OK, where to begin?  On one hand, I'm usually a little cautious about
breeder/shelters raising money myself.  Gotta say, too, that something
in the initial posts made me think that the fundraiser was for all of
the Pennsylvania shelters that got slammed, not just any one.  I may
not have read carefully enough and that could have been my fault.
 
In general, something about the ferret community reminds me of churches
in the rich get richer/poor get poorer kind of way, even though that's
kind of a weird metaphor.  You know, there are the big guys who are
already doing fine who do amazing fundraising with everybody flocking
to them and donating for stuff like a new steeple or fancy choir robes,
mission trips to Bermuda and the like.  And the little guys with a few
old ladies and taped together hymn books and condemned buildings who
couldn't raise a buck to save their lives.  People act suspicious.  It's
a sad (very sad) fact human nature that folks go for the flashy stuff,
the winners.
 
I don't mean to carry the analogy too far--I know that all shelters are
overworked and that they all need whatever they can get, and I don't want
anyone to go under.  I'll help any fundraising effort that I can.  I just
have a real fondness for the little guys.  They're the backbone of the
rescue and shelter business and they get passed by so much.  They fold
so much, especially lately.  That's what's so great about SOS and CMF.
There's no specific message I'm trying to hammer through here, really.
Just musing.
 
It's also a shame that shelters need all those "click on this link to
shop and we get ten percent" links.  I wonder; would people rather do
that, and buy something they really don't need or especially want just
so the shelter will get a little?  Just take half of the money you were
going to spend and GIVE it to the shelter straight up.  You save more,
they get more, everybody wins.  What's so hard about that?
 
[RN]
[Posted in FML issue 5212]