You Guys Rock!

I cannot express how deeply humbled and grateful I am by the success of the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association fundraiser.  Thanks to all of you fabulous, wonderful, generous, attractive, thoughtful, and downright magnificent people, we raised a total of……

(Drumroll please)

bumubumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbubmbubmbubmbubmbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbumbubmbum

……$1,053.57!

Dude!  I KNOW!

Please let me be the first to offer a hearty, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

When I first hatched this plan, I knew that you guys would come through (cause I already knew that you guys rock), but I did not anticipate this LEVEL of generosity and participation. If you recall, the initial goal was $300- enough to pay for one bus ride out to Kissing Bridge.  We reached the $300 mark within 24 hours of the start of the fundraiser, and in the end we more than TRIPLED (3x) that goal.  I just…..don’t know how to thank you enough.

Thank you so so so so so so so so so so so much to everyone who donated.  This money is going to go a long way for BOSA, and I am so proud of everyone who participated.

Debby, my friend, and the founder of the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association asked me to publish the following letter:

Dear Willful Caboose readers,

Your generosity is so touching. I really don’t know where to begin in conveying how awesome it feels to have people reach out and support this little club just because they read about it and were inspired to help. The dollar amount was insignificant compared to the fact that so many of you stopped what you were doing and shared part of what you have with this club.

What Kate said is true. We run it completely on community donations and usually getting those donations (aka Fundraising) is a source of major anxiety.  This fundraiser felt so different and so fun because it was so easy to do and because TWC undertook it with a sense of joy and possibility. That feeling has spread back to us. This past week of fundraising was such a HUGE success that I can’t wait to get back on the bus this weekend and put all my energy into getting these amazing children up and down the ski slopes with as much fun as possible. Thanks to you we are in great shape this season and a step ahead in getting more scholarships ready for next year! Do you know how good that feels? Let me tell you- it feels GREAT!!

Thank you all a million times- I so appreciate the help each of you gave!

With Sincere Thanks,

Debby Klein- Buffalo Outdoor Sports Assoc.

P.S.  I’ll be sending each of you an email with a receipt within the next few weeks. If you’d like a hard copy let me know and I’ll gladly do that . Just write to janddklein@verizon.net

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Did you here that guys?!  The spirit with which you donated to this wonderful organization has had an immediate impact on the program.  It’s not just your money that will help BOSA, it’s your good vibes as well.

Again, allow me to say…WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

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Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!

Prizes!

The following people were were declared victors because of their tremendous generosity, their beguiling grace, their extreme good looks, and because I randomly chose their names out of a jar.

The winner of the unsigned (but still foxy) photo of Goose is…….Patricia B!

The winner of the signed photo of Drew Stafford is…..Jennifer H!

The winner of the signed photo of Ryan Miller is……Rebecca H!

And last, but not least, Joe G. has won a Winter Classic DVD!

Congratulations to the winners, and I wish I had a signed Sabres photo to give to every person who donated to this wonderful sports club.

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Even though this is obviously for a very good cause, I was somewhat hesitant to ask TWC readers for money.  Because of this experience, I have a new appreciation for the work that fundraisers do, and I’ve learned that it really doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if it’s a cause you strongly believe in.  Thank you all, for your generosity, your enthusiasm, and your participation in TWC.  I feel so good about raising some money for this organization, but I’m also tremendously proud of the community of bloggers and blog readers we have built in Buffalo.

Thank you all so much!

All-Star Sunday!

You guys, I can’t thank you ENOUGH for how you have responded to the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association fund raiser.  The response has been truly wonderful.  Thank you so so so so so so so so much to everyone who has donated.  In the next couple of days I will tell you more about the money we’ve raised and the way it will be spent.

In the meantime, if you haven’t yet donated, please take a minute to read yesterday’s post (and browse the selection of TOTALLY glamorous prizes) and consider making a small donation.  Every little bit helps, and you could win an autographed picture of Crunchy!

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At work this week we played a concert with three Mozart symphonies and two intermissions.  Because of having two intermissions, the pacing of the show was very hockey-esque.  All that was missing were the Timbits during the intermissions and Sabretooth with a t-shirt gun shooting into the audience.  At the end of the concert this afternoon we were joking that we should play a 5 minute OT encore, and then after that engage in some sort of orchestra vs. conductor head to head combat until a victor can be determined.

My point is that I am crazy tired.  Playing a hockey game of Mozart is hard!  I have no energy for my original plan, which was an All-Star game liveblog.  Instead, I’m going to eat dinner and hang around in the IPB open thread this evening.

Enjoy the All-Star game everyone!

Please, Fork it Over!

I’m going to use the All-Star break as an excuse to veer waaaaay off from my normal TWC-stylings.

I come to you, oh faithful TWC reader, on bended knee, asking for your help.  There is a Buffalo-based cause that is very near and dear to my heart, and I would like to ask you to donate a small amount of money to keep it up and running.

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One of my good friends, Debby Klein, runs a small, non-profit program called the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association.

Here is a short description of the service that BOSA provides:

The Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association, LLC is a non-profit organization committed to providing year round adapted sports opportunities to children and young adults with developmental disabilities.

Founded by a pediatric physical therapist, BOSA provides challenging, meaningful group sports including skiing and cycling which are adapted to meet the special needs of its members.

