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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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    15 minutes ago, Mos_Eisley said:

    Alright, I'm selling likes!

    I've already bought some raffle tickets, but just for fun, for every "like" this post gets from members who joined before the time of this posting, I'll spend an equal amount on more tickets, up to $250.  If it gets beyond that, I'll figure out how much more I'll spend.

     

    Let's set a like record!

    Thank Mos...Great idea.  Now let's break this mutha F'er!

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    How about making the Giving Back badge a hyperlink to the first post here? That way people wondering what that means will be taken to the page that explains how they can contribute. When I first saw it I was wondering what it was for.

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    I really hope this works out and more members start contributing, especially for those who have Lego-related financial/investment goals in mind when visiting Brickpicker and who have benefited financially from the site.  This site offers a great resource of investment ideas/advice and certainly deals and stock tracking, but also other information on Lego collecting, Lego reviews, and other things for a Lego collector etc...  I'm both a collection and investor, so I've benefited a lot from this site sinceI found it in summer 2014.

    For those on the site in fall 2014, on multiple times Ed offered hints of retiring exclusive sets, most notably Town Hall.  I don't think many investors on this site would have as many Town Halls now as they would have if that set went off into retirement without Ed's suggestions.  Anyone in this boat will make money off of those Town Halls if they haven't done already, so perhaps a $10 or more buy-in for a raffle ticket(s) shouldn't seem too much.

     

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    6 minutes ago, meowsmeowsmeows said:

    I really hope this works out and more members start contributing, especially for those who have Lego-related financial/investment goals in mind when visiting Brickpicker and who have benefited financially from the site.  This site offers a great resource of investment ideas/advice and certainly deals and stock tracking, but also other information on Lego collecting, Lego reviews, and other things for a Lego collector etc...  I'm both a collection and investor, so I've benefited a lot from this site sinceI found it in summer 2014.

    For those on the site in fall 2014, on multiple times Ed offered hints of retiring exclusive sets, most notably Town Hall.  I don't think many investors on this site would have as many Town Halls now as they would have if that set went off into retirement without Ed's suggestions.  Anyone in this boat will make money off of those Town Halls if they haven't done already, so perhaps a $10 or more buy-in for a raffle ticket(s) shouldn't seem too much.

     

    Town Hall, SSD, Mars Rover, R2-D2, Horizon Express, Arkham Asylum, Tumbler (A year ago)...to name a few...Just sayin' :angel:

    9 minutes ago, cardkid said:

    How about making the Giving Back badge a hyperlink to the first post here? That way people wondering what that means will be taken to the page that explains how they can contribute. When I first saw it I was wondering what it was for.

    Good idea.  I'll ask Jeff.

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    The cause has no bearing.  I will be 100% honest.  I made a donation to the school when it just started out under the idea that it was to help something that was supported by "the Macks".  It was the idea of making it something as a Christmas present (holiday thank you, etc.) for everything this site has done for us. 

    I don't really plan on buying a ticket -"sorry" because way at the start of this I went to the school's website and made a quick donation. not for the chance to win something, etc. but just to say thank you to you both. 

    But I have read some posts out here and the point seems slightly lost.  This is to help one school, as picked by the Mack's (sorry, I am grouping you both together - no offense) as our way of saying thank you to you both for this site and all it has done for us.  You have turned this charitable idea into this great fundraiser with prizes, drawings and contributing your own items to make it a bigger success. 

    If people focus on that simple point -  It is a gift on behalf of "The Macks".  Ask yourself how much money or value, did you make, save, secure, grow, etc from the knowledge you gained from BrickPicker.com, the site they host at no charge to you, and took a fraction of 1% of that money and donated it to the charity of their choice how much of an impact that would have on children's lives.   

    It is not for them personally and it is a positive way that each of us can take just a little and pool it together to make a massive difference to a group of children.  Regardless of Religion, ethnicity and anything else - this is still about saying thank you. 

    The only thing I think is lost is that many folks think this was all started as a way for you to push a charity.  It was started as an idea a BP member had to say thank you and you quickly redirected that into something for the school.  That notion of saying thank you to you both seems to have gotten lost and I just wanted it to be brought back to the fore front.  This raffle was something you came up with once the idea of contributing to a cause you have as a way of saying you started up on a forum back in December. 

    If you are considering buying a raffle ticket - do so under the idea that you are doing it as a thank you to "The Macks".

    On second thought, now that I wrote this - I think I will buy a ticket and say "thank you" once again.

