Dear Animal Lovers,

Hi animal lovers! My name is Terry. I'm the founder of German Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue. I'm shown here with Angel, who is working as a mascot for GSDAR. We would like to ask for your help. We need everyone who loves animals to please help in whatever way you can. Please help by becoming a contributing member today.

You are cordially invited to join GSDAR today! There is an enormous problem with respect to homeless animals. This is a nation-wide problem which effects every city, town and municipality. It is estimated, conservatively, that in America over 7-million homeless animals are destroyed annually. Many more homeless animals are abandoned and live the lives of strays upon the streets of America. The problem is getting worse as people lose their homes to foreclosure and find themselves unemployed.

In the little community where I live, I see stray cats and dogs (animals wandering at large) every day! Often they have no collar and responsible owners are no where to be found. There is no animal control or humane shelter in the city or county where I live. There is no money to even fund animal control as this is a very economically depressed area.

Because of the magnitude of the problem, I founded Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc. To set an example for everyone else I began by rescuing a homeless animal myself. Her name is Angel. Angel is a very lovable dog that someone just dropped beside the road in the middle of the night and then drove off, leaving for dead! This sort of thing happens quite often in rural Mississippi, and makes one wonder how people can be so cruel and inhumane to God's creatures?

I hope that Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc., will help solve the problems with homeless animals that exist in rural Mississippi. But I can not do this alone. I need the help of other people who believe as I do that it is cruel and inhumane treatment of animals to just abandoned dogs and cats and leave them on the side of the road to die. Why I've even heard of people taking their dogs out and shooting them or burying them alive because they can not afford their care! Such behavior is quite barbaric and unnecessary in America, as there are many people who could provide forever homes for dogs and cats, if there just were the organizations and funding to support efforts to enable the rescue and adoption of animals.

That is why I started Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc. Initially I am paying for everything out of my own pocket. As a graphic artist and designer I am making designs and photographs related to dogs, cats and other animals. I hope to be able to use my talents in this way to help raise some money to help get Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc. started. But I can't do everything myself. I need the help of others who want to work to solve the various problems associated with animal rescue. If you want to help, please join GSDAR today! Be sure to attach a letter of introduction to your membership application and let me know how you can help.

Starting an animal rescue organization is not easy, especially when there is no money to even get up and running. The dilemma is that proposed by the classic question, "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" If there is no money to start an organization, and it cost money to even start an organization, then how does one launch an organization? Obviously a private individual must pay the initial amounts associated with incorporation. That is what I have done; footed the initial costs out of my own pocket. This includes the tremendous investment of time, effort and talents that has been involved.

Indeed, there is a tremendous need for animal rescue and all the work associated with educating the public about the need to spay, neuter and adopt homeless animals. Yet even to establish an organization funds are needed. How does one raise funds when to even solicit funds an organization must be established and pay all the various fees and costs associated with incorporation? Everything costs money and it is not free to incorporate or to get a 501(c)(3) tax exempt classification with the IRS. There are expenses involved.

Funds are needed immediately to enable payment of operating costs and expenses. There are many fees and costs even associated with organizing, incorporating and operating as a nonprofit group. For example, it cost $50.00 (plus postage) just to incorporate, not to mention the many hours required to research, draft and prepare the Articles of Incorporation. Also, it costs $50.00 to register as a charitable organization should an exemption not be obtained. Although these expenses are low, they still must be paid. How does one pay any organizational expenses when said donations that are tax deductible cannot be raised, as no one wants to make a large donation until they can qualify for a tax exemption? This presents a dilemma to any new formed, grassroots organization which wishes to incorporate. Because there are no funds, I'm currently paying for everything out of my own pocket! So I guess I'm the chicken laying the egg! :-)

Now the IRS is requiring a "user fee" of between $300.00 to $750.00 just to file for a tax-exempt status! (See IRS Form 1023: Part XI: User Fee Information) This is an outrageous fee for the Federal Government to be charging new nonprofit groups and is an impediment to the creation of new, much needed organizations, especially in economically depressed areas like Mississippi during the time of an economic depression. Plus there are additional costs associated with building, operating and maintaining an on-line presence and website. If you want to help GSDAR by paying these fees, please join GSDAR as a small business or corporation.

I am currently working to establish Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc. But I can't do everything alone. I need help and would like to invite everyone who is interested in finding solution for the problems associated with homeless animals to please join GSDAR.. I am working to identify people to serve as volunteers, directors, officers, professional donors, advisers, and/or to contribute to GSDAR in other ways. I'm putting together a mailing list and hope to be able to use this to build a membership organization over time. Having established GSDAR as a nonprofit organization, membership applications are now available on-line. Your membership will help raise funds to provide for all the initial expenses of incorporation, obtaining a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and operating GSDAR as a nonprofit corporation. You support is greatly appreciated.

Please join GSDAR today! A big part of the problem is that people are apathetic; they just don't want to see that there is an enormous problem related to homeless animals. People do not want to think about the 7-million dogs and cats that are destroyed every year in America. People don't want to think about the millions upon millions of abandoned, neglected and abused animals in America. Nor do people want to think about the problems associated with over-population of animals. And because people do not want to think about these serious problems, they hardly can be expected to take positive action to help solve the problems.

Yet unless people become involved in finding solutions, then the many problems associated with homeless animals will continue. They will get worse before they get better. Hence I established Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue, Inc. as an organization dedicated to solving the problems associated with homeless animals. That is why the phrase, "For the benefit and enjoyment of homeless animals," was coined. Unless we see and recognize problems and begin to work together to solve those problems, they will only get worse over time.

That is what has happened in Mississippi and other areas; people have looked the other way or ignored the homeless animal problem. One reason for this may be that the economic situation for people themselves is so bad, how can they be expected to help homeless animals when they can't even provide food, shelter or clothing for themselves or their own children? But you see, I've always been an animal lover, and regarded pets as members of the family, as God's creatures, which can not be thrown out with the garbage or abandoned on the side of the road and left to die. There is no excuse for allowing such inhumane treatment of animals!

Therefore I would like to invite everyone who loves animals to help me. Please join GSDAR today! Along with your membership application please send me a letter of introduction. Tell me about yourself and your experience with respect to your most loved dogs, cats or other pets. Tell me about yourself and your interest in trying to help solve the many problems associated with homeless animals. Tell me how you might be able to help. There is an immediate need for volunteers and patrons who may be in a position to grant a few wishes. Then perhaps together we can begin to do that work and to change the world to make it a better place for all God's creatures, great and small!

In kind regards,
Terry Lynch
President GSDAR