She turned her pain into purpose!

After losing her mother to cancer, Laurie Zaleski vowed to care for her mom's 35 foster animals. Soon, Laurie's grief transformed into a mission to help animals and people find peace and joy.

- —Diane Nichols

"I'm honored and thankful to make a difference," says Laurie Zaleski, founder of the Funny Farm Rescue

This moment is everything, whispered Laurie Zaleski's heart as she watched her terminally ill mother, Annie McNulty, walk the property Laurie had just bought for her. It wasn't simply a barn on 15 acres nestled in Mays Landing, New Jersey, it was her mother's dream—a place with plenty of room for Annie's 35 rescue animals to live happy lives.

But just two weeks before the farm was officially hers, Annie lost her battle with cancer.

Grieving and shattered, Laurie drew in a breath and made a decision that would dramatically change the course of her life. You've saved so many animals throughout the years, Mom. Now it's time for your dream to be rescued, Laurie vowed.

Acres of love

Laurie moved the rescue animals to the small farm, and she knew just what to name their new sanctuary. "I'm calling it the Funny Farm Rescue," she announced, drawing on the name her mother gave to the crazy menagerie Laurie and her two siblings grew up with.

As a single mother struggling to make ends meet, Annie worked at an animal shelter, where she brought home every animal facing euthanasia. Their humble abode became home to a small zoo—including a baby horse, raccoons, a pig, a goose, squirrels, rabbits, chickens, a skunk and many cats and dogs. "It's truly a funny farm," Annie would joke.

Now, the name would live on, but juggling the farm with her thriving career as founder and CEO of Art-Z Graphics became Laurie's biggest challenge.