I briefly read a note that a couple of SOS members passed on to me today,
regarding negative comments made about a shelter, and what (if anything)
SOS can do about them.  I haven't read the original comments, and don't
really want to comment directly on them.  Rather, I'd prefer to comment
on SOS's role in regards to shelters, and negative information people
might have about a shelter.
 
Oh, and first of all .. I did want to clarify that yes, Kat Parsons IS a
member of SOS, and we are delighted to have her!  :->
 
Secondly ... SOS is just a group of us volunteers who try to take a bit
of our spare time and energy and use it to do some fundraising for
shelters.  We are very grateful to ALL of you who contribute to our
efforts and fundraisers to make that possible, and we take very seriously
our job of raising funds and distributing them fairly.  (And just to
remind everyone: we never give cash to a shelter!  We only give actual
products, gift certificates for FERRET merchandise/products, and
donations TO A SHELTER'S VET.)
 
While we do our best to distribute funds fairly and maintain an accurate
list of shelters ..  we are also all volunteers, we have limited
resources ..  and we don't really want to be the "Shelter Police",
either.  Obviously, if someone has negative information about a shelter
on our list that they feel we should know about, we would welcome that
information.  We promise we will look at it and discuss it, and take
whatever action is necessary ..  which may be no action at all.
 
But please ..  if you have negative information about a shelter, you have
to tell us what shelter you are talking about, and please, provide us
with some sort of backup for what you are saying.  We don't want to have
to evaluate "he said/she said" arguments about shelters, and it's unfair
for us to penalize a shelter based on secondhand or hearsay information.
And please also tell us who YOU are and how you come to have this
information, if you have something negative to say about a shelter.  We
will hold your identity confidential, if you'd like ... but I really
don't think we want to investigate anonymous complaints about shelters,
either.
 
Thanks!
 
- Ela
 
    (000)___(000)        Ela Heyn
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[Posted in FML issue 4572]