Thanks to some donations that would not have made it past the previous deadline, the Soldiers’ Angels Fundraiser and Giveaway currently sits at $2,325 donated to that outstanding organization.
I do not think "thank you" quite sums up an appropriate response to that kind of opening of hearts and checkbooks, but thank you all the same.
So here is how it is… the package from CRKT has not yet materialized on my doorstep, but I do not feel comfortable dragging out the drawing for much longer – I want to give everyone an equal shot at all the prizes they signed up for, but I also do not want you all to feel like I am just stringing you along. As such, package or no package, the drawing for the Giveaway will be held at 1800 EST on 12JAN12, and the prizes I have in hand or already promised by their originators will be decided by Random.org with Better Half looking over my shoulder.
If the postal service / UPS pulls through and I have a box of sharp-and-pointy things, they will get awarded just like everything else. If I do not have them in-hand, once I do, I will hold a secondary drawing for those folks who did not win something in the first one when I do.
Sound fair?
What does this mean to you? Any and all receipts for donations to Soldiers’ Angels that you want counted in the Fundraiser and Giveaway must be to me by 1700 EST on 12JAN12, even if I have to hold a secondary drawing. That gives you about two more days to rattle your piggy banks, check your pockets, go excavating in your sofa, or shake down the Keeper of the Checkbook to see how much more we can help our our soldiers overseas; y’all have already blown away my hopes and expectations, but that is no excuse to start slacking now!
I like the date, as it’s the 22d anniversary of my return from Operation JUST CAUSE, when my mother had the opportunity to see me return from Panama to Fort Bragg’s Sicily Drop Zone via T-10C parachute, along with nearly 2000 other paratroopers of 82d Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps.
That being said, please specify the time zone you’re using for the drawing (I’m pretty sure it’s Central Standard Time), just to avoid any confusion.
*stealth edit*
Eastern TN, all the way out to halfway between Knox and Nashville, is actually in ET, thankfully enough.
And sounds like a good enough date for me, if for that reason alone!