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  • Brickpicker Raffle Fundraiser for a Great Cause!!


    Ed Mack

    Hello LEGO fans, collectors and resellers…

    Many of you may already know who I am, but for those of you that may have just learned about Brickpicker, my name is Ed Maciorowski and I would like to ask you for a few moments of your time. Over the past five years, my brother Jeff and I have operated the BrickPicker site at no cost to members and fans. All we ever asked from members was to click on affiliate links to help pay for the site expenses, which cost members little or no out of pocket money. Many of you have gained valuable information and insight from our data and forum community that enabled you to make money from LEGO collecting and reselling. Often, people would ask how can we help the BrickPicker site and its creators and we would say thanks for the offer, but no thanks, we felt uncomfortable taking donations. Well, we have a way for all of you to help out not only me, but over 150 children and their families.

    Let me introduce you to the St. Paul School of Burlington, NJ…

    My son, Max, is a member of the Kindergarten class in St. Paul School. He has attended the school since September and adores it. My wife, Jane, and I also adore the school. It is everything a school should be. It’s a school where everyone knows your name and there is a sense of pride and respect not found in many other larger schools. I cannot explain it, but there is an ambience of goodness in the building. Sounds corny I know, but as a person who has the word “evil” in his email address, I can tell you that I know when something deserves special recognition as a “good” thing. But it’s not only me who recognizes a great school. St. Paul School was voted the “Best Private School” in Burlington County, NJ and won numerous other awards. St. Paul School’s graduates constantly excel in high schools throughout Central NJ, with a large portion of graduates appearing on the National Honor Society and finishing top in their classes as Valedictorians and Salutatorians. To find out more about the St. Paul School, you can check out their website

    stpaul_school_fundraiser_max_small.jpg.d

    So here is the situation. St. Paul School is a Catholic school and as many people know, Catholic schools always have a hard time paying the bills to remain open. While St. Paul School and other Catholic schools welcome all religions and people, they are not funded by state or federal tax dollars and must adhere to many policies of the Catholic church and their Dioceses. Unfortunately, due to the weak economy and other forces outside of their control, enrollment in Catholic schools is down, putting more and more pressure on the school’s and local church’s budgets to remain open. This is an ongoing battle and fundraising has become an annual ritual in every Catholic school in the nation and most likely, the world. Everyone has to do their part to help out and Jeff and I are doing ours. Here is our plan…

    Jeff and I are going to personally RAFFLE OFF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF RARE AND RETIRED LEGO SETS! These sets are from our personal collections and they include the:

    • 10188 Death Star
    • 10228 Haunted House
    • Sealed Case of 64 Series 10 Collectible Minifigures (MR.GOLD might be in there!)
    • 10224 Town Hall
    • 10225 Ultimate Collector Series R2-D2
    • MORE SETS HAVE BEEN ADDED!!!

    That is well over $2000.00 in LEGO sets. All are retired and appreciating in value as we speak. I will personally ship them to anywhere in the world at my cost and in a proper shipping container. There will be one winner for each set and you must buy tickets for each raffle separately. One person can win all the sets if they enter all five raffles. There are discounted tickets available and the raffle will be run on the www.rallyup.com website, which is a very reputable and trustworthy fundraising site. They will automatically pick the winners at 11:59 PM on January 31, 2016 and will notify the winners. I will then ship out the winning LEGO sets to their new owners. The raffle and link to share can be found below:

                                               https://rallyup.com/stpaul-2016

    Each ticket costs $10.00 and enables you to enter one LEGO set raffle of your choice. $50.00 will cover all five iconic LEGO sets. ALL OF THE PROCEEDS (besides the commission to www.rallyup.com) goes to St. Paul School and to its corresponding church, The Parish of Saint Katharine Drexel, which helps the school operate. Tickets can be paid with any major credit card and the site is secure. Unfortunately, PayPal does not get involved with “raffles,” so PayPal can only be used for direct donations. I know that is a minor inconvenience, but if their is an issue, contact Jeff or I and we can see what we can do about transferring money to our PayPal account and paying for your raffle tickets. If we get a great response from people, we might add a few major sets or collectible and rare items to the raffle contest.

