
- Michelle Layne Lawson
“It said ‘Attention Bleeding Hearts,'” she recalls, “I just had to open it.”
In August, Lawson, a digital designer who lives in Brooklyn, found herself reading this story from Chronogram's Eat. Stay. Play. newsletter about Hudson resident Michael Bucci and his farm full of rescue animals, which was desperately seeking financial support. “My heart just went straight out,” she says. “I’d done a year-long series on rescue dogs that got bigger than I expected; other than that, I’d been in a rut. I hadn’t felt inspired in a long time.”
Related Only a Day Away: Fostering Hope and Healing at Tomorrow, Tomorrow Animal Sanctuary in Hudson

Only a Day Away
Fostering Hope and Healing at Tomorrow, Tomorrow Animal Sanctuary in Hudson
Michael Bucci, founder of Tomorrow, Tomorrow Animal Sanctuary in Hudson has accomplished his goal of transforming the farm he bought decades ago into a sanctuary for rescued animals, with a current occupancy of 20 horses, more than 40 goats, 15 cats, and a few dogs and chickens that also works with children and adults with disabilities. Now, he's looking for the next generation of compassionate animal-lovers to carry on his work.
Outdoors
So she headed up to Hudson on a Saturday morning a few days later and was delighted to find the farm and its inhabitants just as described. “There were people around—sometimes there’s no one—but it was a busy weekend,” she says. “I was immediately welcomed by a group of chickens coming to check me out, like ‘Who are you? Welcome!’ and I was just overwhelmed by the good energy.”
Taking the tour, her amazement only grew. “Michael showed me around and I kept wishing I had a recorder or a notebook, because he’s just so full of wisdom, and he frames what he’s doing so eloquently,” she says.

- Michelle Layne Lawson
Even part way through that first tour, Lawson knew that Bucci deserved a wider audience. “He’s not at all digital, but he’s awe-inspiring,” she says. “He’s selfless—he’s constantly putting the animals first, sometimes to his own detriment, but you can see how vibrantly healthy they are. They follow him around, he gives them everything—I felt that the fact that he isn’t digitally connected was the only thing keeping him from a wider audience.”

- Michelle Layne Lawson
The result is Tomorrow, Tomorrow: 150 Acres of Hope and Healing, a journey recounted in evocative shots in which the animals seem to be engaging deeply with the lens and the woman behind it, and a portrait of a gentleman farmer truly worthy of the name. It’s being marketed through a dedicated website that also tells the story of the farm, giving Bucci the digital presence he deserves—and 100 percent of the $29 cost goes to supporting the rescue mission.

- Michelle Layne Lawson

- Michelle Layne Lawson
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