Christmas time and your NSX

[Aiken Drum]

Doug--

Thanks for the post. Our last one is moving out next month and my wife and I were thinking we'd all but stop giving each other gifts on birthdays and at Christmas. That stuff was mostly for the kids; we have pretty much everything we want or need.

We already give some anonymous Christmas gifts each year via our local Giving Tree, but I hadn't considered that we could use the new surplus next year to do more than we usually do. I think that'd be nice.

---

For folks who'd like to help out their local community, the Salvation Army usually sets up Giving Trees in local malls. You go and pick out slips of paper that tell you about the desired gift and the recipient. For instance, we've seen things like 7yo girl wants Malibu Barbie, or 17yo single mother needs drinking glasses. You can pick something to fit your budget, which is nice. Then you go buy the gift and bring it back to the people at the tree who then pass it on to the recipient.

You can also go to http://www.salvationarmy.org and click on your area of the map. They have an online giving tree with lists of gifts to give, you pick one and pay for it. This is good for people who are short on time or mobility, but we personally like doing the shopping ourselves.

---

I like the bicycle idea, too. My bike was one of the best things I had when I was young. Maybe we'll do both things.

 

[PHOEN$X]

Our whole office participated in the Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree program this year, it's nice to see the same spirit here. Way to go guys!

 

[V12Kid]

It's a pleasure to be associated with you fine people. Although I am an owner in waiting I have been welcomed by you all and appreciate all the info and thoughts you share!!


I have made my little donation. Its not much but its the least I can do.


Kindest Regards



Matt Naqvi

 

[KGP]

A few extra bucks

Doug - a nice opening post in this thread to put things into perspective.

Ditto.

Lud - kudos for your efforts.....check is in the mail.

Next time, you guys give me a few days advance notice and I'll take care of the donation transfers at no charge.

Write me down as donor #18...

I think he's good for it, write him down!

I would like to offer some thoughts of reflection. This is truly an emotional time, because of the season...

Some nice posts in the thread, starting with Doug's. Andy's, certainly being non-guarded and not withholding of his person. Kudos.

Oh yea...the extra bucks I mentioned: I'll cover the PayPal fees for whatever the fees end up being.

Can I make a suggestion for the future? I'm going to anyway. I would love to see us make available our cars, and a bit of time to kids with terminal medical issues, i.e., Make a Wish. Cost us nothing, but the smiles would be priceless. Can you imagine a child in such a program getting an opportunity to go to a race track (during one of our track events, etc.), get a personal education of the car, etc., and get to ride around the track in our cars? IOW, can you remember when you were a kid!

Might take a bit of work on our part, but between the forum and NSXCA, I think we could do it, and it would be a great achievment.

 

[nsxtasy]

Can I make a suggestion for the future? I'm going to anyway. I would love to see us make available our cars, and a bit of time to kids with terminal medical issues, i.e., Make a Wish. Cost us nothing, but the smiles would be priceless. Can you imagine a child in such a program getting an opportunity to go to a race track (during one of our track events, etc.), get a personal education of the car, etc., and get to ride around the track in our cars? IOW, can you remember when you were a kid!

Might take a bit of work on our part, but between the forum and NSXCA, I think we could do it, and it would be a great achievment.

This is not a new idea, since it has already been done - click here - but it's certainly something that can be done again and again. It's just a matter of making the arrangements, for both the kids and the cars to be in the same place at the same time.

 

[Hugh]

Lud,
I mailed you a check for $50.00 yesterday. I think it's great we've raised so much money so far. Keep those contributions coming people!

Hugh

 

[SmittyCat]

Thanks for setting this up guys! It is an easy way to help brighten Christmas for a few unfortunate children.

Lud, I PayPal'd some funds to you to help out.

 

[ANYTIME]

Paypal payment sent!

 

[FuryNSX]

I just read this post, and after checking with my wife, we knew we had to be a part of it.

-Randy

 

[Turbo NSX]

PP sent

 

[CokerRat]

PP sent. Merry Christmas all!

 

[Lud]

I went ahead and donated the full amount including a guess for the total amount of the checks people said they were sending, so I hope you guys really sent them! If more comes in I'll do another round. It'd be nice to get another teen mountain bike, I could only afford 4 of them for this purchase because they are relatively expensive compared to the younger kids' bikes.

I also had to do it this afternoon as the payment part of their website was not working this morning - it kept losing track of the bikes I had added to my online shopping cart. I think their server was just overloaded, as the whole site was very slow. I guess that's good!

Here is the e-mail from them. I X'd out some personal information but I purposefully left the donation ID in the e-mail. I know nobody was going to ask, but the fact is there were people I have never even met before sending me fairly large amounts of money, and since this is all electronic there is no other way for you to know for certain what I did with it. Using the ID number you should be able to call the Salvation Army and verify that I donated exactly what is listed below. I know most of you know me at least a little bit, but with the number of scams in the world today I wanted to make sure there is no question in anyone's mind, particularly those who I have never even met. It's sad the world has come to that, but there we are.

I had planned to select regions around the country to distribute the bikes, but they require you to select a Salvation Army branch to distribute the gifts that is in the same general part of the country as your credit card billing address. The one I selected serves some areas in Virginia that I know are very low income.

Either way, the same number of underpriviliged kids are getting a bike! Next year we can plan further ahead and maybe come up with something that has a more national distribution. It would also be nice to avoid the shipping costs. Nevertheless, thanks to everyone who contributed we pulled off one heck of a job this year on such short notice!!!

