>Jean is trying to build a building for the shelter, rather than running
>it out of her home. She's getting practically *no* support from area
>business owners (fund raising events) or ferret people in her area.
>And "her area" consists of some fairly good sized towns - Cleveland,
>Youngstown, Akron, Lorain, Elyria, Oberlin, Norwalk, Mansfield, Toledo,
>Tiffin (my city), Findlay, Bowling Green, Sandusky, so on & so on & so
>on. That, right there, is the bulk of the entire northern tier of Ohio.
>One heck of a service area, if you will. One ungodly tiny amount of
>assistance - virtually non-existant.
I mean no offense, and I'm not looking to start a war, but, $83,000
was recently donated to Ferrets Unlimited, with an additional $150,000
pledged, to purchase property on which the shelter building is to be
located. How can you possibly say Jean is "getting practically *no*
support"?
>Where are the people? There are certainly ferret people in these
>cities, right? Why aren't more people helping Jean out? Sure, she got
>a lot of help about 3 yrs ago, when she was dx'ed w/ Stage 4 cancer &
>was in such horrible shape. But I guess the support disappeared when it
>became obvious that Jean wasn't planning on dying right away. As her
>health got better, it was her *support* that died. And it's not like
>she's some fly-by-night operation. She's been doing this shelter
>thaaang for 12 yrs now - a lot of it, practically all by herself. A
>lesser person would have folded *ages* ago. I think the fact that she
>hasn't is a testiment to her expertise. But even the experts need a
>helping hand. Especially when their shelter is groaning under such
>unbelievable numbers, when her vet bills can stretch into the thousands
>of dollars, & when they're trying to improve their operation by moving
>it into it's own, purpose-built facility.
Shelters/shelter operators need to know their limits, and people should
not be guilted into lending a hand when they don't. Honestly, pulling
out the cancer card here is in very poor taste (to say the least).
>Jean, if you're reading this, I hope I didn't embarrass you by writing
>this. I hope I haven't spoken out of line. But it just ticks me off
>big-time to see what you're being forced to do on your own, w/ virtually
>no help, when it seems there are so many people out there who *could*
>help. It just doesn't make sense to me. I wish someone could explain
>it.
Forced? Sheltering is a choice.
I'm not against supporting Jean/Ferrets Unlimited, or any other shelter.
Shelters need support, and those who choose to support them should be
commended just as much as the shelter operators themselves are. However,
reading this post would not have me jumping to help anyone. In fact,
it's left me with a rather dirty feeling that I'd really like to go wash
off now.
Karen McCabe
http://www.cinnamonsprite.net
[Posted in FML issue 5334]
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