Nychsa

nevjoe wrote: You need to be rescued Joe??? I thought you did the rescuing!!! :ohmy:

Shamelessmuse wrote: Hi there Muse! I feel you re: the time factor - most of the work for me will need to be done on line and in the evening. I may be kicking off two contracts - one in FL and one in CA, so I may be bouncing all over the country for a while. But, most everything can be done on line. As for the web site - we use Earthlink for the company and they have templates we can use to kick off the web site. That can be done within an afternoon. Once the board is together and we decide what needs to be on the web site, it will be easy enough to put together - I can then make an account for you and you can do some marketing magic to it. I think in terms of the board, we'll need to be mindful of everyone's time constraints, so that's why we need to make the review process for applications efficient. So - I hear you! But I think we can make it work, particularly if we rotate board members so the same group of people don't get burned out doing it. Cheers! Terri

MazyAK wrote: Super Bruce! Board member? RE: different locations - we can use PayPal as a coversion service - it does have a service charge, but I think it isn't cost prohibative. I think once the board gets into the nitty gritty details of implementation plan, it will shake out which international monetary service would serve this purpose best. I should have an update on Monday was to whether or not we can use Skydancer as the 501c Charity vehicle to initiate the program under. Cheers! Terri

Animalgreygail wrote: That is a great idea! I know every time I'm at Petco and I pay, a message pops up on the card swiper as to whether or not I wish to donate a dollar to a particular fund and I always select 'yes'. Is that the program you are talking about?

Dan, Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'll brief the board on our non-for-profit (Skydancer's Gate - it's a Buddhist non-for-profit) this weekend about this potential charity fund. Once they're good with it (I'm sure they'll be quite excited about it too - the head of our school, who is a very well respected and known teacher within the community is an avid bird lover and has two cackatoo's that he loves very much) then I'll get with Citibank to set up a separate account for it. After that maybe we can do a system call for voluteers to serve on the board? We dont' want to burdon people's time, so maybe if we say the term is six months and we can rotate like that? That way we won't burn board members out. We need to set up the governance framework for the fund. Then I can work with Muse on the web site, and once we have that up and running, then we might want to go out with a system call for donations and for applications for people who have rescues and need assistance to cover some bills relative to their rescue. What do you think? Am I missing any steps? Cheers! Terri

That's awesome Muse. Congrats! I'm sure you were anxious about this visit and it looked like you handled it like a champ. Congrats to sweet Greyce too- she's getting there!!

Kat, That's great! I think if at least five people are willing to serve on the board, then we've got a 'go'. Terri

Ok - for the interested parties - T Rowe Price has a fund for charity purposes. They actually have it set up as a separate company. The fund is called a Donor Assisted Fund (DAF). It's pretty straight forward - we set up an account, donations go into the account, and the fund manager invests the funds for us. We pull money out as needed to issue grants. The rub is we need $10K to open the account. So, I don't think we'll be able to raise that immediately. So my buddy said to set up a regular account and kick off the project and once we get the 10K critical mass then put the money into the fund for investment purposes. I'm going to look also at the Principal and Vanguard and see if they have an option that allows for a lower start up. Our 401K is with Principal and I've done things with Vanguard before in the past. Either way - it looks like we can kick it off by simply opening a regular non-for-profit bank account. I'm meeting with our board for the non-for profit we have set up for other charities this weekend and can mention that we'd want to get a companion bird charity going. Cheers! Terri

lovemyGreys wrote: LOL Thanks Tracy! It's kind of scary - it looks like the business world has assimiliated me! :ohmy: Usually when people ask me what I do for a living I say I'm a security engineer by trade - which I am :lol: But, I have been running a business for the past five years, so I guess it's starting to get into my blood - my partner said he's assimiliate me - looks like it snuck up on me

Shamelessmuse wrote: Yeah Musey! That would be super. I think we could push this forward and get these funds distributed rather quickly. So, you're up for joining the board? I don't want any of these families feeling disheartend and discouraged, and have to watch one of these distressed animals suffer even more because the costs simply become too much.

