As promised to all of you, I am putting pictures of the receipts. Also, after I donated, I wrote an email to the organizer of JEARS. I told him about SL, about how Project FUR Japan worked and let him know that just because the donation was in my name, that it was from ALL of you. I also asked him to please post a thank you to us on the JEARS website or their Facebook page. I am posting also a screenshot of the email he sent me.

Once David from JEARS posts the thank you, I will also show you that, as that is more proof than ever that the money was donated.

WE WERE THE BIGGEST DONATION THEY RECEIVED! Reading those words brought me chills. I cannot thank you all enough, ever in my life, for helping me speak for these animals and bringing them warmth, food, shelter, and most of all, love.

I ask all of you to please stay in the Project FUR Japan group as in a few months I would like to hold another fundraiser for animals. As there has been so many lately in SL, I wouldn’t do another big one like Project FUR for at least 6 months but I do want to start a small permanent fundraiser for animals in general. Any ideas are welcome from any of you!

There is a few things I want to review with everyone before I donate this money.

Firstly, I did contact LL about raising my cash out limit a few weeks ago. The highest they will let me cash out daily is $2500.00 USD, which as you know, this will take a bit to cash out. I had no idea, when Project FUR Japan was just a dream in my head, that it would ever get as big and successful as it was. As time went on, I received many instant messages in-game telling me things that got me truthfully, a bit nervous. Things I never thought about. Things like that PayPal has to report to the IRS when anything is donated over $20000 USD. Questions like “What happens when the IRS contacts you because LL reported that you cashed out such a large amount of money” These are things I never thought of when I started Project FUR Japan because as I said, I NEVER in my life imagined it would get so big.

I have made a few calls to PayPal about it. I have also, two days ago, written to LL asking them if there is any steps I should take on their end as they will be reporting this amount being cashed out to the IRS at the end of the tax year. I am still awaiting a reply from them. I have even called two accountants RL about the project to explain to them what is going on and asking their advice. Both accountants, in short, stated I don’t need to do a thing because this was just a one-time fundraiser. How much I made them understand about our world of Second Life, I am not to sure about. To explain it to anyone that has never heard about it, as you all know, is not an easy thing. So being that I am not sure either of them fully grasped what Second Life is and how it works (cashing out, etc,), I am still left uneasy because I do want to make sure this is done the correct way.

So today, I am going to make an appointment with an accountant, to sit with them face to face, and talk to them fully about the situation so that I am sure I do this the legal way, with all the necessary steps taken that need to be taken. I would like to tell all of you that I will be taking the accountant fee for the appointment out of the Project FUR Japan donations. This I know is legal to do as it does have to do with the fundraiser. I did check and confirm this with one of the accountants I had spoken on the phone to. If anyone is an accountant and have any words of wisdom, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Now for the good stuff:)

I really don’t know how to even start to go about thanking all of you, for all of your support, all of your time spent, all of your donations, all of your heart, and all of your kind words through this project.

First, to every person that reached out and donated your creations. With all the fundraisers recently going on in Second Life, you graciously took the time to create yet another wonderful creation of yours to make sure that these animals received all the help they could.

Second, to all the bloggers. With every blog, came another person that read your blog that didn’t hear about our project, bringing these animals even more help. We thank you for shining the light where it needed to be so that others would be aware.

Last but not least, to the people who stood by my side this entire time from day one. The people who did this project side by side with me. To Tristan, Sanura, and Isaiah, the people who stayed up to the wee hours of the morning handing out info packages, donation jars, answering questions, calming my butt down when I was in tears, telling me to go to sleep when my brain was fried LOL! We were a great team and I couldn’t have done this without you, I really REALLY couldn’t have. I love you guys so so much. Please thank them everyone. Sometimes, because I am the “owner” of the group, or because I write a lot of the posts, people think I was the brainchild of this. I wasn’t, these three people were in it just as much as I was, and they deserve as much recognition for this project.

A lot of you are also asking if you should keep the donation jars up in your stores. Please do! Just because the sim is closed does not mean that these animals do not need help anymore. I will keep these donations going until the search is over in Japan. I am planning on making monthly donations to JEARS from the tip jars. If you want to put your vendor up in your store that you had at the sim, you are welcome to do that also!

This project has inspired me beyond anything I could have ever imagined. As most of you know, I have owned a store in Second Life for the past four years. The day Project FUR Japan closed, I also closed the virtual doors to my business. This has not only inspired me, but has shined a new light to what good things Second Life can do for the real life world. I am now dedicating myself to helping animals RL and their causes inside SL. The ideas of how I want to do this are still brewing but I know with as much support as we have been given with this project, there is more than just me in this virtual world we live in to want to do good for our rl world.

I will keep you all updated with the donation process after I meet with an accountant and am confident that this will be donated the correct way. Thanks to each and every one of you for saving an animal’s life. I will never forget it, nor will I forget Project FUR Japan. I’ve been in this game since 2005, and this was, the most rewarding thing I have ever done. With all the tears, sleepless nights, hard work, and bumps in the road, I would do it all again, in a split second. I love animals so much, and I thank you all for loving them along side with me <3

Blazin

If you all remember this blogpost I made about VKC: http://projectfurjapan.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/virtual-kennel-club/ you’ll see that they contacted us here at Project FUR Japan wanting to know how they could help. Never did I imagine in my wildest dreams how much heart every last person on this team has.

Not only has the people of Virtual Kennel Club donated all sales of thier adorable Polar Bear (best bear hug EVA!), and their penguin sales on our sim, they did something else I really just am beyond words about.

Two days ago, Enrico and his team all landed together at the Project FUR Japan sim to present our Project with a $250,000L donation! They donated 100% of all the sales at their dog parks they made in seven days and gave it to our cause!!

Honestly, I cannot express in words how thankful I am to you all at VKC. You all have been working to raise money for JEARS just as hard as we have and as much as you don’t want “thanks”, I cannot let this go unnoticed. You have gone above and beyond  and our hearts are just so touched.

Along with everything I have just mentioned above, they have been as busy as us advertising everywhere they can to get the word out about our cause. Please read some of their blogposts they have created here:

Virtual Kennel Club — http://www.virtualkennelclub.com/latest-news/vkcsupportsprojectfurjapan
Information, Thoughts and Musings — http://m4ttie.wordpress.com/
I am Miller — http://miller.logspark.com/?p=3387
Canis Beach Dog Park — http://canisbeachdogpark.com/
Association of Virtual Worlds  — http://network.associationofvirtualworlds.com/profiles/blogs/remember-the-forgotten-dj
Virtual Dog Talk vendor news — http://www.virtualdogtalk.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=17
Profiles Live Blog Post — http://www.profileslive.com/secondlifeblog.asp?a=comments&id=37779
VKC chapter on Facebook — http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=298573302731
Virtual Dog Talk — http://www.virtualdogtalk.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=620
Profiles Live, Another Blog Post — http://www.profileslive.com/secondlifeblog.asp?a=comments&id=37741
My Spaces — http://myplacesl.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sls-premier-creators-support
Second Friends — http://www.second-friends.com/profiles/blogs/sls-premier-creators-support
          [N.B. Second Friends may require one to login in order to view it]
Association of Virtual Worlds (Mattie) http://network.associationofvirtualworlds.com/profiles/blogs/benefit-for-pet-victims-in

I really just cannot thank you enough, as much as I always say it, I really just can’t. I ask you all to extend your thanks to them for their help, love, and support by visiting their dog parks. Virtual Kennel Club has always donated part of their proceeds to animal shelters and I think it would be a great way to express our gratitude to them and help the animals all around the world.

Here are some of their dog parks to visit:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Canis%20Beach/52/87/22

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Turing%20Isle/128/130/27

My heart goes out to ALL of you, every donator, buyer, supporter, and all the people that have sent us notecards and IM’s thanking us for doing this. Remember, none of this could have been done without ALL OF YOU!

