soldiers’ angels fundraiser – impossible without you

Now that the Soldiers’ Angels Fundraiser and Giveaway is concluded and the winners have been announced, it is time for a few "thank you"s.

First, I would like to thank Better Half – this shindig has taken up a lot of time, with more to come, and shipping out all of this stuff is going to be a borderline nightmare. However, she supported me and my crazy ideas, and here we are.

Secondly, I would like to thank our sponsors, but most especially Simon and Schuster – it may have been lost in the noise, but their sending me a couple of copies of Soft Target to review/give away was the seed from which this entire fundraiser exercise grew. However, I would also like to thank, in no particular order: Dragon Leatherworks, Michael’s Custom Holsters, Crimson Trace Corporation, Militec, Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT), Elzetta, FlipSide, Armory Racks, DIPSTIX, Sean Sorrentino, Say Uncle, and Empty Mags. Without those companies’/folks’ generosity and trust (you would not believe the dollar value of stuff CTC sent me just because I asked for it!), we never would have been able to raise nearly as much money as we did.

Third, I would like to thank our donators, who graciously gave $2355 to Soldiers’ Angels. Two thousand, three hundred, fifty-five dollars. Wow. Donations ran the full range from $5 all the way up to $300, with people using pretty much every avenue available to them to get money and supplies to Soldiers’ Angels, including a few I did not even think of. For the heinous crime of daring to stand up for our rights, our safety, and our lives, we gunbloggers, guncommeters (new word?), and gun owners have been called a lot of rather disrespectful names, but a few that will never hold water ever again (not that it ever did to begin with) are "selfish", "greedy", or "self-centered".

Last, but far from least, let us hear it for Soldiers’ Angels – those folks do an amazing amount of good in their never-ending quest to see that all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are cared for and looked after. They are not part of the government (I do not think they even get any funding from the feds); they simply saw a need, and concluded they could fill it. Here is to the power of like-minded individuals voluntarily working together to a common goal!

And with that, I think I am going to gracefully step down from fundraising for a little while… Turns out, that is pretty damned hard work, and stressing over keeping the donations / tickets / prizes / etc. straight probably cost me a few of my very few remaining hairs. Thank you all again, and good night!