Sorry SoCalYorkiLvr! I just realized you were the one offering the free legal help!! Perhaps you could come up with the application as well!

The application needs to have contact info,info on the dog's age and overall health, Vet contact info, medical needs info, places for 3 references contact info and an statement that we will pay a portion of the vet bill after the procedure is performed.

Have I left out anything?

eensor:

How do we determine "need"? I think in the usual situation where a person needs financial assistance they have to provide financial info to prove need. Do you want income and expenses and "hardship" info on the application?

I'd be happy to help out in any way I can with this. Although, I do have to admit that I won't be able to donate anything for a month or so, we have run into a bit of a financial situation here (car problems, ew) So, just let me know if you need anything :)

I think so. Could be pm'd to us so that the applicant isn't subject to embarrassment by posting it on the public board?

Aimee, perhaps you could help with the decision making process and help organize online auctions!

Whatever you need, I'm there :)

With regret i have to admit that ive had a number of disappointments over the internet as in the real world, but over the internet its easy to talk and many times we dont even question the story involved, i trust too easly ( my mistake ) i learned the hard way.
so i came up with the following idea, this is just my idea and might sound silly, but im thinking with u guys coz, this does come to show that ur willing to help a dog in need and to me u sound like u have ur hearts in the right place.... this wont be so much for me as i have health insurence, but i know what vet bills look like :eek:

What if a dog gets sick and needs surgery, the person can post the story with the adres, phone number and reference of the vet for the appointed person to track down and if its for real, then the ppl that are willing to donate can make the money over to an account the appointed person has opend for emergencies? and the person that needs help has to be a member of YT for lets say 6 months?
I dont know the story of the lady that lost her dog and didnt have funds to buy another one and the person that was kind enough to give her one was actually taken for a ride, its sad to know that things like this happen, but out of experience ive learnt that we are not all the same, ive gone flat on my face numerous times :rolleyes:

I totally agree. I've run into so many 'scammers' in life (real life & even online) that I don't trust people very often. The world is full of people trying to take advantage of anything they can, and I just see bad things happening if there aren't some sort of rules in place here. Call me cynical, but I don't see how hard it would be for someone to come here, find out about the goodwill of the people here and then devise some sort of plan to scam this money.

Does your pet insurance cover genetic problems? Ours didn't but that was years ago when we had it for Gracie.

We chose the none breeding policy because i am not going to breed, so it wont cover a sisserion section, but for the rest it covers vet and specialist from shots to xrays and surgery :)

Hello everyone. I am new to yorkie talk also. I am a college senior and think that it is great that you all are considering starting a fund to help members and their dogs in need. I agree that you must set some rules for the fund to make sure that one doesn't run across the board and post to get help, but I think it is a little outrageous to ask that a new member post a certain number of messages before being able to be eligible to recieve help. As a "newbie" I have spent most of my time on yorkie talk reading forums and learning all that I can about yorkies so that I can give my baby nothing but the best. Diesel is my first yorkie and I don't have a lot to offer in the discussions because this is a learning process for me. I think you should consider the fact that some may use this site as a reference site and may be able to offer input once we become more learned about our pets.

I understand if you are leery and don't want to participate. For those of you who do, I promise to try to handle the money like a good steward and to try my best to screen applicants with your help.


Elizabeth

count me in
 

I also would love to participate with helping....
This is a great idea !! the money going to the hospital to me does weed out scamming .

Chellie~

Thank you Chellie! I agree!

I just read all the posts regarding this and what a wonderful idea. Has anybody heard back from Admin with their thoughts towards this? So far I have not seen anything.

What a blessing it is to have so many people come together willing to help out Yorkie's in need.

There are many member's here with such huge hearts!!! :aimeeyork

Hi! I haven't heard back from Admin yet, but I think those of us who want to participate can feel fairly safe about our donations not being scammed if we pay the vets directly. Also, if by some slim chance we got scammed, we are more blessed for giving and the scammer is worse of for scamming.

I don't think this will happen with the safety nets we are going to put in place.

