Imagine my surprise from reading this list the last couple of days. All these years of sheltering gone to waste and I have been sheltering a lot longer than some. (Over ten years since I took in my first rescue and at least 8 years since I started sheltering officially). I have seen many shelters come and go during this time yet I am still here and still sheltering on my own with no help from clubs or other organizations. You see I, just like that shelter in MI that Lisette can't pronounce the name, don't have a dedicated checking account in the shelter's name either. My reasoning is really quite simple. Why should I pay $20 a month to maintain an account that is always empty? Trust me when I say adoption fees don't even make a dent in the food and vets bills. I pay everything out of my pocket anyway so a separate account for me is a waste of money that is better spent caring for the ferrets that have been abandoned. What is going to be next on the list for being a shelter? Is tax exempt status going to be required? Or how about being signed up for iGive? Or how about being listed on the FML shelter list? I am none of the above for those too. I don't think any of those items make me less of a shelter than one that is. The ferrets I rescue and place into loving homes don't think so either. What ever happened to the first reason we do this? The ferrets! I have met a lot of great people on this list in person who have never asked me about my checking account. Sukie, Pam Troutman, Pam Greene, Bob C., Sam, et al. A great many more have adopted from me and never thought about my finances and didn't have any problems giving me a check for the adoption made out to me instead of the shelter. A while ago I had another person on this list ask me how much money I spent on pens and pencils for the shelter? (BTW Betty I never answered you. I don't spend anything on pens and pencils for the shelter. I mug school children walking past my house and take theirs. I also go to banks and take the ones chained down on the tables.) Those last statements were humour for those joke impaired types. I realize that there are some people in the world that want to take money that they really don't deserve, but to accuse a shelter operator of being a con artist because they don't have a dedicated checking account, or you never heard of them or because you can't pronounce the name is crossing the line. Bev Fox North Coast Ferret Shelter One of the con artist shelter operators but at least you can pronounce the name of my shelter even if you never heard of me. [Posted in FML issue 2871]