There have been so many people in need of help this last year...much more
writing of it on the FML than I can remember seeing before.  It CAN be
upsetting.  It surely has upset me.  You wish you had more money that you
could afford to give.  I think immediately of what I can do to help.  It
never feels as though it is even close to being enough.
 
I would like to thank BIG for the excellent way I see he lists these
needs that shelters have.  He does not keep the same emergency ferret
rescue at the top of the messages day after day.  Maybe he senses how
sensitive we are.  I do not know exactly WHAT he does or his thought
process.  But he does a wonderful job.
 
I would like to thank all the people who rescue these ferrets, knowing
that the animals are in great need of being taken in...Yet, these same
people are not millionaires, and need financial support.
 
With all the hurricaines, and the huge rescues from the Moorehouse
group,and the large and desperate groups Randy rescued, with another
large rescue following that, and smaller shelters in just as much need
of support..
 
People on this list have formed groups like SOS to raise money to help
keep these shelters afloat.  These groups have become a key element to
this list.
 
I see the clever ways shelters are raising money on E-bay and with
raffles.  Good for them.  I almost always want to see what is being sold.
I am a shopping woman down to my bones.
 
But that said...it DOES grab at my stomach.  I wish I could take all the
ferrets in.  I wish I could donate a million dollars.  I feel guilty that
I cannot.
 
We all have to take care of ourselves.  Then we have to take care of the
responsibilities we are already committed to.  Just two of my ferrets
have cost me over a thousand dollars just in vet bills in 3 weeks.  So I
cannot do all I wish I could.  It hurts knowing that at times.
 
SElling items on this list and letting people know of the shelter animals
does pull on many hearts and hit certain disturbing chords when we see
such need, and read of people trying to raise funds to keep their
shelters going.  I ask myself..how can anyone sell another thing?
 
Do not forget that we can pray.  We can e-mail the person and offer
encouragement.  We can rummage through our stuff and offer to e-mail it
to the shelter if they want to try and sell it on E-bay or a rummage
sale.  If we live nearby, we can take in a shelter ferret from that
shelter when we find that there is room in our home, heart and pocket
book for one more high maintenaince endearing ferret.
 
And if we are disturbed by reading of a shelter asking for money, we can
skip reading about it all together.  I know people who have written me
that this is what they have to do to stay on the FML.  They are deep,
deep, deep in debt.  And most of it is from caRING for all the shelter
animals they have already taken in.
 
To conclude...these messages of need and requests for help can be
disturbing.  But they are part of what makes up the FML, in my mind...
a big part.  With the fluffy funny, and educational elements comes
the backbone core love for these tiny defenseless animals, and the
unbelievable shelter moms and dads that risk almost everything to save
the animals we all love.
[Posted in FML issue 4848]