Hi there Tracy! In terms of how the fund would be set up re: management: I think it should consist of volunteers from the AG community. A grant board should be formed with a chairperson, treasurer, and secretary. Once this is set up, then the grant criteria should be established (and those shouldn't be hard and fast - they should have general guidelines that support the board being able to make quick decisions). Once those things are set up and the infra-structure established, seed money placed, then the fund should be ready to go! Applications could come in via the web site. The board can take a look at these maybe once/week or something of that sorts, make decisions and then fund manager can then cut the checks. As part of the implementation process the board should decide what kind of verification process should be required: i.e. vet bill, purchase receipt etc... Does that sound like it could work? Cheers! Terri

Greetings everyone! I've dropped my contact an email - and should be hearing back soon. I have a non-for-profit corp set up that handles other charity work, so putting a fund like this under that corporation wouldn't be a problem. I think once the fund details are known and it looks like a 'go', then people who are interested in being a part of the process can send me a pm. I'll create a distribution list. This group would need to establish the process for distributing funds, fund reporting requirements (does the collective group receive monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual reports about the status of the fund?). We should decide if there are upper limits to how much we can distribute or will that be handled on a case by case basis and the availability of the funds etc.. In general house keeping stuff etc. I think it also needs to be determined if the fund will only be for AG's or for all parrots. Once the fund is set up, I think seed money needs to come from pet stores I mentioned previously, so that would be my next step - contacting them. Then a web site needs to be stood up - that can happen within an afternoon and then that needs to get linked to various interested sites where individuals can make a donnation or apply for funds. Those are just some of my initial thoughts, I'm sure there's more to come. Now that would be very rewarding - helping these people who are doing so much for the Parrot communities!

Ok - I'll ping my T Rowe Price contact and find out how this would work with a geographically disbursed population - I'm not sure that is an obstacle as so many global initiatives happen these days. Will get more details!

Greetings everyone, There are so many good people who are taking in distressed animals, and I imagine, while this is a labor of love, it is a tremendous strain emotionally and financially. I'm really feeling a strong need to somehow pitch in and help. So, I'm wondering how much interest there would be in the Grey community in standing up a grant fund where people can make tax deductable donations, and then have this fund make grants to people who are rescuing these poor babies. The grants don't have to be tremendous amounts of money - just something to cover a vet bill, or maybe a special cage, or maybe a rescue start up kit. Just put a little bit of extra help into the lives of these families. If there is interest, I could ask a friend at T Rowe Price about it and specifically what it would take to stand up the fund and have a professional fund manager, like T Rowe manage it. A collective "board" could be established to develop grant criteria (quick and simple process - but effective) and review grant requests - again - simple process as these families need help quickly IMO, and don't need to be hassled with tons of paper work. Donations could be as small as 5 dollars, 5 dollars here and there add up! I'm sure we can find some fund "starters" who would make a larger donation (I know I would bug Petsmart and Petco to kick in a nice amount! Off set some of the pain they might be producing by buying from mass breeders!). If there is interest - let me know and I'll investigate this - setting up a fund is pretty easy. Cheers! Terri

Awwww, that is SO SWEET - Hang in there! It sounds like he's just warming up to melting your heart!

Judy, When the outdoor aviary is built, I believe they're going to let people visit the birds. Right now they're not permitting visitors to the inside aviary as these birds took a LONG time to recover from their traumatic situations, they are stable and healthy now and the caretakers are concerned that if their environment is too disruptive they'll become too stressed out. I did get to meet two little grey boys on Sunday though. They're beautiful!!! Ani Pema said she believes they're about 15 years old. It's amazing the work she's done with them. They were not shy with my coming in, they were curious, came towards me to get a better look (one gave me the wolf whistle! LOL Make a middle aged woman feel good :lol: ) All their feathers are nice and plush, they both looked nice and healthy, big boys actually - bigger then my Bella for sure! The center also has a parrot toy work shop where the care takers share some of their crafts in making toys for the birds. I know one of the things they did for the really shy ones was to create an indoor jungle enviornment with hanging ropes - big thick ones - that the parrots like to shred and hide behind if they're unsure of a situation. One of the cockatoos is VERY chatty - apparently the birds were fussing at each other and Ani Pema came in and spread her arms up and said "Quiet! I'm big bird!". Couple hours later, that cackatoo said to her "hi there Big Bird" LOL!

