Lame Duck Board Has to go - Can you make the commitment?

Most people do not know that I was not around for the past few days, shelter related, but I had a day and a half where I was able to read a book on fundraising, and do some serious thinking.

My first idea was to come home and just jump into the financial stuff and not worry about the day-to-day expenses, worry about the bigger picture, and the little one will take care of itself, right?

As I was reading, the more I started to realize that this shelter is one of the many non-profits that end up with the “tin cup” begging. Basically one person who does it all. The ideas I have are sound, but in order to make things work it takes involvement and commitment, and since the help falls short, our fund raising ends up me with a tin cup begging, or running in a panic because the “wolves” are at the door.

Well, I am back, and reality hit me, I can’t not worry about the day to day expenses of the shelter, I can’t not worry about how the shelter will be dealt with if I by some miracle find a job, I cringe at that. Why do you ask? It means another step back in what I was making. Not that I was making a ton when the cancer hit, but $9 (net it ended up more like $6.50 net) an hour helped with the shelter bills.

The more I read, the more I thought and realized that things need to change. I will be the first to admit that yes, I am not the easiest person to deal with. It isn’t that I mean to be stand offish, or act like I don’t care, but I have so much on my plate, which tends to stress me out and make me a bit (ok a lot) forgetful, scattered with lots of piles of things that I need to do, and absolutely need to.

So, where is this all going? The shelter’s Board of Directors. It is time for change. A lame duck board needs to be replaced.

Now how do you replace a Board of Directors? Well, this is a start. Are you willing to make a commitment to this shelter? Are you willing to follow through on projects and building on a donor base? Are you willing to take a step beyond your comfort zone in order to help the ferrets in the shelter? Can you make that step to help the shelter be better than it ever has been and provide more help to Northern Ohio?

If you can, or think you can, please email fufs@sbcglobal.net and put Board of Directors in the subject line.

I will find a spot to hold a meeting, where we can sit and discuss what a working Board is, find ways of organizing tasks, and if it is a commitment that you can hold to.

I made the comment to a friend of mine, if I could somehow get volunteers to commit four hours a month to the shelter, it could make miracles. The response I got was not one I expected from a friend, ferret owner, and ferret advocate. Her response? “Well, four hours is this that and the other thing in my life.”
I am expected to find time to care for all of the ferrets, run to the vet, fund raise, beg, nurse sick animals, answer the phone, shop for supplies, clean the cages, do ferret laundry (yes, there are two ladies who help, but I still have tons) do human laundry, do human grocery shopping, go to the doctors, pay shelter bills (after I beg hard enough) pay human bills, figure how what I can skip in the human bills to pay for shelter, help ferret owners, and do education programs. Oh, and talk to my husband, and kids, as well as fit my pets into the equation.

You have to understand, I am not trying to sound like I am threatening anything, but I am trying to be realistic, and trying to make others see the position I am in, the shelter is in.

We still have the opportunity for a building, an opportunity to make things happen for ferrets in Northern Ohio.

However, is it fair to expect this couple to do it all? ABSOLUTLY NOT! This shelter is part of the community, and I am asking the community to become involved, to volunteer, to become a board member or to volunteer time on a committee, or volunteer here.

There can be a Board member or two out of state, but that does not excuse you from committing and following through. Everyone that serves will be getting emails on what is committed to, and updates as things progress. General meetings for the board at first can be once a month then as things grow and progress adjusted accordingly.

This is not glamorous, this has no pay, you have to work, and keep your commitment, but it will not take all of your time, just a few hours.

The shelter is dependant on your involvement. I cannot do it all alone, I have been begging for help, pleading.

The ultimate goal for the shelter? To be in it’s own building, with a working donor list, grants being written and received, an example of what a community working together can accomplish. Who knows even have a few paid positions. That way, I can hand the reins over to the next Director, and just volunteer.

The goal is the shelter to continue on independent of me. As the way things are currently, unless someone says, I will take over, there is no shelter without me, and that is not how it should be.

I am a human, a person, with (believe it or not) real emotions. I do not like being standoffish, I do not like coming across as a mean witch, or a whiney person, I do not want people to think “oh that poor person”. I am a person stretched far beyond what most of you can imagine. Emotionally, financially, time, I have nothing left.

I need help, I need you to make a commitment to the ferrets here at the shelter, to follow through and help build this shelter into something that shows what a group of people working together is capable of.

Are you with me?