I don’t think I have ever had a week that has passed as quickly as this one. It’s all down to the fundraiser – first there was the organisation of it all last Friday and Saturday, and then the actual auctions with updates and final results from Sunday to Wednesday. Sorry for the spam, everyone, but it worked, didn’t it? Once the auctions were over on Wednesday, and I had updated here on blog and on Twitter, I was exhausted. Truly. I had to cancel a visit that had been planned, in order to have a lie-down and then some fresh air. – So here is an update on what happened next.
Despatch
First of all a massive thank you to all auction winners. The majority of them had set up automatic, immediate payment, and the rest of the payments have all come in to me, too. Fantastic – because that meant I was immediately able to launch into packing and sending the items to their new owners. I spent all morning yesterday carefully wrapping the items, finding suitable packaging materials for them, writing a little thank you note, and labelling the packages. I had an impressive heap of mail to deal with. And I was absolutely delighted about two things:
- It was a really international affair, with the items going to fans in the UK, USA, Canada, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands and Italy.
- There were a few new names among the winners – and I love seeing the fandom expanding!
Then, just before closing time, I made it to my local post office. The poor postmaster was slightly overwhelmed by dealing with nine packages that had to be sent registered. Not to mention the long queue that started forming behind me. I could virtually feel the daggers in my back 😂. Poor postmaster got into a bit of tiff because of the waiting customers – and weighed everything twice, prolonging the procedure unnecessarily. Luckily I had stuck all the registration labels on the packages myself (and retained the customer reference labels for myself, noting down the individual recipients), but nonetheless none of the item numbers on my receipt – incidentally the longest one every recorded in the history of An Post – correspond with the country of destination of the packages. I am sincerely hoping that that is not going to prove a problem… It better be good because I coughed up more than I thought for the postage (making me consider using the postage donations now… The postage donations amount to 66.38 Euro. Postage costs are 128.25 Euro.)
In any case, nine out of the ten items that I am responsible for, are now on their way. So if you are reading here and you are one of the winners, check your eBay transaction where I have updated with the tracking number.
Donations
A big thank you to all of you who have sent contributions to add to our final donation to Young Minds. The donation button ⤴️ has been a great success with several donations coming in that way. Contributions specifically labelled for the charity currently amount to 193.05 Euro. That means that our fundraiser total has grown once again. The current total is
1,515.93 Euro
which converts to 1788.75 USD$ or 1394.79 £.
I had initially planned to send our donation to Young Minds this weekend. However, I have heard from one fellow fan that she is hoping to contribute to our fund after pay-day on Sept. 1. So I am keeping the donations open for the time being, although I can’t wait to pass on the money to where it belongs…
Rewards
Finally, just to say that I have not forgotten that I threw in an incentive to get people involved. I am in the process of getting the names of all those people in the hat, who participated in the fundraiser by spreading the word about the auctions on various social media. I will let you know once the draw is online.
Unfortunately, this 👇 won’t be in the raffle:
Guylty Pleasure 
Hehe, nice little gif at the end 😉 How wonderful that you have raised such a magnificent sum! Congratulations and thank you so much for all your hard work. You really are one in a million and the fandom just wouldn’t be the same without your generosity 😘😘😘😘😘
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That’s my first ever film gif… I’m sure I did the whole thing wrong, and the quality is atrocious, but well, now I know how it’s done…
And thank you – too much praise. I know some people who have been extraordinarily generous themselves…
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I’ve said it and said it and said it – this is just awesome! job well done!
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Many thanks – it is awesome indeed, and I still can’t quite believe that we have yet AGAIN managed to raise such a generous amount.
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Great job!
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Cheers!
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Wonderful! Thanks for all the effort you put into this!
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Very happy to do so. It is always fun!
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Thank you for doing all this. I’m glad there was such a massive response to the auctions. You’re a dear for organizing everything.
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Happy to do so – because it simply is nice to see everyone come together for a good cause. Plus, I couldn’t do it without the concerted effort of all.
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As always, you did a spectacular job. If you’re short on postage, can we send you some through the Make a Donation button? Or just go to PayPal and send you some? I feel like, since 2 of those items you’re sending are coming to me, I should help. I know how expensive it is. Last Christmas I sent some “naughty” Christmas ornaments to fellow RA fans and the ones going to Europe cost more than the ornament, especially Germany. Why is postage to Germany twice what postage to the UK, Spain, Hungary, and Italy is?
I too took up a long time with the teller but fortunately it was between customer rushes so no evil looks.
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Thank you for the kind offer, but as one of the auction winners, you have already done quite enough, Tommie!
The postage is a mystery to me, tbh. I suspect that the Irish mail service has recently hiked their prices. It’s been a while since I sent some parcels, but this time it seemed more expensive than before. However, I am quite happy with the postage donations so far as they cover half my costs. That’s fine.
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Your comment about the new names made me giggle my husband isn’t strictly a fan however he did bid and win so I know what my birthday present is next month.
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Oh, that is fantastic, Yve!!!! You have got a gem of a husband there. And I wish I had known that you were sort of behind that bid because then I would’ve put a little birthday pressie in the shipment for you…
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Awesome job and awesome result!
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Yay!
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You are a gem and thank you for all your work. It was a great fun to participate, also I was overbidden.
What an amount! Congatulation to all and especially to you
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Thank you for taking part – it’s like the Olympic Games – participation is all 😉
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Toutes mes félicitations, quel résultat. Vive le fandom!
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Merci – it was a great event. I am glad so many people had fun with it.
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Great job! Hugs!
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🙂
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Ohhhh, I am so glad that you are holding off sending the funds until the first; that means I can make use of the donation button when I get paid! 🙂
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Oh, that is lovely news, Abi! Keeping it open until the weekend!
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Done and done.
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Thank you – and received (+ confirmation mail sent to you 😘)
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