    On a personal note, I just have to say that I feel awkward asking people to help and for money, but the St. Paul School kids, faculty and community are worth it. They need to raise $200,000 by the end of January in order to keep the doors open and I am pulling all of my strings to help get them to that goal. I need your help. Period. If you value quality education and teaching children morals and respect, then supporting a school like St. Paul is paramount to the future well being of this planet. To the BrickPicker community...Show the LEGO world that we are more than just a bunch of Quick Flipping Low Lifes….that we care and have a heart, even though we buy all of Little Timmy’s LEGO sets up to resell. LOL. Honestly, this is important to Jeff and I and I want to be proud of our community that we have built over the past 5+ years. If you want to repay us for all of the efforts we have made over the past five years, buy a ticket...or two...or five. My son and 150+ other kids and families, faculty and friends of the St. Paul School will thank you…

    CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FUNDRAISER

    PLEASE HELP AND SHARE THIS BLOG POST ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND
    OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS!!

     

    If you are interested in just making a donation and want to use Paypal, you can.  Just click the purchase link on the right side bar.  On the next page you will see a checkbox that will allow you to just make a donation.  Check that box and you will then see options for payment.  Paypal is not available for buying raffle tickets, it is against their terms.

    stpaul_fundraiser_donation.thumb.jpg.85a

    Edited by Ed Mack

    • Like 12



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    Guest brickcrazyhouse

    Posted (edited)

    17 minutes ago, legodelorean said:

     OK guys, I know this isn't the appropriate thread to post this to, but I searched all over and couldn't find the topic. Do you guys know if for the fundraiser they except PayPal? Mods, please move this to the  appropriate location if there is one. 

     

    7 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

    As I have mentioned several times, PayPal does not accept "raffle" payments.  They will accept direct donations and Rallyup.com does use PayPal with their many other charity programs: auctions, crowdfunding, pledges, sales, etc...It is an issue with PayPal, not Rallyup.com.  I wish they had PayPal.  They do not.  But as I have done many times already, I will use my credit card to buy people tickets if they send me the money to my PayPal account.  I do this at a cost to myself.  I pay the PayPal fee, so I take a hit, but that is OK...I'm good with it.  Feel free to use me as a conduit.  

    I would believe this goes for all raffles, not just this one

    Edited by brickcrazyhouse
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    $56k and counting .. That $60k doesn't seem too far fetched anymore ..... 

    Btw, rallyup tells me the raflle is still open for another 11hrs, so that would make it midnight PST when it closes, not EST, correct?

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    14 minutes ago, brickcrazyhouse said:

     

    I would believe this goes for all raffles, not just this one

    Thank you brickcrazyhouse. Again, I apologize for posting to the wrong thread. I always appreciate the helpfulness of my fellow brickpickers. You guys are the best!

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    51 minutes ago, JimboJet said:

    In for a couple tickets.  It's cool that the receipt shows you the total number of tickets sold for the prize pack so far.  Will have to be pretty lucky to win!  Good luck all.

    Are you talking about the ticket numbers on the receipt? My ticket for the Town Hall has the number 800837. So would that mean it's ticket number 837 purchased? Anything else wouldn't make sense. :huh:

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    30 minutes ago, Phil B said:

    $56k and counting .. That $60k doesn't seem too far fetched anymore ..... 

    Btw, rallyup tells me the raflle is still open for another 11hrs, so that would make it midnight PST when it closes, not EST, correct?

    I'm showing 10 hours remaining, as of 1 PM PST.  That puts the end at 11 PM PST, 2 AM EST, so it must be midnight Mountain?   It's probably wherever Rallyup is based.

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    40 minutes ago, Phil B said:

    $56k and counting .. That $60k doesn't seem too far fetched anymore ..... 

    Btw, rallyup tells me the raflle is still open for another 11hrs, so that would make it midnight PST when it closes, not EST, correct?

    Yes...They set it Arizona time I believe.

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    Guest brickcrazyhouse

    Posted (edited)

    15 minutes ago, Deadfraggle said:

    @Ed Mack

    I've arrived fashionably late to the party, but I'm here none the less. Happy to help with such a great cause.

    better late then never Jesusopher 

    Edited by brickcrazyhouse
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    2 hours ago, Brian Briggs said:

    Are you talking about the ticket numbers on the receipt? My ticket for the Town Hall has the number 800837. So would that mean it's ticket number 837 purchased? Anything else wouldn't make sense. :huh:

    Hmmm my tickets both had 3 digit numbers near 1000. I didn't buy Town Hall tix though.