The organization is run completely by volunteer staff and community donations with all funds collected going directly to sports programs and to expanding adapted sports opportunities to accommodate more members and more sports choices.

Every week, The Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association provides a meaningful sporting experience adapted for the individual needs of developmentally disabled children.  It’s a wonderful program, and they are doing truly awesome work.  This program is a labor of love.

Right now, the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association is a fairly bare bones operation.  There are no paid employees, and the $6,000 annual budget is spent entirely on providing safe and fun group sports to kids who might otherwise not get to play.  BOSA survives from month to month on donations and small fund raisers.  All of the money collected goes directly to sports activities and transportation costs for the participants.

The Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association works hard to provide as much scholarship as possible.  The cycling programs are all FREE, and the participation fees for the skiing program are on a sliding scale based on ability to pay.  Basically, the more money BOSA has, the more kids they can bring skiing and biking.

So, the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association needs our help!  One of the biggest weekly expenses for the program is busing.  It cost $300 a week to bus the kids out to Kissing Bridge to ski.  It’s my goal to provide a TWC sponsored bus ride this month.

Three hundred dollars.  We can do it!

I would LOVE to collect more than $300, but I’m a firm believer in setting small, attainable goals, so for now, we set our sights on $300.  You can rest assured that if this fund raiser is a smashing success and we accidentally raise enough money to pay for A MILLION buses and ten years of BOSA’s budget, the money will be well spent, and many children will benefit from your generosity.

If we wind up making over $300, the money will be spent on future transportation costs, or to grow the program.  One of the ways in which the program is expanding is with plans to purchase two tandem recumbent tricycles to include children with more severe disabilities in the cycling program.  (On a personal side note- how rad does a ride on a tandem recumbent tricycle sound? That’s awesome! Triking with my BFF?!  Sweet!)  I can offer my personal guarantee that the Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association will spend your money wisely, and with the best interest of its participants at heart.

This is a non-profit organization, and all donations are fully tax deductible.  You will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

The Buffalo Outdoor Sports Association is true and good.  I want to help, because this work is important and it deserves to be funded.

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I know that this a a bad time to be asking for your money.  We’re barely past the holidays, and all we ever hear about is how the economy is slipping into everlasting despair.  I know that it’s kind of uncool of me to be all, “Fork it over, people!” but I’m going to do it anyway.  Fork it over, people!

The good news is that I’m not asking for much.  I’ve done some basic calculations, and if every person who reads this blog donates $50,000, we would have a total donation of $150,000! Just think of all the lives we could touch with that kind of cash!

Heh.  Juuuuust kidding.

$300.  That’s our goal.

To entice you to donate, I have a small selection of prizes which you will be eligible to win when you donate.  Every person who donates $10 or more will be entered into a drawing to win one of these FAAAAABULOUS PRIZES:

Prize #1: OMG, AN AUTOGRAPHED PICTURE OF RYAN “CRUNCHY” MILLER!!!

This INCREDIBLE picture featuring Crunchy comes complete with a CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY signed by BOTH Dave AND Buster Adam!  It’s totally covered in awesome holographic stickers (holographic stickers = “this thing is SUPER RAD” at Dave and Adam’s Card World) and this picture was also featured prominently in this post.

Prize #2: SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY! IT’S A SIGNED PICTURED OF DREW “MORE BRAAAAINS” STAFFORD!!

Sorry about the crappy quality of this image of the picture.  My scanner is refusing to work tonight.  I assure you, this picture is a sharp representation of Staffy’s foxiness.  This picture has one less metallic holographic sticker than Crunchy’s photo,  but it still comes with a Dave and Adam’s Certificate of Authenticity.

Prize #3: Um, WOW! IT’S….A REGULAR, UNSIGNED PICTURE OF GOOSE!

Here’s the story with this picture: Remember when I entered into the deal with Dave and Adam to run an ad in exchange for autographed Sabres photos?  Well, all of these photos were part of that deal.  As you can see, my Gaustad photo showed up UNSIGNED.  It was an honest mistake and I never bothered to follow up with Dave and Adam….so I wound up with an unsigned (but very handsome) photograph of Goose. The photo comes with NO Certificate of Authenticity, but it DOES have one metallic holographic sticker.

Prize #4: HOORAY! IT’S A WINTER CLASSIC DVD!

Perhaps you don’t care for autographed pictured of Sabres! Well, hopefully you’ll win this DVD instead!

Between you and me, not a ton of people read this blog, so if you donate $10 or more, you’ll probably have a fairly good chance of winning a prize.  We’re not talking state lottery odds here.

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The bottom line:

To donate, please click this button.

You will be directed to a safe and secure Paypal page. You will be asked to enter the amount of your donation.

Then you pay in one of two ways:

1. Using your Paypal account.

2. If you don’t have a Paypal account, or you don’t feel like using it, you can enter your credit card information by clicking “continue” on the lower left hand side underneath the sentence “Don’t have a Paypal account?”

In the last stage of checking out, you will be asked “Would you like to be in the prize drawing?”  Type in “yes” in the text box, and your name will be entered into the drawing for the prizes.

After you donate, you will receive an emailed receipt for your tax deductible donation.

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Thank you SO MUCH for your consideration.  I would never ever ask for you money if this wasn’t something I really believed in, and I promise I won’t make a habit out of begging you for your hard earned cash in the future.

This is good cause that helps kids in Buffalo.  Please consider making a donation.  Every little bit helps!