Charity Update!

[Staff]

My sincerest apologies, fans, for this better-late-than-never update on the charity. I sincerely believed that I would be able to tie this up the day I was discharged from the hospital, which, coincidentally enough, was December 21. But time ran away from me and there were certain things that HAD to get done around the house. Having a preemie certainly accelerates one's timetable to near lightspeed levels.

So, excuses aside, I'm here to give the update everyone's been waiting for, the results of the first annual FBTB Charity Drive! I am filled with pride to announce that we've received a total of 587 donations, as evidenced by the cropped gif below:





Using the random number generator at random.org, the winning entry is #368:





Matching up the number to the email received in chronological order, and your first place winner is:


Joan Theroux of Norwalk, CT


I'm not going to bother doing the whole image thing for second place, you'll just have to take my word that I repeated the process. So, without further ado, second place prize goes to #106:


Jason Daubert of San Diego, CA


Congratulations to both of you! Your prizes are being mailed out today via Express Mail.

And last but not least, the payment to Child's Play has been made:





Thank you!

to everyone who donated $2, $10, or more. I have been smote down by your generosity.
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Permalink: http://www.fbtb.net/2009/12/30/charity-update/

[onions]

FBTB is getting into the holiday spirit! This site, the community, and especially you, the readers, is what I am thankful for this holiday season. And it’s time to channel some of that good will towards a charitable cause.

FBTB is giving away one of these:

and all of these:

to one lucky winner. But wait, there’s more! If you’re not chosen as the grand prize winner, you are eligible to win the consolation prize! The second place prize includes everything in the second picture posted above, basically, everything the first place prize winner gets, minus 8038 The Battle of Endor. That’s 1 MINI Tie Fighter, 1 Chrome Darth Vader, 1 Chrome Stormtrooper, 1 Chrome C-3PO, 1 LEGOLand California 2005 Star Wars Weekend promo brick, and 1 LEGOLand California 2009 Star Wars Weekend promo brick . Sound cool? Here are the details on how you can win. There’s a lot of text, so please read carefully:

• It’s basically raffle where each “ticket” costs $2.00 USD.


• You can purchase your ticket by hitting the donate button below and completing the Paypal checkout.


• You can purchase as many tickets as you’d like. If you are planning on making a large donation, unfortunately, you will have to complete the checkout process each time in $2.00 USD increments. But remember, each time you complete the checkout, you get another ticket into the raffle increasing your chances of wining.


• The raffle is open to anyone in the world able to complete the Paypal checkout process.


• The last day to purchase tickets is 11:59pm December 20, 2009.


• As the donor recipient, I get an email notification for each donation received; that is your raffle entry. You will also receive a receipt of your payment via email from Paypal. You do NOT have to email me or forward me your receipt. There’s nothing more you have to do besides complete the Paypal checkout process.



• All the emails will be filtered into a special folder. After the deadline, I’ll use a random number generator to select the lucky winner numbered in the chronological order received.


• 50% of the first 100 donations will be used to cover the cost of the prize package and postage and handling for prize delivery. The other 50% will go towards the charity. After the first 100 donations, 100% of the proceeds will go towards the charity.


• Prize packages will be mailed out on December 21, 2009 via USPS Express Mail, just in time for Christmas.*

The charity chosen for FBTB’s Charity Drive is Penny Arcade’s Child Play, a non-profit organization raising money and toys for sick children hospitalized during the holidays. For more information on Child’s Play, visit their website: Child’s Play.

So, it’s 2 bucks. I would say it’s less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but I don’t drink coffee so I don’t know. At $2 per ticket, with 2 chances to win, that’s like…. a dollar per entry. It’s cheap, you’ll feel good about yourself, and you’ll make the holidays much brighter for some sick kids. And you can’t put a price on that even if you tried. So, if you’re ready to make a donation and also try your chance at winning some cool swag, just click the button below:

If you have any questions, you can use our contact form or post a message in the forum thread.

* – Delivery by Christmas determined by destination. For the USPS Express Mail timetable, visit the USPS Shipping Calendar site. Prize packages will be mailed out December 21, 2009.

[BlueDragonZ]

Thats a great thing FBTB is doing for charity !

[meeotch]

Wow! That's a great idea for a great charity, and there's even the possibility for a great prize! I bet you'll collect a lot of money for the little tykes.

[Lt. Kettch]

Well, congratulations, FBTB, you've got me to donate to charity twice in one day (pub quiz earlier )

Not sure that's ever happened before. Nothing like an ewok bribe!

[Obi-Wan Skywalker]

I Love this idea. 'rents don't. 'rents don't = no submission from me

[Andi]

That's really great.

[RocketClone]

Nice to know FBTB is giving back.

[lostone]

great idea for fbtb, just one query for the lucky winner is there any shipping restrictions? on the prize.

also as it is such a good idea for all the members of fbtb to donate to a charity in this way.

how about the idea of making it annual event each year, as our members are spread aound the world perhaps it could switch each year to a charity of a home country for example the uk does a children in need appeal every year and im sure members would like to see there own local charity helped out as well as the big international ones, it is just an idea for the future maybe.

but this idea shows what a good community fbtb has built around the love of lego.

[meeotch]

You really should check out the link and see what the charity is all about. They have a presence in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, which I'm sure is one of the many reasons this particular charity was chosen.

[onions]

meeotch got it right. the fact that Child's Play helps out many hospitals in a few countries was one of the deciding factors. i had also queried the staff to see if they had any suggestions, but child's play was more or less unanimously agreed upon.

also, considering, this is the dubbed as the '1st Annual' drive, you can bet that i will be doing this again next year.

re: the question about shipping, not sure what the question was asking exactly. the packages are going through usps express mail and as far as i know there aren't many restrictions beyond size and weight.

[onions]

Also, as of 2:47 pm, we've surpassed the 100 donation milestone. 100% of the donations will now go towards the charity.

[Model Gal]

Ace, congrats to hosting a Charity Drive! I've posted about it here: http://modelbuildingsecrets.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/1st-annual-fbtb-charity-drive/

[onions]

thanks for the post, mariann!

[Daz Hoo]

Really cool Idea! Congrats to all the staff at FBTB for trying to make a difference in those kids' lives.

[meeotch]

Hmmph. Do or do not. There is no try. And I'd say they're doing.

[theJudeAbides]

This is a great idea, and I really like the charity chosen. I've been a big fan of Penny Arcade, the creators of which also started this charity. Plus, at $2 a pop, that's reasonable amount for even the tightest budget. Color me impressed, guys.

[Morgan19]

FYI:

Clicking the 16 Comments link on the homepage's news story about the drive (which I assume should link here) just gives me a "You are not authorised to read this forum" error.

m19

[onions]

should be fixed now

[lostone]

congrats to all for passing the 100% donation milestone