     

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    OK i completely understand that people have other charity commitments and they have draw a line at some point but personally have to say I'm a bit embarrassed when i read all the what did you buy/sell threads and then see how the raffle is performing.  
    Not a dig at anyone at all but I just assumed that anyone's who's made any $$$ after using this site for deals, research or second opinions would only be too happy to respond to the "challenge" when Ed & Jeff highlighted a great cause.

    Like i said earlier, donating was always something i intended to do - just procrastinated about it and I'm thinking that there are a lot of others who will make there donations in the coming days.
    I definitely owe the community more then I've given and glad I've got the opportunity to show my thanks and support others via a donation through the raffle (I haven't finished buying tickets yet).
    At Ed & Jeff (+ all the mods)- you're doing a stellar job with this site and you're desire to keep it free is next level.  Keep up the good work.

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    Will be buying $200+ towards the end of the month as I always planned too. I'm sure there are other regulars and members that just haven't got round to it as well, the close dates a while off yet.

    Keep the faith guys! And the good work!!

    MORE BANNERS -   MORE REMINDERS -   MORE LINKS  its your site after all ;)

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    5 hours ago, Phil B said:

    Ed, don't forget the Dark Side of the Force ... it's called Procastination :) Keep hammering these messages at folks and more importantly, put up a "Only X days left" banner everywhere. I'm sure that will entice some ....

    Exactly. Just like the lottery. 

    They line up around the last day. People are like ants. We follow a trend, a feeling, a notion, etc.

    I will be upfront, and say I plan to buy some tickets around the 25th-30th. No rhyme or reason why, just my feeling for luck.

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    I gave to support the Macks.  Sets or not.  I have always pushed for a pay site, they always decline.  I pay good money in my firm for good data and analytic tools.  Come on people, 1 ticket is 10 dollars, really only ten dollars.  Who cares about the religion aspect doing something good to benefit others is always I good thing.  I love Jesus and am happy to support these guys, even if it was some other religion.  Only 10 dollars........maybe you will win something!  I expect I'll buy more before the end of the month.  This site is invaluable to a serious investor.

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    I bought a few tickets in hopes that people may keep their jobs. It is more than just the children at the school that will have dramatic changes, it is the ripple effect to the community and the families that can be long lasting.

    Also, I am a firm believer in "what you sow, you eventually reap". If you plant some good, you will eventually get some good in your moment of need in the future. What goes around, certainly does come back around.

    Best of luck to the families.

    P.S. I may purchase a few more...as that Mystery Bundle does have me intrigued!

    Edited by Kevink24
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    crappy holidays and I didn't notice the plethora of discussion about this raffle. However an even crappier time would be to see my school close, so in on this for as little as I can do. Excellent crusade gentlemen. Keep the good things going in life. 

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    I agree with the cynicism shared by some of the others. I participated in this raffle but it was more as a thank you to Ed and Jeff than any likelihood that I will win anything. If someone hasn't participated (or isn't intending to participate) at this point, I don't know that increasing your generosity (by adding sets) will change their mind. I think this was an excellent idea and I would participate again in the future regardless of the number or type of sets offered - it's for a good cause by reputable people.

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    I agree with the cynicism shared by some of the others. I participated in this raffle but it was more as a thank you to Ed and Jeff than any likelihood that I will win anything. If someone hasn't participated (or isn't intending to participate) at this point, I don't know that increasing your generosity (by adding sets) will change their mind. I think this was an excellent idea and I would participate again in the future regardless of the number or type of sets offered - it's for a good cause by reputable people.

    Well, I will be adding some more sets later today. I want to mix it up a little and attract a wider audience. Some of the members sets donated will be pooled together to make a kick butt raffle and give some variety. If by adding $500 in sets helps make $2000, then that is worth it to me.

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    Finally got back to the site after a long time away only to come across this raffle.  Awesome idea! Was going to buy my powerball tickets tonight, but looks like my plans have changed, and for the better.  Keep up the optimism Macks, I have faith!

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    I wish you the best of luck. If I costed out the time I spent on this site at a penny per minute then I'd owe you hundreds of dollars for very helpful information, advice and opinion. I'm seeing this as a small thank you; nothing more, nothing less.

    I don't know why you've not had as much interest as you'd have expected - here in the UK there is some fundraising for schools but it's often low key and more to do with getting maybe £2K for a computer suite, sports equipment or something specific. There may be an issue with it being a catholic school (I dunno, not an issue for me - I'm a hindu/christian/not much of anything... long story) or it may be simply that people are just that bit grippy.

    So, I'm going to add my two pennies... come on people, $10 for a ticket! Have a punt. Do some good. Say thank you.

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