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    I just had to pop for another 35 tickets.... 

    the cause is worth it no matter what we may or may not win because of it but the chance to win something adds a reason for people to give. While it's sad at the end of the day human nature prevails for some and the appeal to gain something (other than the amazingly awesome feeing of being able to help and be part of something bigger than ones self) provides the motivation to help. 

    I'm happy to help but can admit that the potential for something like this just helps push me to give even more. 

    So at the end of the day I applaud all of you that have donated without wanting a raffle ticket as you are truly a fine human being. For the rest of us keep donating more dammit! The kids need and deserve it and you can get another shot at winning some more awesome Legos. It's about the odds. It may only take one ticket to win but if you buy 100 or more you have an even better chance. Let's see this hit $60k. Hell let's see it hit $75k

    Heres to folks overseas winning everything because my bill for shipping will be huge and Ed said he is going to match those funds as a donation. 

    Ed, I forgot to tell you that I'm hiring a private plane to help me deliver all the Legos to the winners. You can tag along since you are paying the bill. 

     

    Sorry for for the long winded post as it probably wasn't necessary but I was reminded of people's tendencies during fund raising events while helping to finalize the annual fund raising event for a local charity I focus on. So I used this as my soapbox and hope to get people fired up to give even more!!

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    If the entire appeal is to raise $200k.  Has that amount already been reached from other donations to the school?

    We are getting there. This raffle really helped. I never really expected this. I was hoping just to make enough to cover the costs of the sets. Honestly., I am amazed by the recent activity. I knew people could help. But would they? The answer was a resounding yes. We still have a 6 or 7 hours to reach $60,000.

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    I just had to pop for another 35 tickets.... 

    the cause is worth it no matter what we may or may not win because of it but the chance to win something adds a reason for people to give. While it's sad at the end of the day human nature prevails for some and the appeal to gain something (other than the amazingly awesome feeing of being able to help and be part of something bigger than ones self) provides the motivation to help. 

    I'm happy to help but can admit that the potential for something like this just helps push me to give even more. 

    So at the end of the day I applaud all of you that have donated without wanting a raffle ticket as you are truly a fine human being. For the rest of us keep donating more dammit! The kids need and deserve it and you can get another shot at winning some more awesome Legos. It's about the odds. It may only take one ticket to win but if you buy 100 or more you have an even better chance. Let's see this hit $60k. Hell let's see it hit $75k

    Heres to folks overseas winning everything because my bill for shipping will be huge and Ed said he is going to match those funds as a donation. 

    Ed, I forgot to tell you that I'm hiring a private plane to help me deliver all the Legos to the winners. You can tag along since you are paying the bill. 

     

    Sorry for for the long winded post as it probably wasn't necessary but I was reminded of people's tendencies during fund raising events while helping to finalize the annual fund raising event for a local charity I focus on. So I used this as my soapbox and hope to get people fired up to give even more!!

    I really hope one person wins it all so I can pack it on a pallet!

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    Guest brickcrazyhouse

    Posted (edited)

    15 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

     I knew people could help. But would they? 

    give the devil his due

    edit: price is right rules my guess for final raised $63,580

    Edited by brickcrazyhouse
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    I think most of us are of good conscience, but also put things off till the last minute. Good luck to everyone in the raffle, but most of all - good luck to the school and the community.

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    give the devil his due

    edit: price is right rules my guess for final raised $63,580

    Jeff is going to write his contact at LEGO and tell them of the evil resellers saving a school. It really is a great story and illustrates that LEGO fans are a special breed.

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    10 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

    Jeff is going to write his contact at LEGO and tell them of the evil resellers saving a school. It really is a great story and illustrates that LEGO fans are a special breed.

    Make sure he includes a full extract of all the contact details of those resellers as well, so they can spray us all with ban-hammer love :)

     

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    10 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

    Jeff is going to write his contact at LEGO and tell them of the evil resellers saving a school. It really is a great story and illustrates that LEGO fans are a special breed.

    Great idea. I wonder if it should have been done earlier, though, they may have donated some sets ;)

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