What a beautiful girl!! Thanks for sharing Muse! Bella and Jiggy now go poop poop on command and they are always quite proud of it. The thing we don't have down is "no poop poop" :woohoo: I thought I would give that command a try while Bella was on my shoulder and she heard POOP POOP and I could see this glint of recongition in her eye - she heard 'poop poop' but didn't connect the "no" and she promptly when So my shirt got hit again :dry:

spookyhurst wrote: Hi there Spooky, the Temple staff are originally from Maryland. The temple's director was temporarily (10 years) in AZ and recently moved back to Maryland. While in AZ the director became aware of the problems with companion birds and initiated the rescue (they also have a dog rescue which is still in AZ). When they all moved back to Maryland, the birds came with them as the birds are now accostomed to these caretakers and the promise they made to the birds was that they will never be left by their human companions again. They built a new aviary in Maryland and I believe the outdoor aviary will be completed next summer.

(((Bailey))) Here's a huge cyber hug. Hang in there. I'm sure you'll get tremendous support here, advice, friendship and most of all understanding. There seem to be so many stories like this - it's really very distressing. When people visit us here and marvel at my CAG's antics, I'm finding myself putting TONS of emphasis on how much time I spend with the birds and how much care and interaction they need. I'm finding myself subconsciously trying to discourage people from frivously going out and getting a Grey. There is a rescue aviary in Poolesville Maryland. It's run by the Buddhist temple there - it's one of the temple I attend. The Buddhist nun who runs the aviary is a veterinarian as well. I'm wondering if I can talk her into dropping by every now and then here on this site and providing some advice to people such as yourself who find themselves suddenly confronted with a traumatized rescue. I think she'd be a great source of information as this aviary specializes in rehabilitating severely traumatized birds. In the mean time, if you want to contact her via the website, here is the aviary's web site: www.garudaaviary.org - her name is Ani Pema. Her entire life is dedicated to helping distressed animals - I'm quite sure she'll be happy to provide you with advice. Best to you - hang in there Terri<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/01/29 14:57

Cosmo is gorgeous Ladybug! I'm sure after staying with you for a while, his beautiful feathers will return and you'll see the rewards of your love and compassion. I'm really glad to have "cyberly" met you

That's interesting to me Icera - my daughter's beagle really took to my conure Jiggy (even though Jiggy didn't take to her!). The beagle really enjoyed just "hanging out" with Jiggy. However, the beagle read a little too much into their friendship and when Jiggy made himself a "nest" in my bed and the beagle thought she'd just hop in and join him, Jiggy (also nick-named "Alexander" for good reasons!) came charging out of his nest, beak gaping :evil:open and chased the beagle off the bed! I've never seen the plump little beagle move so fast in my life! :huh:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/01/29 03:43

Hi, I wanted a nice "environment" for by birds as well, so I have palms around the cages. The cages are nestled into this nook in the great room where all the action is (I have an open architecture where my kitchen opens into the breakfastroom which opens into the living room. The birds are right in the middle - in the breakfast room. So - at first blush, I was quite pleased with the end result. But the birds really like those palms! They like to sit in them, AND they like to chop on the branches! Bella has one of my nicer ones down to two branches :ohmy: She's playing this game with me where she'll sit on a branch, and start chomping and I'll shoo her away. She'll squawk while hurrying to climb up on her cage, and the minute I turn my back, she's back in the palm chomping away. :angry: I did get a little bit of poetic justice the other day when she was at it again, and she was in such a hurry to chomp the branch that she didn't realize she was sitting on the end that would fall if she chomped it in half :woohoo: Well sure enough, took one good chomp before I got up off the couch to shoo her away, and she chomped it right out from underneath her :whistle: Of course I picked her up and gave her tons of hugs and comfort, but I did feel just a tiny bit satisfied that I got myself a little bit of poetic justice The other rub with the plants is that anything and every thing they are eating drops into the pots and I'm finding myself pulling all kinds of strange growths out of the pots. I think if I left it, I'd have a jungle growing there pretty soon!

Geezum Dan, I can't imagine how your heart must have stopped during that incident! But, your story was a good one for me to hear. I've been very particular about putting the birds in their cages if I have to go upstairs just for a few minutes. Sometimes I feel so badly because they're in the middle of foraging or playing and I have to interrupt them. But after hearing your story - you've reassured me that I'm doing the right thing!! Thanks!! Terri

Hi Karla, No idea if he'll be ok - I think that depends on what part of the country you're in. If you're up north, I'd be very concerned it would be too cold. The cold at the higher altitudes can be quite extreme and the cargo hold has no heating. I wouldn't risk it in the cargo hold. In fact, I'm not sure I'd ever really let my birds travel in the cargo hold. I don't think my birds would do well in that situation. Good Luck Terri

Awesome Hannah! Juji looks like a confident little bugger! I'm sure you're in for a VERY good time!