MANY WAYS TO SAY "I LOVE YOU" - BERNER FUNDS!!

[Dr. William B. Neff]

"There are many ways to say, 'I love you!'" is a song that I remember from the Mister Rogers' Show, which by the way originates in Pittsburgh, PA!! Well, that song seems appropriate for the ways that people have found to make donations to the various Berner causes that need our help. Jim Johnson recently offered to generously donate a large part of his commissions from the sale of real estate to Berner causes and there are others who also donate part of their commissions to Berner causes. Here is a current list of what people are doing to help. Maybe we can add some other people to the list of things in new and creative ways to help Berners.

WAYS THAT PEOPLE HAVE FOUND TO HELP BERNERS:

---> Jim Johnson has his real estate license in Colorado. If someone from the "L", a local club, etc. refers him to a client in Colorado or any other city and he closes a deal, he will donate 25% of the commision back to the BMD cause of their choice and will donate an additional 25% to a BMD cause of his choice, so a total of 50% of his total commission will go to BMD charities. Contact Jim at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

---> Patt Wiegand is offering her collar covers to benefit BARC. Please visit the Canterbury Tails web site at: www.canterbury-tails.com

---> Pippa loves Berners, and she loves making things of all kinds. With this in mind, Pippa will donate 2.5% of her proceeds from the sale of her hand-crafted items. Another 2.5% will go to BEHAF. Contact Pippa at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

---> Ray Burgett will donate his total commission from any "new customer" orders from his Flint River Ranch Premium Pet Food order page to BARC. Ray estimates that will work out to 15 3/4 % of the total sales. Ray tells us this can only apply to new customers of FRR, so if you are thinking about feeding Flint River Ranch or are ready to make the switch, visit Ray's web site at: http://www.goodbernerfood.com/order.html
to benefit the rescue effort and your dog.

---> Pat Burgett will donate $15.00 from each of her original State Plaques ordered via her Art Studio web page: http://users.eoni.com/~eaglecap/pats_studio.htm
They have the State Flower, Tree, Bird, Flag and a head study of the purchaser's Berner. We all know that Pat does beautiful work, and now she is helping to save auctioned Berners destined for puppy mills with her art.

---> You can shop at iGive.com A percentage of every dollar paid by registered BARC shoppers comes to BARC. iGive.com gives you access to some great stores and services! When you visit, be sure to register your wish that your proceeds go to BARC, Inc. It's that simple! Here is BARC's website: http://www.barcinc.com

---> BARC, Inc. is now a dogstuff.com affliate. If you enter the dogstuff site by clicking on the icon at the BARC Website at: http://www.barcinc.com/Vendors.html BARC will earn up to 5% of profits from sales of merchandise from dogstuff.com

---> Any items that you purchase from Amazon.com will result in money being donated to the BMDCA Health Fund if you enter Amazon.com through Wendy Beard's Boris Books at: http://members.rogers.com/bernerboris/bernerbooks.html
Wendy Beard's Berner, Boris, has dedicated his free time to reading these books and has great pleasure in recommending books to you. In order to make your choice a little easier he has included comments from some of the berner-l members. Even he, as a humble dog, knows that your pockets aren't bottomless. However, should you decide that you must have some of these books for your own personal library then follow the links provided on the website and you will help Bernese Mountain Dogs far and wide, as any commission earned on the sale of these books through this web site will go to The BMDCA Health Fund.

BERNER FUNDS:

Someone mentioned that we need to have a list of all of the current Berner Funds accessible, and I agree that it is absolutely necessary! We have so many different funds in need of money, and all of us have a favorite emphasis. Here's the current list. The funds are listed alphabetically. Below the Berner funds are some detailed descriptions of other ways people have found to help! Contact them for details.

Be sure to BOOKMARK this site: http://www.berner.org/pages/charity.htm
It has all of the information in this post in case you misplace this important information that Pat Long and Hugh Hayes have compiled.

=> AKC/CHF BMDCA Donor Advised Fund - tax deductible donations can be sent to this fund. The CHF reviews scientific health related studies through a rigorous evaluation process. Studies it approves which might be of value to BMD's are reviewed by the BMDCA health committee. The Health Committee recommends some of these studies to the BMDCA board which ultimately decides which studies the funds in the AKC CHF BMDCA Donor Advised Fund will be used to support. Make your check payable to CHF, but on the memo line mark it for the BMDCA Donor Advised Fund. See: http://www.akcchf.org

=> BARC - Berner Auction Rescue Coalition - tax deductible donations can be sent to help cover the cost of rescuing Berners who are being auctioned or sold in situations where they could wind up in puppy mills. See: http://www.barcinc.com

=> BEHAF - Berner Emergency Health Assistance Fund - tax deductible donations can be sent to help cover unexpected emergency costs for Berner owners, or to a specific fund set up for a BEHAF Special Friend. See: http://www.behaf.com

=> Berner-Garde - tax deductible donations can be sent to the foundation that was established to help reduce genetic disease in the BMD. Berner-Garde maintains a database of disease incidence. See: http://www.bernergarde.org

=> Berner-L Brag Fund - donations can be sent to any specific fund, or payable to Pat Long (and those will be used to fund Health efforts, currently by being sent to the AKC/CHF BMDCA donor advised fund, or to any other fund of your choice). This is a voluntary donation; all brags are enjoyed on the Berner-L whether you wish to donate or not!!

=> BLEF - Berner-L Education Fund - send a check payable to Pat Long or to Lesley Rouillier to help finance educational efforts. Baseball cards and copies of a Poster based on the Dog World ad are available to help finance this fund, as well as some other posters for display at dog events. Contact Pat Long at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for details.

=> BMDCA Health Fund - donations can be sent to be used for funding health studies. (Donations are not tax deductible at this time.) Make your donation to the BMDCA Health Fund and send it to the BMDCA treasurer. Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] for information.

=> BMDCA Rescue Fund - donations can be sent to be used for assisting any BMDCA approved rescue in need of assistance. Clip art sales for the 1999 and 2001 disks will be funding this. (Donations are not tax deductible at this time.) Contact Pat Long at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] for clip art, or make your donation to the BMDCA Rescue and send it to the BMDCA treasurer.

Also consider donations to your regional club rescue fund, they are the ones that do the bulk of the work. Donate time, money, crates, blankets, leashes ? they can always use it! Want to foster for the dogs? Volunteer! Want to adopt a rescue? Let them know! See www.berner.org for regional and international club information.

=> Current Joye Neff Fundraiser (JNF) - She always has something fun going on, so make sure that whatever fund you want to donate to, isn't the subject of a current JNF, and participate and have a chance to win some important Berner Stuff for your collection! OR donate Stuff to Joye for the next fundraiser to make room for new Stuff! The Current Fundraiser web site is at: http://www.overthefence.com/raffle/BARC/

=> Light One Candle was established to allow people to donate money to fund lobbying and educational efforts. For details see: http://141.211.110.76/Candle/lightonecandle.jpg

See, THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO SAY "I LOVE YOU" TO YOUR BERNERS!!!!

Joye Neff (Samantha and Ben)
Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh, PA