TLDR: For the message about free art, see the very bottom. I'm also offering sketches to those who donate to the cause, see details below

The rescue I am involved with has had a tough past few months. There was a recent situation involving 17 rats saved from a particularly nasty circumstance, many of whom were ill due to the conditions =(. For examples of past rescues, take a look at my Fonzie and his horrific story linked here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4170728/

This is the message sent out to the foster list last night. For those wondering, I've been involved with this rescue for 3 years now, this is the first time that such a plea has been made. It's bad enough, it may jeopardize the future of the rescue--this rescue is one of the largest in the country and serves from Maine to New Jersey and would be a major loss. With the amount of abuse pet rodents suffer due to ignorance, neglect, hoarding and willful abuse this would also be a blow to anyone who believes in humane solutions like rehabilitation.

On this St. Patrick's Day we are wondering where OUR pot of gold is?
The last 3 months have been rainbow-less for MRR as we have taken in
several sick and injured rats, each requiring antibiotics, revolution,
surgery and the like. Our bank account is depleted and we now have
barely enough to cover an emergency visit and we do not have enough
money to pay for our next shipment of Harlan Food to restock the
store.

This is a plea (something we absolutely HATE doing) for financial help
from our supporters and friends. If everyone could donate just $5 or
$10 to our paypal account (ratsrule2007@aol.com) we might be able to
get our safety cushion back and get enough for our Harlan order.

This is feeling fairly serious as we are trying to figure out how we
are going to be able to stay afloat much longer. We appreciate
anything you can donate! You will receive a personal thank you card
and will provide you with a tax deductible receipt if you ask. As an
additional bonus, for every $10.00 you donate, you will get to name a
rat and your name and gift will be mentioned on that rat's page!

Thank you so much for your continued support and loyalty to MRR and
the rats in our care.

Please feel free to pass this along!

Their website, so you can learn more about the organization and their cause: http://www.mainelyratrescue.org

Sketches for Donation:

I am about to move in two months, so cannot do my normal, open, "get a commission worth what you paid," but I *can* offer sketches to each person that donates. I have plenty of sketches in the scraps and currently on my main page to give you an idea of my style.

-G-X though there are some situations/ideas I won't draw. If this is an issue, ask before donating.
-Any amount qualifies for a sketch, but amount will effect quality.
-minimum $10 for 2 characters interacting, minimum $20 for background
-one per person, regardless of donation amount
-I can offer full ink/color 1 char pics to the *first 5* donations over $30
-proof of donation must be shown, in the form of an email or whatever
-I'll start the sketches tonight, but the deadline on these depends on how long the list gets. Please understand that I personally get no money from this, so these may need to take a backseat to other projects that help pay rent. I will keep a public list for people to follow and promise to have everything finished by June at absolute latest (if maybe I get swarms of donators? *crosses fingers*).

Colored Pics (for the first 5 donations of $30 or more):
1.  Taigitsune ($50!)
2.  fuzzypaws ($30)
3.  umberk ($private)
4. NDRS ($30)
5.  windncr ($100)


FREE ART


No donation needed!

I am offering a free art contest to anyone who links and/or reposts this journal with a link. You can both donate and do this. There will be one TWO MULTIPlE winners, chosen randomly.  tikky has offered to do a second sketch for the drawing, so now there's twice the chance to win something JUST BY PIMPING


How to participate:
-Make a journal with a catchy/descriptive title (submissions work too if they bring attention to the cause)
-link back here
-Post in the comments here with a link to the journal entry you made
-Saturday night I will use random.org to pick two lucky people from the comments


EDIT:
 dipper  demicoeur  yuchidayena  cheshire  aquaunga also offered to do stuff for winners! Your chances of winning are high, so pimp now!