Would the easiest way to contribute would be to a Paypal account? Just let me know when you set this up and if you use the Paypal idea I can put funds in it immediately. Thanks

Would it be possible to get a document from the vet scanned into one of the forums for us to see the diagnoses of the yorkie. The document would have all the vets information and the yorkies information. This way you could check for sure if it is true or not. If it is legitimate, instead of sending the money to the person, we could send the money to the vet directly.

What do you think?

Yes, we've already decided to send the payment to the vet directly. As for scanning the documents I don't know. I'm hoping to have an online application on YT with vets contact info and contact info for three references of the applicant.

The Paypal idea sounds clean. How are we checking for legitimate financial need? The personal references are a good idea too, but I wouldn't want the $ to go to someone who could afford to pay for it themselves. We can include authorizations for verification forms for the applicant to check with their banks and their employer's as well. It sounds complicated, but it's really not. We could ask for their most recent tax return and three months bank statements. That's really easy. Of course, it would all be very confidential and only the disbursement committee would have access to those documents in order to respect and pritect their privacy.

I think this is a great idea and I will gladly donate.

I too would donate, because i know how hard it is, these vet bills can be. i'm a struggling college student/lvn ..

money is tight when you don't work a lot and have tons of bills to pay.. so i would more than be willing to donate if my buget allows. :D

This is a great idea, however, the problem with the Internet is anybody can lie. We're not saying our members here lie or anything, but it's VERY difficult to determine which Yorkie is "worthy" of the donation, if the Yorkie is even sick, or if there's a "shady" vet involved that can verify false stories. It may get to a point of who has the best "sob" story.

We're sure we can help a few people, but it just takes one bad apple to ruin it for us, and if we're talking hundreds or perhaps THOUSANDS of dollars here, it's just not worth it in the event we get scammed as a group. If anyone wants to start their own "Yorkie Medical Fund" for anyone, that's fine but we will now allow any links to it, and we don't feel right hosting a "Yorkie Medical Fund" ourselves here at YorkieTalk. If you want to personally donate money to any member, that is your right and you can do as you please. Also, there are Yorkie Rescue Groups or other worthy Yorkie-related charities you may donate to.

So, to sum it all up, a Yorkie Medical Fund is a great idea, we just don't think a YorkieTalk-sponsored one will work. Any comments, positive or negative are appreciated. Thank you.

That's EXACTLY what I meant.

Thanks for letting us know Admin :)

Exactly my thought too, BUT i have to say that the ppl that started this thread with caring/loving thoughts towards yorkies in need have their hearts in the right place and my compliments to them, i can appreciate ppl like that really, i would donate for sure if i knew the bucks were going to save an animal, but i would hate to be taken advantage of, i would recomend a good health insurence for ur pet, its not expensive and worth it in the long run... u just have to look around and find the right one for u!

After Aimme telling about the one incident that has already happened I think this is probably for the best. Plus trying to figure out whose dog has the most need could be a real challenge. It was a great idea though. Definitely worth debating over as we did.

After thinking about this for awhile, I believe ALL of our hearts are in the right place, but admin is absolutely right and I agree and understand this decision.

There are some great organizations for us to donate to which are already established, and the advice and friendship we give to those owners with problems do not count for nothing.

Well, then instead of organizing a Yorkie Medical Fund, maybe we can help the rescue center for yorkies. It could be a once a year thing where we donate to one shelter a year...or it can be another time frame...instead of a year it can be months. Everyone can donate money into an account...a time frame would be given...then that money can be donated to a rescue center. So, instead of small donations over a period of time, it can be one big donation, and it can be a yearly or monthly thing.

Not sure if this will work, but it's an idea.

What ever we decide to do...I will be more than happy to donate.

I totally agree that the funds should go to a Yorkie Rescue organization. Rather than any of us having to deal with the hastles of money handling I suggest that we contact the rescue and find out how to donate in the name of YorkieTalk. That way we send the money straight to them. A certain day, week, or month could be designated XX Rescue Day (whichever) and we would post a link on this site to theirs and they, in turn, could provide us with a running total of our donations. It would be very exciting to watch our total go up as more and more get involved. I would definately donate if it went straight to a legitimate rescue organization. Just a thought...

Me too :thumbup: