Racketboy 2012 Hoiliday Charity Auction, Poll

[mjmjr25]

May I suggest the NorthEast Georgia Sexual Assault Center? I did some volunteer work with them a few years back and they support most of Georgia north of Atlanta, and at times had to limit their emergency call center hours due to lack of funds. I know they would greatly appreciate our support.

I really like the idea of specific person or family. We all know so much of donation goes to processing the donation. This is not to suggest the place you mention isn't small enough that 2K-ish wouldn't go a long way.

The place I work, we have a foundation. It is a very very small foundation and I know that 2K would do very little for them, even on a small scale it is a drop in the bucket. They have donors and dinner shows and when they do an event they raise 20K-50K per. If our goal is to actually see / feel an impact, I think we should look to identifying a particular person/family.

[skere26]

May I suggest the NorthEast Georgia Sexual Assault Center? I did some volunteer work with them a few years back and they support most of Georgia north of Atlanta, and at times had to limit their emergency call center hours due to lack of funds. I know they would greatly appreciate our support.

Thanks for your input. I'll check them out.

Hope you are willing to participate in this years auction.

I think I have a couple famicom's to add to the docket

[Luke]

Although I agree 100% with mjmjr25, every suggestion is welcomed.

Many donations to a single family or child are usually sent as an "adoption". I would love to "adopt" a child or family, but the issue is that you are bound to a contract. What I believe the majority of members would like to see is us make a one time large impact to where someone who desperately needs it will put it to proper use.

I would hope we are all in agreement that we would rather assure that a family didn't have to lose their home rather than buy a kid a laptop. Check your local newspaper, or online newspaper to find a cause everyone is comfortable with. And just as important, make sure the cause has a story behind it. In order to have people participate outside of RB, we'll need to gain the attention of others with a cause worth serving.

[Luke]

I think I have a couple famicom's to add to the docket

Perfect! "Every bit counts".

I admit. That was one of the worst puns ever.

[Luke]

Racketeers,

I've been a bit silent about the auction as finding the right child/adult/family to sponsor has been quite a chore. As you gather games to donate, I assure you I'm narrowing down the list so we will make an impact that changes a life. This cause is close to my heart and I do not want to disappoint.

I entirely understand that some do not support the United States military, but lets not define who a person is because they are a veteran. Please focus on the cause and how we represent the Racketboy community. I'm saying this because I have met with homeless veterans who are deserving of a donation. I hope that when I provide everyone with details that you will continue to be supportive of our annual charity.

Please PM me with any questions, but I hope to answer a few now:

If we do sponsor a family/child/adult, they WILL NOT receive a lump sum via check. I will provide exactly how the money will be allocated to the cent. I will personally write the checks for items such as "transitional housing", "electricity bill", "education", etc. This will not be someone winning a lottery.

I will continue to personally interview families and will post their pictures and stories before a decision is made by our community. As nutty as I am on this forum, I can guarantee to me this is business, and I take it very seriously. You can confide in my judgement on this one, I assure you.

This is not a shoot from the hip call on my part. The auction may not start until November the seventeenth, but the auction will be extended until mid January so not only do you have extra time to bid, you'll also have Holiday cash to burn (and maybe you want to sell that copy of Madden 06 Grandma gave you as a gift).

Thanks to the entire community for being patient and for participating. This is going to be an event that everyone will look back on and be proud of. I'm interviewing a few more folks this weekend and will report back as soon as possible.

Until then, thanks for all of the support and I hope your pockets are starting to burn in anticipation.

[MrHealthy]

Any updates on how those interviews went?

[Luke]

Any updates on how those interviews went?

I'm glad to hear some interest.

The Mother of the family who will be the benefactor went into labor last Thursday. As soon as the Raleigh Rescue has her family in transitional housing (any day now) I will be visiting with the family and will issue a press release.

It has been difficult to "cherry pick" a family and I appreciate your patience. I will have an announcement as soon as possible as I'd like to start the auction asap.

[CFFJR]

Luke, may I bug you to explain what your process has been with this?

How do you decide who to interview? What questions are you asking these people? Have you been getting good responses about receiving aid in this way?

I don't ask to criticize or anything like that. I've just been wondering how you've gone about all of this. The amount of work you're putting in to go down to such a personal level must be considerable.

[Luke]

Luke, may I bug you to explain what your process has been with this?

Not bugging me at all; all questions are welcome.

Here was an email to our mods that hopefully answer some of your questions. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask on this thread or shooot me a pm.

_____

Please pass this on to the other mods.

With the help of multiple rescue missions, I have found a benefactor that is more than deserving of our donation. I apologize for taking so long to get the rubber to meet the road, but I took due diligence to select the correct family to sponsor.

I was a bit uncomfortable cherry picking one family, but at the same time I am confident I have made the right choice. I will be meeting with the family asap, but get this...the lady of three who is homeless and has been raped repeatedly is in labor, as I type this. As soon as she is back in transitional housing (no more than a week) I will contact all who have volunteered to help with the entire story and pictures.

Although being in e-commerce, my Internet footprint is rather...well, it may not even exist. Who would be best to spread the word of the auction? What sellers would be most likely to donate? Is there a mod who could handle nationwide pr? I certainly have input on selling an auction T-shirt, but unless it is profitable I say scrap it.


Please contact me with any and all questions of my management of this years auction.

Best,

Luke

[MrHealthy]

Its been a couple a weeks without a word. Everything alright? Anything we can do to help?