helping a hero

I would have included this in the previous post, but I figure this is important enough to warrant some webspace of its own.

Everyone remember Ramon Castillo, the pawnshop owner who perforated three scumbags who were trying to tie up he and his wife, rob his store, and do Lord knows what else? As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Castillo took fire to his left shoulder, abdomen, and leg, and had to be hospitalized in critical condition… the good news is that he pulled through the resulting operations just fine, and is recovering in a Houston hospital; but the bad news is that he does not have medical insurance, and you and I both know that the costs of his treatments are going to be atrocious.

In order to defray those bills, his family has organized a donation page, and here is what I am going to do: from now, until 30JAN (the fundraiser ends on the 31st, and I do not want to miss the cut-off), any money this webpage generates by way of its advertisements will be sent to Ramon Castillo’s fund.

That final amount, though, is largely dependent upon you, my readers… my advertisements almost entirely function on a “you get a percentage based off what people buy from us” fashion, so if you plan on doing any shopping at Lucky Gunner, Ballistic Reload, Brownells, PoliceStore.com, Sinclair International, or Amazon.com in the coming month, please consider doing it through those links – it costs you nothing additional, and, for the next month, it makes me nothing.

Why am I doing this? In the end, Mr. Castillo is just like any one of us… hell, he could have been any one of us. He went to work, just like he did every day; he helped folks and engaged in business, just like he did every day; he wanted to wrap up the day and head home, just like he did every day… he did not want any trouble, he just wanted to make a living and live in peace – exactly like every one of us. But some scumbag idiots decided that their idea of “making a living” involved robbing Mr. Castillo, assaulting he and his wife, tying up his wife, and possibly even doing worse things to the both of them… How many of us work at small businesses? How many of us patronize small businesses? What if one of us had been present, and been wounded as well? I like to think folks would stand up and help us if we needed it as well, and here is me, standing up and helping.

Ramon Castillo made the best out of a horrible situation he never should have had to face, and I am willing to help him make the best of the unfortunate side-effects of that situation.

If you do not trust me (and, in the end, you have no reason to do so), or do not really need to buy anything at the moment (and I can hardly blame families for taking it easy after the financial drain of the holidays), please consider hitting up Mr. Castillo’s fundraiser page directly… something tells me every little bit will help.

And for the graphically-inclined, here are banners for all those sites I mentioned above: