Thanks guys. After a lot of thinking and major persuasion from others on this site to include a updated letter regarding my situation I have decided to do it. This does play hard on my heart as you have read on here that I ran into a lot of negative people not saying nice things. But a member on here did remind me that all the people here on the Bubbler have supported me from day one and followed my story from the beginning. As Demon71 said, he was one of the ones who was trying to help me come up with my new business name. Even when the bad people are saying negative stuff I know not to take it personally, but it still hurts. I am a human being. I just want to thank everyone on here who has read my story and gave me support. As Lauri did before, she made my letter outstanding in her way of writing, so she took it upon herself to do it again. Thank you Lauri (and I am still praying for your family). Thanks everyone.
Kelly
p.s. I got a name on an attorney to call tomorrow. Say a prayer he will help.
Dear Friends of Finned Friends Fish Rescue:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! To everyone who donated time, empathy, and money to help save my Non-Profit Fish Rescue from immediate electrical disconnection this month, I want to thank you a thousand times! That was the total amount needed to prevent the power company from disconnecting the electrical lifeline on 12,000 little gilled swimmers. Your generosity purchased thirty days in which we expect to make strides in resolving the cruel twist of fate which created this crisis. I will continue to desperately search for a viable way to keep the power on in the months to come, but I am still in need of any emotional, technical, financial, and legal help you can provide to help put this nightmare behind me. Your prayers are always welcome!
Again, my name is Kelly Rector. Out of a deep sense of compassion, I began my home-based, dream business, Finned Friends LLC and KARS, aka Kelly’s Aquatic Rescue Services, to rescue and provide temporary foster fish care while seeking new homes for fish their owners no longer wanted. At age 39, my journey into this unique animal rescue began after I became disabled and could no longer work outside my home. Not wanting to just take a government handout, with the help of the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, I spent $25,000 to facilitate the expansion needed to accommodate a fish rescue within my home. This included the creation of a freshwater angelfish breeding facility to help offset the cost of the rescue operation. The expansion last year included the installation of new energy efficient equipment for heating, cooling, and air exchange. To make a very long, heartbreaking story short, I literally got scammed by the individual who installed the new equipment because my heating and electric bills not only TRIPLED, but the furnace broke down EIGHTEEN TIMES this past winter!
The original installer won’t return my phone calls. If, as I have been informed, he is filing for bankruptcy my options of recouping my financial losses and saving the Fish Rescue by winning a lawsuit against him will not even be a possibility. I am trying to get the equipment manufacturer to back their product and agree to repair the failed system at the very least with no additional cost because I put my family’s personal savings into the initial expansion and have nothing to fall back on. Even if the manufacturer agrees to do this, it will still take a miracle to get the huge electrical bills from this past winter under control and paid on time to prevent disconnection at some time in the future. I am in a really tight spot and at this time I am dependent upon the good will of everyone because I can’t even afford the cost of a legal retainer to hire an attorney to fight for us.
Thus, for one month at least, WPS will not be shutting off the electrical power on the 12,000 fish that I either rescued from surrounding communities or raised, to keep the rescue solvent. Like other rescues, Finned Friends is non-profit as there is no charge to rescue unwanted pet fish. They are not euthanized if a home can not be readily found. As a result of the publicity surrounding the Fish Rescue Electrical Emergency, Finned Friends has received an even greater number of fish rescue requests. Assistance of any kind that you can provide to help the Fish Rescue in our ongoing crisis will be extremely appreciated. In the short term, I continue to need money to pay huge outstanding electric bills so I can stop WPS from turning off the electricity this next month. In the long term, I need help to resolve the failure of the equipment which caused this catastrophe to happen in the first place.
I would truly appreciate any suggestions or technical advice you might have, or outright financial help you can give me. Please contact me by calling (715) 212-6637. If you can make any sized donation, please send it to: FINNED FRIENDS, 2004 Water Street, Merrill,
WI 54452.
My Website
http://www.finnedfriends.com]Finned Friends Aquatic Rescue & Angelfish Breeding has a DONATE tab on every page that goes directly to a PayPal account for FINNED FRIENDS if you can donate by this method.
I thank you, and so do 12,000 little angels and friends.
Sincerely,
Kelly Rector
