[Moderator's note: I've gotten so many requests for this info that I'm
putting this post first tonight.  Further details also appear in the
advertising issue that will be sent by the time most of you read this. BIG]
 
WHERE ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO WANTED AN EMERGENCY FUND?
 
If only 1/4 of you had bought a book, we would have almost $6000.
We could help shelters for a while on that amount!
 
The response to the FML Shelter Emergency Fund has been worse than
disappointing.  Even people whom I would have expected to contribute have
not all done so.  Why not?  It shouldn't be because you are afraid of being
ripped off, because a group of us worked so long to check this program out.
(If you want the details, order FML issue #1614.) So it must be because you
don't understand why we have a coupon program instead of a fund you can give
to directly.
 
TAXES, TAXES, TAXES - NO ONE WANTS TO PAY THEM
 
If I, or anyone else, opens an account for the fund or puts fund money into
an existing account, we will be expected to pay taxes on it in April.  Now,
I *could* open an account and just set enough fund money aside to pay taxes
... that is an idea.  BUT you would have to be confident that I would not go
to Barbados on your money.  I still want to go back to Barbados.  How can
you know if I am honest?  Well, I figure the only way is by NOT having any
of your money sent to me in a form I could use.  Otherwise, you could never
be sure.
 
NON-PROFIT MEANS MUCHO HASSLE
 
Unless we created a non-profit organization to receive the money.  Good
idea?  Not really.  It would cost us a couple hundred to set it up, two or
three of us would have to be available to sign and administer stuff, and
there would be some really pain-in-the-neck paper work to do.  What if one
or all of us had to unsubscribe?  Who would do the paper work?  If someone
out there just LOVES forms and regulations, please volunteer to join the
team and we'll talk.
 
THE SHELTERS NEED HELP; THEIR FERRETS NEED HELP
 
Imagine being a shelter owner for a month.  You'll be hiding your credit
cards from yourself in five minutes.  Please read these excerpts from a
letter I got from one of our shelter folks a few months ago:
 
>It is hard seeing ferrets neglected or abused [or] getting the ones whose
>medical problems have been overlooked for too long and now there is nothing
>that can be done for them except to make them happy in their last days ....
>It is pretty lonely operating a shelter ... the vet visits are scary, the
>stubborn ones who refuse to eat are frustrating and make us sad, the biters
>try our patience, those afraid to be picked up tear at our hearts.
>Sometimes we even get a ferret who has never learned how to *play* and then
>we cry.  Many nights we set our alarms for every few hours to force feed
>the really sick ones.
 
>You asked how my expenses are met.  Well, for now they are not.  My
>outstanding vet bill is now over $400 and I just got a new [ferret] with
>probable adrenal tumor and possible diabetes.  That bill will be over $300.
>All I can do is make arrangements to pay the vets as I can.  ... The local
>club is working on fund raisers and they will help out as they can.  I also
>work for myself, but am torn because the more I work, the more money I can
>have to help fuzzies, BUT the more I work the less fuzzies I can take in
>because I won't have the time to take care of them properly.  What do I do?
>... I don't like depending on others as I feel like a hypocrite and a bum.
>... Perhaps I will be able to adopt out a few soon to help with expenses.
 
This is a day in the life of a shelter owner, as best I can tell.  One or
two major surgeries isn't even an emergency to most of them.  The
responsible shelter owners either make arrangements with their vets or keep
a credit card for vet expenses.  (Obviously, the situation in an FFZ can
vary.) They assume they will be in debt and both work and do fund raising to
pay off the bills as they are able.  An emergency to them would be a shelter
overrun with a flood of rescues and multiple vet bills.  Some people have
been made uncomfortable by the requests for money, and I do understand that
reaction even though I made some of the requests myself on behalf of others.
But you wouldn't know about the needs otherwise.  Don't you really want the
opportunity to help if you choose to?
 
DON'T REFUSE TO DONATE JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T USE COUPONS
 
So.  We need a fund.
No one wants to administer a non-profit.
No one wants to pay taxes on donations.
There are shelters out there hurting right this minute and you don't even
know about it.
 
You don't like coupons?  Coupons aren't the point.  Buying the coupon book
is a way to donate money to the shelters.  Dosh and Associates is willing to
hold the money in an account for us until we need it.  No taxes!!  You
*will* save money if you use the coupons.  You'll get $220 worth of coupons
for the $15 that does not go to the FML shelters.  AND $10 WILL GO TO THE
SHELTERS.  You can give the book to someone else who does use coupons if you
like.
 
If you are short of money, here's a way to stretch your dollar and give to
our fuzzies, too.  If you are not short of money, then give the book away,
but don't refuse to donate just because you don't use coupons.
[Posted in FML issue 1646]