And Now We Are Completely Overwhelmed!

I need to tell you about the very special day I had Thursday. As you know from the post before last, I overslept the first morning Gus was back (Thursday) and dragged into work, late. No sooner had I plunked down, than a group of my colleagues walked in my office. They laid three envelopes on my desk. It seems three collections had started up, independently, to help with Gus’ expenses (which, to date, have totaled a little over $2,300, between the ER and surgery). Somehow the groups got wind of one another and they came together to give me the love. Between them, the gifts cover almost a third of his expenses.

To say I was in puddles is an understatement. I kept a fairly calm exterior but, as soon as everyone left, I just broke down in tears of appreciation for the folks with whom I work. And there was a story that was touching above and beyond this. The 11 year old son of one of my co-workers insisted on giving two weeks of his allowance to help Gus get better. Even when his mom said that the gift she was giving was from the whole family, he still wanted to give his allowance. Wouldn’t that reduce you to puddles, too?

In the last few days, several gentle readers have written to Space Paws privately and encouraged me to allow our blog family to help, too. (The general message was: This isn’t for you, this is for Gus – let people show they care. They have offered, now accept the love.) I’ve given this a lot of thought and prayer and have decided to let our readers help, if they’d like to.

Let me explain that we’re just ordinary folks here, not a 501(c)(3) corporation. Nor do STScI or AURA sponsor us. We are just people who work at the 'tute who try, on our own time, to find homes for animals that we have found. We NEVER envisioned receiving money, except for the adoption fee that would help each of us defray the costs of shots, neutering, etc. Each of us was comfortable that we’d absorb any remaining costs. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of accepting help. We didn’t start the blog to solicit money.

My feeling was, when I took Gus to Doc Hess, I assumed the responsibility for his care and I’m good with that. I have not always been in a place in my life where I could do this, and odds are pretty good the day will come again when I can’t. But today, I’m blessed to be able to underwrite his care. A very wise friend pointed out that if I let folks help with Gus’ care, it would allow us to help more critters. And so, I changed my mind.

Because we are not a "business," the gifts will come to me. I designated a bank account, just for this, and I promise anything you send will go to Gus’ and the critters care. Receiving gifts through a personal PayPal account is a bit klugey, but if you’d like to send a tangible expression of your caring, click here for an explaination of how it works.

Finally, I promise to guard your email address as if it were my own - it will never leave Space Paws for any reason. And, of course, I'll keep everyone up to date on gifts and costs through the blog.

Again, thank you everyone at the ‘tute and on the intertubes, for all the wonderful moral, and now tangible, support you’ve given us. You’re simply the best!

Hugs,
Lisa

PS - Don’t miss the update on Gus (and Fred’n’Percy and the Angels) just below this post. I always worry folks will miss one when I do more than one post in a day.