Straight and to the point. The shelter is busting at it's seams. There no longer is a dinning room in the house, I have tried and tried and tried not to beg for help, but come up with fundraisers and do things to raise money. I try not to impose on people, I don't know what else to do. I am barely keeping up with litter boxes and keeping the litter in stock. I spend the days trying to keep up and not doing things like, tying together the year, and coming up with budgets, making calls to try to get donations for a Car Rally we are trying to organize, I am not doing the education programs I should be doing. We had a Squidoo lens contest, all people had to do was design a mini web page, it was FREE to enter, and 7 or 8 people made them. We had a bowling fundraiser, the shelter lost money on that, I did a mass mailing, that was another winner, NOT. No matter what is tried it turns into ferret poo. Since the building was announced donations are just about non existent, thanks to some wonderful Secrete Santas, there are treats and extra cuddly bedding for the kids. The land that was purchased for the shelter is just sitting there, the city codes in Parma, added to the cost, putting it over budget, so with that and trying to put things in the building we will need, we are looking at finding a way to raise $30K. If we didn't spend over $20,000 in vet bills and medical supplies (Lupron, ADV tests, syringes, and the such) it wouldn't be so bad. I am behind on the website, there are kids here that no one knows about, and there is a person near Youngstown who has 12 ferrets from ages 2 to 7 years, she got them from a "bad" place. We picked up an escapee today, there is a girl in Canton looking to place 3, and on Christmas, yes Christmas, a box was left on the porch with an old emaciated, adrenal ferret in it, barely clinging to life. If you are in the area, and can foster these 12, that would be most wonderful, our numbers are over 100, and I am actually afraid to make a real head count. Thank you for reading this, and if you can foster these 12 I would be most grateful. jean Jean Caputo-Lee Director Ferrets Unlimited Ferret Shelter 4116 Bucyrus Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44109 www.ferretsunlimited.org Non Profit No Kill [Posted in FML 5472]