Today's tally was 18 girls bikes and 24 boys bikes for a total of 42 bikes! Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible!

From: The Salvation Army Angel Giving Tree <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:21:38 +0000
Subject: Salvation Army Giving Tree Online Donation: 0721280920003232300378
X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on SAIHQW/IHQ/SArmy(Release 6.0.1CF1 | March 06, 2003) at
22/12/2003 21:28:37
Sender: [email protected]

Dear Mr XXXXX,

Good news! Your order has been received.

The gift(s) you selected for a child in need, via The Salvation Army's AngelGivingTree.org website, will make that child’s Christmas brighter.

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, and please know that your gift has brought much-needed joy to a child in your community this holiday season.

From all of us at The Salvation Army, please accept our warmest wishes that you and your family enjoy a safe and happy Christmas.

God Bless You,

The Salvation Army

P.S. The Salvation Army is struggling to say "yes" to all the children and families in our community this Christmas. If you possibly can, please help by making a donation that will help us provide Christmas meals, warm clothing and more. To donate online:

https://secure.salvationarmy.org/donations.nsf/donate?openform&projectid=USN-AGT

donation id: 0721280920003232300378
date: 22 December 2003 09:21 PM (GMT)
name: Mr Lud XXXXX
address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

donation total: 3208.45 USD

Allowing The Salvation Army to purchase the following toy(s) for needy children:

6 x Huffy Sea Star 16-inch Girls' Bike at 34.88 USD each
6 x Huffy Sea Star 20-inch Girls' All-Terrain Bike at 34.88 USD each
5 x Mongoose Hoop-D Pro 20-inch Boys' Freestyle BMX Bike at 97.64 USD each
5 x Mongoose Racer-X 16-inch Boys' Bike at 49.94 USD each
6 x Next Misty 18-inch Girls' Bike at 45.82 USD each
5 x Next Surge 18-inch Boys' Bike at 45.82 USD each
5 x Next Voltage 20-inch Boys' BMX Bike at 59.66 USD each
4 x Schwinn Sidewinder 2.4 FS 24-inch All-Terrain Bike at 132.72 USD each

subtotal: 2489.66 USD
tax: 112.02 USD
shipping: 606.77 USD

total: 3208.45 USD

card type: VISA

toys to be distributed by:

New River Valley Corps
PULASKI, VA 24301

This constitutes an official receipt of your donation which has been sent to The Salvation Army headquarters at the address below. No goods or services have been provided to the donor in consideration of this contribution.

The Salvation Army National Capital and Virginia
2626 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC
20037
USA
tel: 202 756 2600

email: [email protected]

From all of us at The Salvation Army, please accept our heartfelt thanks.

God Bless You,

If you have any questions or comments please contact:

The Angel Giving Tree team

email: [email protected]
website: http://www.angelgivingtree.org
phone: (404) 728-1300 ext 2

 

[TucAZNSX]

That's great! Thanks to everybody who contributed!

 

[D'Ecosse]

Great Job Lud - man that shipping really bites, but I guess that the base prices were generally pretty good, so hard to complain - it's only because it's broken out that it stands out as a huge number I guess (almost 25% of the subtotal!!!).

Likewise, my extreme gratitude to all of the members who participated for their generous donations - you can be proud of our accomplishment in a few short days!
Can't wait to do it again next year - we'll start at Thanksgiving though!

p.s. If you missed the opportunity, please still consider contributing - if you like, go direct to http://www.angelgivingtree.org/ and contribute there to a location of your choice.

 

[Lud]

Yes the shipping was high as a single number, but if you consider it's only $14.45 per bike it seems reasonable. Remember, it is shipping for FOURTY TWO bicycles!!!

If we do this same thing again next year I can plan ahead to order all the bikes into inventory at the local Wal-Mart and rent a truck to deliver them to the Salvation Army.

 

[Lud]

Please note: It is NOT too late to contribute to the cause. I'll take any contributions through Wednesday, and if I can get out of the red I'll buy more bikes!

 

[D'Ecosse]

Hey Lud - looks like you're $55 to the good - there's another bike!!!!!!!

 

[Lud]

Sorry I'm late wrapping up the lose ends with this, the holidays were very busy. A couple points:

1. As you can see in the contribution list message above, there is about $16 left. Not enough for a bike, and the Giving Tree website is closed until next year anyway. I am open to suggestions on where to donate this money. Something specifically to benefit kids would be nice since that was the original goal.

2. The net amount of money collected went down in the message above because I went back and deducted the amount PayPal took out of each payment for their processing fee. I was too rushed to track it initially, sorry.

3. We don't need to worry about it now, but I'd like to ask people to brainstorm on the best way to organize something like this in the future. A couple things people have mentioned to me are that it would be nice to avoid the shipping charges, it would be nice to have it be more national, and some people said they felt it should be nondemoninational. I am open to any suggestions. This was simply the best I could pull together on such short notice. We can probably do better in the future.

4. I went down to the Wal Mart this afternoon and took a picture of about 42 kids bikes (I think there may actually be 44 on the rack, it's sort of hard to count them). This is hopefully somewhat representative of what we were able to pull together in very short order. This is a LOT OF BIKES guys! And yes, I got some funny looks taking pictures of the bike display.

 

[PHOEN$X]

Thanks Lud

Thank you for your hard work in orchestrating all this.

 

[clayne]

Not an NSX owner (3rd gen RX-7 here) but it shouldn't matter. I just wanted to offer my words of support to you guys for quickly bringing this to reality for people less fortunate or not in the position to afford it.