What is and why are we having an Art-Raiser for Scout's medical bills?
When we took Scout to the vets, all we were thinking about was how we could save our dear little cat. Acting with our hearts, we opened a credit plan through a company the emergency vets do business with. We thought initially that we could opt for the spaced out payment plan as was listed on the application but the vet we went to only participates in the 6 months no interest plan. As we are both students (undergrad and grad), our income is rather small and our current bill of $2002 (rounded to the whole $ and prior to follow up exams/blood work) is more than we can pay off in 6 months before it accumulates 26% interest. We do have $800 set aside from this year's tax refund that we plan to put towards the bill but it will only cover a portion. So in order to avoid having to play credit card shuffle (The game where you balance transfer to a different card with either a low or no balance transfer APR every time your current promo APR expires), we decided that we would attempt to raise the money.
But we didn't want to just beg for money. We wanted to offer gifts per se for donations. That is where the Art-Raiser comes into play. Initially we decided that we would make art to sell (aka give each piece as a gift to whomever donates the asked amount) and put the entire sale price (minus the fees of the sites sold through) into the fund for Scout. I (Becky) have multiple pieces that are already made and I planned to paint a series of bowling pin cats in honor of our little bowling pin cat, Scout. Josh on the other hand, had plans of making more of his femo sushi earrings and pins. Once the word got out about our little idea, others expressed interest in donating art to the cause. As this became a multitude of pieces of varying shapes and sizes, a simple sale no longer seemed as suitable. So that is how the Art-Raiser has morphed into sales for smaller pieces and auctions for larger. With all of the donation amounts (minus the fees of the sites) going directly towards Scouts medical fees.
What happens if you raise more than Scout needs?
Our current plan is to donate anything over the amount of Scout's medical bills to either the ASPCA or one of the local shelters in Pittsburgh such as the Animal Rescue League.
How do I participate in the Art-Raiser?
Click on the How to Donate tab for detailed information about your donation. If you are donating art to the cause, please email us at ArtRaiser.4.Scout[a]gmail[dot]com <-replacing [dot] with a . and [a] with @. Monetary donations can be made directly though the Paypal button. If you prefer the art... Small art once made by us and whomever else donates will be sold on the Etsy page. Larger pieces of art will be auctioned during the Art-Raiser Auction.
How can I find out how much has been raised?
You can either look at the Tally section on the right column of this blog or follow @ArtRaiser_Tally on Twitter. We will do our best to update the Tally daily depending on how occupied we are with Scout.
