i am sorry but give me a break here...

why do people have to make these grant voting contests into something not quite really honest or right. i see we have dropped into third place in the petfinder contest..which is fine. except we got knocked down by a group that i have never heard of in my entire life that are based 30 minutes from here and they have not a single animal listed on their empty petfinder site too. i am supposed to believe that these folks are working so hard in rescue that they have even more supporters voting for them then we do? that is a big stretch of the imagination for me.

so i have to ask here...how exactly did they manage to surpass us in votes?

this is the last petfinder round we are going to be competeing in for at least a while....we have talked about it amongst ourselves and acknowledged that saints needs NOT to compete to give other worthy animal rescues a chance to win sometimes too. we have been in the top money 2 each time we have been in and we are really lucky to have the support that we have...and not everyone has that level of support but still do really great work and deserve a fair chance to win.

while we may need that money as much as the next guy...we have won it enough and it is only fair to let others have a chance to win too. but geez it pisses me off for ANYONE to try to win by not following the contest voting rules..one person, one vote per day..that is petfinders shelter contest rules in a nut shell. and the assumption is that the rescues who are actually competing are out there rescuing animals too.

from a practical point of view it is totally stupid to be risking your entire rescues current and future reputation just to win one thousand dollars. i am looking at that group that has surpassed us against any kind of reasonable odds and now i am wondering..how are they doing it? why are they doing it? and what does this mean about them as an ethical rescue?

i personally think it probably means quite a lot. if i am wrong here...i truly apologise but these folks who i have never heard of are winning with an entirely EMPTY petfinder site...no info on the front page, no animals listed as adoptable and not a single animal in their happy tales page. i am wondering about that....looks fishy to me.

and that brings up another point here about these types of contests for folks to consider. as voters it is our responsibility to try to ensure that whoever we actually are voting for will be able and willing to use the funds if won as they say. i personally am not too keen to be funding good intentions or pipe dreams or outright scams..i want clear and demonstrated histories and abilities to follow thru and meet the stated goals so i know my vote will do the most good and it wasn't wasted. so i look into the groups that i am voting for as best i can (being a non techno kind of person) to make sure they can and will do whatever it is that they are hoping to win for.

i said before to vote with your heart...vote for whatever you feel is the best place available to get what you want done in this world...but vote with your head and your integrity too. i want to make sure that my votes count for something real and achievable, not for political gain, not for personal gain, not so saints or any other rescue will win at any cost.

that is how i find and keep my personal ethics intact... this is not just about applying for grants or trying to win supporters, donors or contests to fund what we do here..it is about seeking out these special opportunities and doing the best we can..honestly, ethically and within the stated mandates to meet the needs of the animals here. and one of the very real needs these animals have...is to be cared for by humans who are honest and caring and committed to doing things in the most ethical and responsible ways that they can.

so that is my thought for the day...if we or anybody else asks us to vote for us in whatever...make sure that the vote you are giving is about doing the right thing. do your research, look at what you are voting for and make sure it is something that you fully support and are comfortable with...if not use your vote somewhere that fits with your ethics and values and beliefs a bit better.

i vote with my heart, i vote with my head, i vote with my conscience and i vote by the stated rules and actual winning or losing c0mes right after that...it truly is not if we win or lose...it is about how we choose to play the game. i don't want to feel sleazy or embarrassed about how we played...win or lose...i want to feel proud that we tried as hard as we could and followed the rules...then either/or can be lived with ok.