from Buffalo, NY, Jenna has called North Carolina home since 2008. She lives in North Raleigh with her husband, Branden, and two rescue cat-daughters, Stella & Lola.
Jenna started volunteering at Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge because of an invite to join friends one weekend in March 2021. This was her first time at a vegan animal sanctuary and her only regret is not coming sooner. She joined Patreon that same month and the Refuge has been an important part of Jenna's monthly routine ever since.
Jenna has been vegan since January 2019 when it finally clicked that all living beings deserved bodily autonomy and the right to live out their lives in peace, not just as pets. The inclusive environment, the dedicated volunteers, and the loving animals are just some of Jenna's favorite things about Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge.
When not at the Refuge, Jenna can be found enjoying live music, strength training at the gym or watching Buffalo Sabres hockey. Jenna is excited to be a bigger part of the Refuge family and help more people from the community become involved in this wonderful organization.
Henry McKeand
Raised by pescatarian parents near Columbus, Ohio, Henry (he/him) grew up on plant-based cooking for much of his childhood. After seeing the movie Happy Feet as kids, he and his brother decided to cut fish out of their diets, and their whole family followed suit. Soon, they were eating vegan dishes and learning more about the cruelty of the meat and dairy industries.
In those days, it wasn’t common to be vegetarian in the public schools he attended, and Henry kept mostly quiet about his beliefs in order to fit in. As the years went on and he became more vocal about his other political views, he saw the importance of making yourself heard and actively opposing exploitation of all kinds. It soon became clear that he could no longer stay silent about his lifelong belief in animal rights. Now, working with the Refuge allows him to spread the word about veganism and the stories of the amazing animals who have found a home here.
In his free time, he enjoys writing and watching movies with his loved ones (not all of them are as good as Happy Feet).
Trish Soysal,
Our Check-In Table Hero
After being vegetarian for a few years, Trish decided to go all the way and become vegan. She joined a local meet-up group to meet like-minded people. This is when she learned about a fundraiser for “ Building the Hen House” at the Refuge. After meeting Lenore and hearing about her dream to build a refuge for abused/neglected farm animals, she was hooked. Since 2012, she has been supporting the Refuge and all of the incredible work. She especially likes brushing the goats and representing the Refuge at different events.
She lives in Raleigh with her husband, Oral, and their three “foster failures” Roxanne the Pitbull and Sweetpea & Wendy, their two little Beagles. In her free time, she enjoys reading, quilting and going for hikes on the Raleigh greenway. Most of all, she enjoys spending time with her new granddaughter, Daphne.