Allow me to tell you a story. Not long ago I drove for six hours from New York to Maryland with seven just-released battery hens in the back of my station wagon. Their bodies were nearly naked and their beaks had been cut. They lay together on a blanket and slept as though they would never wake up.

In the rear-view mirror I was suddenly amazed to see the smallest, most naked hen wobbling on top of the back seat. She had got herself up there and was looking around! Then, she fluttered, fell over, and lay still. I thought, "The poor soul will probably die."

But No!--A few minutes later, who comes crawling through the bucket seats towards me but this hen!

I drove with one hand laid lightly on a featherless bundle curled up like an unhatched embryo on my lap beneath the steering wheel. A hen who had never been anywhere but prison had just made this incredible journey inside my car.

Dear little Bridget is now a rehabilitated member of our flock.

Whenever I see Bridget, perched in the branches of our tree, taking a warm sunbath, or flitting through the grass like a fairy princess with her friends, I remember her Incredible Journey. . .

. . . . From the battery cage to United Poultry Concerns.

And I think of you, our precious member. For you made it possible for Bridget to have a home and a refuge in this world.

You enabled Bridget to make her Incredible Journey from Chicken Horror to Chicken Heaven.

And not only Bridget. Since we began in 1990, your financial support has enabled us to expand our chicken sanctuary from just a few chickens to the forty rescued hens and roosters who are with us right this minute--birds who, but for us, would never have had a chance to discover how great life can be when a chicken is free!

At United Poultry Concerns, our chickens receive the best veterinary and personal care. They come to our sanctuary sick, terrified, crippled, and wounded.

Here, they get the medicine they need, the safe, protective housing they need, the space and freedom they need, fresh clean water, and a variety of wholesome food. Most of all, they get the love they never knew.

Our chicken sanctuary is a full-time operation. Yet, it is just one of the many programs and activities of United Poultry Concerns.

Just think: in 1997 alone, United Poultry Concerns abolished the infamous "turkey olympics," launched our national campaign to eliminate the brutal "forced molting"--deliberate starvation--of laying hens, persuaded a big-city high school to adopt a humane treatment of animals policy following a vicious student assault on a group of innocent hens, and won front-page coverage in The Washington Times on Thanksgiving Day!

What this powerful article, Living At Thanksgiving, shows is that despite our small budget, volunteer staff, and "little chicken house in the woods," United Poultry Concerns is at the forefront of the global effort to achieve recognition of the dignity and rights of animals.

Now, as many of you know, we are at a turning point in our own Incredible Journey to Poultry Wander-Land. . . .

We need a 5-to-10-acre piece of land for our office and our chicken sanctuary. A place where we can carry out our educational programs and activities. A place where chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, and maybe even a pair of emus can roam and be safe in their happy home!

Let me tell you the good news. As of December 31, 1997, we've succeeded in raising over $40,000.00 for our Poultry Wander-Land. This is entirely the result of your compassionate response to our urgent appeals. Thanks to your gracious gifts in 1997, we are now halfway towards our goal.

This year we must go that extra mile.

Will you please help us?

To get the land we need, we have to be able to make a down payment and have money to show a bank that we can meet our mortgage payments every month. Our recent inability to qualify for a bank loan for this project showed that while we have travelled an incredibly long way, we still have a ways to go. We are halfway there. Please help us to go the distance in 1998.

If little, featherless Bridget, the hen, could make her Incredible Journey crawling from the battery cage to my lap after all she suffered, surely we can go that extra mile in 1998 for her sake.

Please don't wait. Together, we must make the less-travelled road a thoroughfare filled with chicken feet walking to freedom after a life in cages.

Every gift that you give is greatly needed and gratefully received. All gifts are tax-deductible.

From all us here at United Poultry Concerns, we wish you joy in the New Year.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Karen Davis President

Please mail to: United Poultry Concerns * P.O. Box 59367 * Potomac, MD 20859

YES! I want to ensure that chickens like Bridget will always have a safe haven at United Poultry Concerns now and in the years to come. Please use my gift to purchase a permanent piece of property for United Poultry Concerns. Enclosed is:

$50 $150 $250 $500 $1000 $5000 Other $_____

All contributions are fully tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. Please make any needed corrections in your name and address and return this coupon with your donation. Thank you.