Blazin<3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puXbqK3tNbM&feature=player_embedded

Well now, on JEARS Facebook page, they showed the incredible video of the dog reunited with it’s owner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaNPz_qlBnk&feature=player_embedded

Words not needed. THIS is why we’re here, doing everything we can. Remember, this IS for the animals, and also, for the Japanese people who in all this tragedy, being reunited with their pet, would be one of the happiest things that could happen to them. We are all amazing<3

We decided to open the sim at 9 pm SLT Saturday night as you all know. We did a “soft opening” at 8:45 pm, meaning that we opened it to public but didn’t announce it just yet. Well, you wonderful people must have been click click clicking away waiting to get in because the second we opened it, avatars were coming in like crazy! We made $100,000L within about a half hour of opening!

So here we are, only two days in, and we have over 2 and a half MILLION lindens!! This is not including the $1400.00 usd I have already sent JEARS!

I have received so many kind words, notecards, from so many people, from Japan, and every other part of the world,  thanking us for what we are doing. We could have NEVER done this without you, remember that!

I get a lot of messages asking me if it’s too late to enter as a creator and donate something. My answer is always, “It is NEVER too late!” If you want to help, we always welcome you with open arms. There is an application you can fill out on the right side of this blog. So fill it out and we’ll send you all the information you need:)

In other big news! We have made the sim now set to “TP Anywhere“, so that shoppers, you can find your designers youre looking for much easier, and designers, you can tell your customers where your vendor is. We have gone around and tried to collect as many slurls as we can so we can help you as you land if you are looking for a particular designer. If you see us, ask! We just might have a direct landmark to your favorite creator<3

Thank you to everyone, again. It really is impossible to express in words what you all mean to us. Thank you so much for helping these animals!

Project FUR Japan :

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plumhill/134/135/30

SATURDAY, APRIL 2 @ 9 PM (2100) SLT TIME !

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plumhill/134/135/30

We thank you all for your patience with us while we worked so hard to get the sim ready for you! We can’t wait to see you all tomorrow night!

LET’S BOND TOGETHER AND GET THESE ANIMALS ALL THE HELP THEY DESERVE!

I felt that instead of waiting until the event was over in a few weeks, it would be great to get some money to them right now as they need the help! Below I am posting receipts of the transactions made to JEARS! These have been edited to take out names, account numbers, etc.

To explain, the smaller amount we were testing was with another site that will cash out Lindens for you that Tristan is registered with. He then sent the money to my paypal account. It went through fast! The issue was, that when I tried to cash out on that website again with the larger amount they could not cash out that much, so that’s when I went through Linden Labs. Thanks to ALL of you for your contributions so far! I am so touched that we were able to do this already! You all rock! My heart goes out to ALL of your for your support, love, and donations! <3

Imagine exploring Second life with your dog at your side, entertaining people you meet, or taking him to the dog park to play games and win contests. Imagine your dog greeting your friends at home when you’re away. Jumping fences. Riding in your car with you. Swimming in the ocean.

VKC™ Dogs have true artificial intelligence (one of the most overused and erroneous terms in SL attached to virtual pets) and obey physics, so they seem more natural and alive. They are active and aware and they learn, so you can teach them to behave the way you like. Born with basic instincts, VKC Dogs can develop individual personalities through experience and conditioning, and they can learn new tricks that you teach them.

If you were to adopt a VKC™ Dog today, you would find a dog that already is completely capable. The dogs are born with Instincts that allow them to obey commands to stand, sit, beg, offer a paw, lie down, rest, show their belly, play dead, come and go, follow, wag their tail, sniff, bark, and howl. They also do these things on their own initiative!

This is pretty impressive as it is. But what really distinguishes Enrico Genosse’s dogs from any others in Second Life is the fact that they learn and they really ARE smart. The intelligence of the VKC Dogs is truly complex & based on Machine Learning, a scientific discipline concerning computers that looks for patterns in data and learns rules to predict when those patterns recur. The result of this complex programming is that they are able to observe and act upon their environment.

VKC Dogs can, for example, recognize you or your friends and act in particular ways depending on whom they see. Obviously, this is much more intelligence than going to a food bowl when an internal clock determines “hungry” or going to a bed when an internal clock determines “sleepy.”

It is also far different than a ‘menu pet’; one which you touch, a drop down menu appears, you push a command button and the pet simply goes through the motions.

At the most basic level, the VKC Dogs learn through conditioning, much the same way as your real life dog responds. By simply telling the VKC Dog ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as you train and condition him, his personality develops — a personality that is unique to this particular dog.

