I spoke with Lacey on Friday and she gave me a shelter update. Good
news - the shelter is substantially complete and 70 of the shelter
ferrets are back with Lacey. She is still short on monetary donations
and that will become a problem for her once the credit card bills
become due. She took a significant amount of time off from work, which
means her paychecks were much smaller than normal as well. Rent was
due, utilities next, credit card bills and all the normal money issues
shelters face every day are staring her right in the face. GOD BLESS
the shelter people who put themselves second - EVERY DAY - to care
for our fine furry friends. Really, what would we do without them?

She says she still needs bedding, as you can imagine how much bedding
you need for 150 ferrets. If you sew and have some time to put a few
sets together, or if you have a surplus of gently used bedding, Lacey
could really use it. She could also use some toys for the playpens
(tubes, balls, etc).

She ended up throwing out much of her bedding as it not only had been
soaked, but remember that flood waters contain mud and raw sewage
(uck...) and she didn't want to have any cross contamination problems
with the kids. She cannot bring the rest of the kids back until she
has enough bedding for the cages.

So PLEASE, if you have a couple of extra bucks (ANYTHING will help!)
and could send that along to Lacey, she would sure appreciate it. She's
just keeping her head above water right now and with just one last big
push, she'll be square with the shelter rehab and her bills.

As a "for instance", Lacey has 150 ferrets in her shelter at any one
time. If you take the $3,000 figure (which is what the approximate
total damages came up to), divided by 150 ferrets you get $20 per
ferret. $20 to ensure that a ferret has a nice safe home and isn't
euthanized at a county or state shelter is pretty cheap. Can you
spare $20 to keep a ferret happy, healthy and alive at The Ferret
City Shelter?

Lacey has busted her hump for the last month trying to get things back
to normal for the ferrets. The least we can do is send her a couple of
bucks to make her even again!!!

Address for mailing packages:

Lacey Ruddell
11676 Pulver Road
Burlington, WA 98233

Or a cash donation (this shelter is a 5013c), so all cash donations
are tax deductible. Cash donations can be sent by mail, or via paypal
to [log in to unmask]

Lacey has been overwhelmed with the donations and cards of
encouragement she's received. She had no idea that the ferret community
would come through like this and it has touched her heart. Please know
that each and every one of you are now a part of the Ferret City
Shelter family.

Lisa Oestereich,
F.E.R.R.E.T.

[Posted in FML 6240]