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]