On behalf of New England Ferret Foster, Education, and Rescue, Inc
(NEFFER), I'd like to thank the International Ferret Congress and the
chairpeople who put together the Forum.  NEFFER attended in the form of
Vice-President Catherine Bell and Secretary Heather Wojtowicz, and we had
a fantastic experience all weekend!
 
Brenda Miller's presentation on "Alternative Methods in Sheltering"
generated some great dialog among the crowd and brought up lots of ideas
for involving the community in rescue work and finding alterative ways to
help shelters other than the traditional ones.  Brenda gave us some
examples of ways her community helps her, and we are going to "take a
page out of her book" and see if we can't work some of the same magic
here in our region!
 
Table Topics at dinner were very enjoyable!  At my table, Cathy Sitek
gave a great presentation on dental hygiene and led a discussion on the
topic that gave me a ton of information that I'm passing on to my fellow
ferret lovers back here in Western Massachusetts.  All of the women who
led Table Topics really knew their stuff and gave their comrades some
serious food for thought.
 
Alicia Drakiotes' "Building Better Laws for Ferrets" presentation was
nothing short of brilliant and she also gave us all the tools anyone
would need to start down the road of changing laws to better protect our
fuzzy brethren.  Alicia's presentation facilitated some great interaction
on the topic and she answered many, many questions on this topic and
offered some vital pieces of information.  NEFFER is exceptionally
grateful to have been present for this talk and to have gained this
invaluable knowledge from Alicia.  Guys, bring her back for the Forum
2003!!!
 
And yet more thanks to the organizers of this event, Linda Iroff and
Julia Fosse and Judy Cook...thanks ladies for leaving us some time for
sightseeing!!  Our tour guides gave us a great trip to the Falls as well
as souvenir shopping time!  We ended the weekend by having a last
breakfast with Linda, Julie, Brenda, and Alicia.  (and one lady whose
name I have embarassingly forgotten!) Before we hit the road for the long
drive home, we shared some last ferret conversations, picked each other's
brains a bit, and had a few last laughs!
 
NEFFER also did very well on our table sales, as the crowd at the Falls
was very much in "ferret-shopping" mode and was eager to snap up
t-shirts, mugs, cookbooks, watches, cross-stitch patterns, and every
other "ferrety" thing that the vendors had to offer.  It was an
all-around success for NEFFER with some great contacts made and some
sales that raised money for us to take care of a few surgeries that are
waiting.
 
Thank you again International Ferret Congress and especially Linda, Julie
and Judy.  Let's do this again next year!!!
 
Sincerely,
Heather Wojtowicz
Secretary, NEFFER Inc.
[Posted in FML issue 3916]