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…

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.

View full blog article

Hmm. Since every news site and blog seems like they are running articles on how good investing in LEGO is. Why don't we start posting somthing like " Brickpicker forums is currently running a raffle for some of the most wanted sets" with a link to the raffle page forums in the commnents after the articles

Unfortunately, we don't control the news. But people can share the many links we have to the raffle. They are on our Facebook and Twitter page, on my signature, on the homepage, and on the top of the forums.

Think I read somewhere that someone donated a new gt350 for your school??   Don't know where I seen it but they said drawing would take place toward mid to late summer if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, just thought that was cool, I'm in the market for the next gt500 but will probably throw some tickets at the raffle for support.

I don't know about that. I don't think that is correct.

Well, that's done.

Just wanted to say that it was because of browsing Neosphinx' profile that I learned about the ongoing charity and raffle.  I was going to suggest better visibility on the forum by putting this thread above everything else but I noticed it's there...  Don't know how I could miss it but possibly others didn't notice it as well?

I also read some people aren't able to pay with their credit card. That's because in Europe lots of banks allow payment everywhere except in the US (because of the high possibility of fraud).  It only takes a few minutes to log in to your online bank account and change this.  You can change it back immediately after your payment.  (Maybe this was a problem as well for some European users).

The only thing left to say is:

 "Won't somebody please think of the children?"  (too bad no minifig was made of her )

Good luck with the charity to the Macks and happy new year to all the brickpickers!

 

in for some more.

1 hour ago, SlashMcGee said:

Well, that's done.

Just wanted to say that it was because of browsing Neosphinx' profile that I learned about the ongoing charity and raffle.  I was going to suggest better visibility on the forum by putting this thread above everything else but I noticed it's there...  Don't know how I could miss it but possibly others didn't notice it as well?

I also read some people aren't able to pay with their credit card. That's because in Europe lots of banks allow payment everywhere except in the US (because of the high possibility of fraud).  It only takes a few minutes to log in to your online bank account and change this.  You can change it back immediately after your payment.  (Maybe this was a problem as well for some European users).

The only thing left to say is:

 "Won't somebody please think of the children?"  (too bad no minifig was made of her )

Good luck with the charity to the Macks and happy new year to all the brickpickers!

 

We have shifted and posted links and banners all over and will change it up in a week or so for the final push.  

I'm in. 

#StPaul

Be sure to look at new options, it's been updated a few times since starte

6 minutes ago, justapilgrim said:

Be sure to look at new options, it's been updated a few times since starte

Right, a lot of new combinations.  Even a custom bundle.

Made a small donation.  Good luck the rest of the way!

Made a small donation.  Good luck the rest of the way!

Thank you.

I'm in...  #StPaul

23 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

 

Likes don't cost anything. Let's give these people some likes.

 

On January 18, 2016 at 8:58 PM, Lordoflego said:

 

anyway, as cheap as I am, as lazy, as....as NOT-participating-in-SH.T as I am, I'm going to make a little version of Mos_Eisley $-4-likes idea, give this post 10 likes and I'll spend $10 on raffle ticket, up to 50 likes/$50! Let's go. (I'll pay on last day of the raffle Ed) And on the side, buy some tix too! Plus like Mos_Eisley post that I provided...

pg 15 Posted Sunday at 8:58 PM

On January 11, 2016 at 5:28 PM, 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!

pg 10 Posted 11 January

 

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by brickcrazyhouse

23 hours ago, LisaH said:

You are certainly correct there.... the power of choice is lost with every private school that closes. That is why St. Paul's isn't about a Catholic school closing....  it is about losing the power of Choice....if every private school closed, you would have NO CHOICE but to send your child into public school-- almost being forced into it. The old Catholic Schools with mean nuns and scary priests are gone.... what is within the walls of Catholic Schools these days are computer labs, STEM programs, robotics clubs, Science clubs, academic competitons, honor societies and language clubs... and perhaps a lego club or 2 lol ---- 

 

Love it!  Everyone likes to have a CHOICE . . . And an exceptional one at that.

Thanks again for all the support!

23 hours ago, LisaH said:

You are certainly correct there.... the power of choice is lost with every private school that closes. That is why St. Paul's isn't about a Catholic school closing....  it is about losing the power of Choice....if every private school closed, you would have NO CHOICE but to send your child into public school-- almost being forced into it. The old Catholic Schools with mean nuns and scary priests are gone.... what is within the walls of Catholic Schools these days are computer labs, STEM programs, robotics clubs, Science clubs, academic competitons, honor societies and language clubs... and perhaps a lego club or 2 lol ---- 

 

Well, when we raise enough money, I will start developing a plan for the most kick ass LEGO club in the world.  I mean, after all, you have the world's leading authority on LEGO sets walking the halls of St. Paul School.  I will members of this site wanting to join this club...LOL

after you purchase your tickets it gave me ticket numbers .For each bundle I purchased it had a different ticket number.Out of curiosity is that the amount of tickets sold for that bundle(for example if i received ticket number 400 on a bundle that i was the 400th ticket on that bundle)

8 minutes ago, river41 said:

after you purchase your tickets it gave me ticket numbers .For each bundle I purchased it had a different ticket number.Out of curiosity is that the amount of tickets sold for that bundle(for example if i received ticket number 400 on a bundle that i was the 400th ticket on that bundle)

Sort of.  Each raffle had a different starting point.  

I was wondering if I can enter the raffle even though I live OS?

55 minutes ago, ED-209 said:

I was wondering if I can enter the raffle even though I live OS?

 

Ed's going to have to read the threads about safely packing and shipping sets.

 

I was wondering if I can enter the raffle even though I live OS?

Sorry, what is OS? I said I would ship anywhere.

17 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

Sorry, what is OS? I said I would ship anywhere.

Over Seas

It's the AM... acronym madness

I'm thinking OS may mean overseas. As Ed mentioned earlier, he will ship sets anywhere in the world to winners of the raffle

Right. I will ship anywhere. As long as you can pick it up in New Jersey. LOL

in for a few more because holy schnikies bundle 5 "Planes, Trains and Exo-mobiles". #exchangerateiskillingme. Keep on keepin on.

Ed,

Sorry if you have discussed before, but I assume there are other fundraising efforts outside of this one?  How close is the school toward the $200,000?  

Just interested because I am in the education field. 

A few more sets were added to the Friends bundle...

Even though this anonymous supporter guy has a very strange name, he is very generous...

Looks like the 2 of you almost raised 10% of the total amount needed, a great accomplishment by itself! And still 2 weeks to go! Sending out positive vibes 

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by SlashMcGee