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.

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I'll keep buying as sales roll in

BTW the mobile version off rally up and PayPal aren't the best friends

I'll keep buying as sales roll in

BTW the mobile version off rally up and PayPal aren't the best friends

PayPal does not support any online raffles unfortunately. They do support regular donations on the Rallyup.com site. There are numerous ways to raise money for charities that Rallyup partners with PayPal, but for their own reasons, the raffle is not one of them. I wish it was. Regardless, they do accept all major credit cards.

Just had another $100 in orders so I bought another ticket.  Let's hope January sales are strong.....would love to be able to do more.

I supported.

Perhaps next time, you can make it a more global thing like support schools in Africa. They also need it and can be helped with less money. You'll have my support then too.

Education is the most important thing we can offer to make the world a better and safer place.

I supported.

Perhaps next time, you can make it a more global thing like support schools in Africa. They also need it and can be helped with less money. You'll have my support then too.

Education is the most important thing we can offer to make the world a better and safer place.

I agree and I thank you for your support. There are thousands and thousands of worthwhile charities, schools, churches, hospitals, etc. throughout the world that could use money. Unfortunately., we cannot help them all, but I am trying to make a difference in my community. It's 150 kids and their families and about 30 teachers/faculty and their families that are in need and I am trying anyway I can think of to make it work.

Now after this is all done and people want to approach Jeff and I about running some kind of charity raffle for a good and reputable cause, you can PM us and we can discuss it. This is all new to us and I still feel uncomfortable asking people for any sort of donations, but I have a platform that enables me to do so and we are giving it a shot. I am really thankful of all the support we have received so far and in the future.

I'm looking forward to my new shiny town hall. [emoji4]aaaaaand helping the kiddos.

Is this available to people in the uk?

7 minutes ago, wobbl87 said:

Is this available to people in the uk?

Yes, its open to everyone.

5 minutes ago, Jeff Mack said:

Yes, its open to everyone.

Great, Thanks!

4 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

 

I agree and I thank you for your support. There are thousands and thousands of worthwhile charities, schools, churches, hospitals, etc. throughout the world that could use money. Unfortunately., we cannot help them all, but I am trying to make a difference in my community. It's 150 kids and their families and about 30 teachers/faculty and their families that are in need and I am trying anyway I can think of to make it work.

Now after this is all done and people want to approach Jeff and I about running some kind of charity raffle for a good and reputable cause, you can PM us and we can discuss it. This is all new to us and I still feel uncomfortable asking people for any sort of donations, but I have a platform that enables me to do so and we are giving it a shot. I am really thankful of all the support we have received so far and in the future.

Don't feel uncomfortable. You and your brother provided many of us with very helpful information. You don't force people to donate, people choose to do so. I hope this one goes very well for you both so that it opens the doors to the next projects. Just so you know, building a water well in India or Mozambique costs about 1050€ to make and benefits 1200 people with clean water. Think about all the Brickpicker wells and Mack schools you can build in the future

Keep up the good  work!

54 minutes ago, wobbl87 said:

Is this available to people in the uk?

I will personally ship the sets anywhere in the world.

I would just like to comment that Bundle #2 will be over 5000 pieces.  

I just bought my raffle tickets!!! i hope i win the minifigures to add to the collection!!

If i win, free pest control for a yer Ed Mack!!!! Ha! 

On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 9:27 PM, LisaH said:

I just bought my raffle tickets!!! i hope i win the minifigures to add to the collection!!

If i win, free pest control for a yer Ed Mack!!!! Ha!

Does your pest control company take care of six year old "pests" that walk on two legs?  

I'm in.  Sorry it took so long.  I was lured in by the "mystery box". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZJdaiJF84

 

 

 

 

 

ditto.

 

8 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

ditto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1giVzxyoclE

 

Ooh, good one.  Forgot about that box.

The Mystery Box or Boxes will be HUGE!  HUUUUUUUUGGEEEE!

 

44 minutes ago, Huskers1236 said:

I'm in.  Sorry it took so long.  I was lured in by the "mystery box".

 

it could even be a boat, you know how much we've always wanted one of those.

There is no rush to get in but I will also be in within the next week, it's a good cause.

27 minutes ago, redghostx said:

 

it could even be a boat, you know how much we've always wanted one of those.

There is no rush to get in but I will also be in within the next week, it's a good cause.

Yes, I could throw in a boat.  

OR...

I see a lot of new members on the site the past week.  Winning one or more of the raffles would go a long way to start building a nice LEGO collection.

A Rallyup.com widget has been put on the homepage to show the current progress with the fundraiser.

On 1/3/2016 at 8:06 PM, Ed Mack said:

There is still almost a month left yet and the holidays are finishing up, so I am I hoping that more people will find it in their hearts to buy a few tickets for a chance to win some top notch sets and to help some kids and teachers stay in a great school.

In a way, the response to this raffle will tell Jeff and I (...and the other LEGO fan sites) what BrickPickers are made of. Are we givers or takers? My glass is half full, so I am counting on this community to come through for people in need.

So far, it looks like more takers than givers on the site.  Sad that people can't donate $10 to a school or as a way to say thanks for the site and effort put forth by you and Jeff.  

I just wanted to say thanks for all the time, effort and Legos that are going into this fundraiser.  My son goes to St. Paul School.  At his last, larger school he would come home with stories of teachers yelling, out of control behaviors from other students and very little about what he was being taught.  Needless to say, my wife and I were truly disappointed by this first school experience. We found St. Paul School and haven't looked back since.  The class size is smaller, the teachers are more structured and the learning is abundant.  We are hopeful this fundraiser and others will get us through to next year, and then on to increasing enrollment.  It boggles the mind as to why others haven't discovered this gem.  Thanks again Lego Lovers for the support.

Hi Ed & Jeff, great cause. Bought my tickets, good luck with your battle!