At the next level, it is possible to actually teach your dog new tricks. You can think up a chain of commands chosen from among your dog’s Instincts, combined perhaps with some commands for turning and waiting. Because the VKC Dogs can learn, you can assign a single word to the string of commands, and teach that word to your dog as a trick. Then whenever you want your dog to perform these actions, you would use the single word as a command.

The difference between training and conditioning can elude people. To simplify, training involves teaching a specific set of skills while conditioning changes the likelihood that the skill will be put to use. Even if we never teach our dogs a single trick, we can still condition the dog’s personality. Of course, if the dog also knows some tricks, its personality is richer and more varied. It is at the level of the personality, when your dog does the trick without being asked because you have spent time working with him, that your dog is most deeply special and unique.

Currently VKC has 15 breeds of dogs available. Each breed is unique in its poses and basic personality. They range in size from Chihuahuas to Irish Wolfhounds!  A very special dog, the VKC Mutt, is sold as a fundraiser for various real life rescue groups that are chosen monthly. The Mutt is modeled after a real life former death row shelter dog named Widget owned by one of the VKC trainers.

To date, ‘Widget’ has raised $2061 for real life charities! http://www.virtualkennelclub.com/home/mutt-widget

VKC dog parks are all throughout Second Life and to cater to a wide variety of residents. Parks range in size from cozy city parks to entire sims dedicated to providing an enviroment for you to relax & enjoy your dogs. All the parks have resident VKC Approved Trainers, although all of their trainers are available to help dog owners at any park & can be contacted 24/7.

Not just Dogs!

As a special offer for the Project FUR Japan event, VKC is re-releasing 2 very special Limited Edition items – The VKC Penguin & the highly sought after VKC Polar Bear. Since the bears short Christmas time release two yrs ago, it has become a valued virtual pet to own. Now, exclusively for the Project FUR Japan event, VKC is offering both the VKC Penguin & VKC Polar Bear as a special copy/no trans edition. You guys have GOT to hug that polar bear! He is just TOO adorable!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plumhill/138/126/29
VKC will have another announcement to make soon, so stay tuned!

VKC related links -

Find a park to visit!
http://www.virtualkennelclub.com/vkc-dog-parks

Virtual Kennel Club In World Group
http://world.secondlife.com/group/a1b20b9e-5a73-2493-4193-3fcb50a2b14b

The official Virtual Kennel Club website
http://www.virtualkennelclub.com/

Canis Beach Dog Park — An Island in SL Providing Support for VKC Dogs and the Real-Life Efforts of Pet Rescue and Placement
http://canisbeachdogpark.com/

Virtual Dog Talk — A Web-Based Community of Virtual Pets and their People
http://www.virtualdogtalk.com

“We wouldn’t miss it – both Japan and animals are at our forethought right now”

They have made an original, never released bunny just for Project Fur Japan that will be for sale at the landing spot with 100% proceeds going to the cause. When speaking to the people of Ozimals, they stated that:

 “We made these  just for the event – you won’t be able to get them any other way unless in the future we do something where we give one away.”

Take a look at the adorable little bunny they made us!

Everyone on the Ozimals team, thank you, for your support, caring, dedication, and heart into our project..from us Project FUR Japan and all the animals that need our help<3

 The weekend is going to be filled with shows from White Widow, Fellini Couture, Plume, Shiki and [sYs]. But fashion isn’t the only excitement going on at OGlam on Friday, April 1st at 5:00 PM the beautiful and amazing OGlam model along with BOSL CEO Frolic Mills and many more SL Celebs will be participating in a charity auction to benefit Project FUR Japan.  Please mark your calendars and come down to the new Outrageous Glamour Inc. SIM and bid on your favorite celebrity and help support this worty cause!!

For more information or if you would like to join the auction please contact Federica Galtier.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/OGlam%20INC/143/190/23

I am happy and well, yea, speechless ONCE AGAIN to announce that the wonderful organizers of this event have raised Project FUR Japan $214,851 L !!! I can’t believe it! SO AMAZING! Thank you so much to all the wonderful people that held this auction, auctioned themselves off, and to the gracious people that donated! We love you!