Hello LEGO fans...

It's that time of year again.  Time to raise money for my son Max's school, St. Paul School, in Burlington, NJ.  After two very...VERY...successful LEGO Raffles...

• 2016 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE
• 2017 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE

...in which we raised over $100,000.00 for the school, another year has passed, and it’s time to raffle off some dynamic LEGO gifts for charity. The money we raised the last two years literally kept the school open...which is a great thing.  It's a special school that once again was voted BEST Private School in Burlington County, NJ, by The Burlington County Times, along with numerous other awards, such as:

• Best Private School
• Best PreK-Nursery School
• Best Teacher
• Best Fundraiser
• Best Music Instruction
• Best Tutor Service (Junior National Honor Society)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2018 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE FOR ST. PAUL SCHOOL!

As I stated the last two years, St. Paul School (SPS) and its community are special.  My son loves the school, even though he won't admit it.  People from all races and religions attend St. Paul School.  Besides excelling in educating the children, the school does a tremendous amount of charity for local people in need. From food drives to helping out at local retirement homes, the children of St.Paul School are required to perform “service hours” that are designed to teach generosity, altruism and instill a hard-working, disciplined attitude.  Excellence is expected and permeates through St. Paul School and the faculty and student body, so does a sense of goodness and frugalness.  We make a little money go a long way. For example:

• All grade levels (Pre – K through 4) are scheduled for “Specials” each week...such as art, music, library, computers, and physical education
• St.Paul School is nationally accredited by “AdvancED” (the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement – NCA – CASI.
• SPS middle-school students have three periods of Spanish and are testing into Spanish II for High School.
• SPS provides more periods of physical education each week than is required by the State.
• SPS provides multiple extracurricular activities such as: LEGO Robotics Club, Science Club, Vocal Choir, Rosary Group, Tonal Chimes, Hand Bell Choir, Crafty Kids Club, Basketball (Boys/Girls), Indoor Soccer, Cheerleading, Yearbook Club, National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), Student Council, MATHCounts, STREAM (Science Technology Religion Engineering Art Math, Activity Tutorial Period (ATP for 5th-8th grades)
• This year, we even added a LEGO club!

But all is not wonderful though.  As many of you know, many Catholic schools have a hard time making ends meet. Enrollments are down and many families do not have the extra money to spend on a private education.  Even superb schools like St. Paul School have a hard time keeping the doors open.  While our enrollment has stabilized, we will still be way short of breaking even; thus the need for the 2018 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE. This year’s version of the LEGO raffle will start with TEN awesome prizes. These include:

2018 LEGO RAFFLE PRIZES

$1000 Amazon Gift Card

75192 UCS Millennium Falcon

The Lord of the Rings Two Towers Lot 9474 LOTR Battle of Helms Deep 10237 Tower of Orthanc 9471 Uruk-Hai Army

STAR WARS Empire Strikes Back Hoth Lot 75098 UCS Assault on Hoth 7879 Hoth Echo Base TWO 8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Packs TWO 8084 Snowtrooper Battle Packs 8129 AT-AT Walker

PICK ANY (ONE) RETIRED SET.  IF WINNER BUYS A COMBINED $100 OR MORE OF ANY RAFFLE TICKETS, PICK TWO!!!! 10218 Pet Shop 10211 Grand Emporium 10197 Fire Brigade 76023 The Tumbler 10228 Haunted House 10227 UCS B-Wing Starfighter 10236 Ewok Village 10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter

10221 UCS Super Star Destroyer

10188 Death Star with “Bonus Set”

Pick a New Set (Taj Mahal OR Ghostbusters Headquarters OR Disney Castle)

BrickPicker Mystery Lot (Guaranteed to be AT LEAST 5000 pieces)

10030 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer (Used and complete)

 

Once again, this year’s total prize value exceeds the previous two year's total prize value.  The last two years, we had 21 raffle prizes and winners from around the world. From Vancouver, Canada to Reno, Nevada to Miami Beach, Florida to the Isle of Man, United Kingdom and everywhere in between, generous raffle participants were rewarded with awesome LEGO prizes. I wish we had some winners in New Jersey so I can hand deliver the sets...maybe this year!  We even had a repeat winner!  The 2018 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE can be found here on the secure Rally.up.com site:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2018 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE FOR ST. PAUL SCHOOL!

Like the last two years, we will ship the prizes to anywhere across the globe.  If there is an issue with shipping or prizes, a comparable prize and/or shipping method will be arranged with the winner. The last two years, the LEGO BRICKPICKER RAFFLES worked very well.  The Rallyup.com site is a first class, secure site that made this all possible.  They also issued the school a big fat check(s).  All raffle proceeds and donations benefit the school directly by bridging the gap between what tuition covers and actual educational costs. It also raises money to upgrade the school’s technology, keeping St. Paul School ahead of the academic curve with a dynamic curriculum. The prizes have been donated by Jeff and I, the St.Paul School PTA and by some very generous BrickPicker members. I am hoping, like last year, that more people will donate sets after the raffle begins. It was fun adding to the prizes last year. You never know what can pop up as a prize!

On a personal note, once again, I would like to thank every person who donated sets/money and/or bought tickets to last two year’s LEGO BRICKPICKER RAFFLES. It helped save a wonderful school and kept dozens of people employed and 175 kids with their friends and teachers. I don’t like asking, but will anyway...please help out again this year.  Even buying one ticket can help and it gives you a chance to win some great prizes.  Watching the raffle ticket total rise every day was an intense rush and extremely gratifying experience.  It made me so proud to have started this site with my brother Jeff and made me realize there is still good in this world…

The contest will end on March 13, 2018 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be notified by Rallyup.com. If you are a winner, please contact me on the site so we can confirm the prizes and shipping addresses. The Rallyup.com site works very well and is secure, so please feel confident in donating to the school and purchasing raffle tickets. All the money goes to St. Paul School, which is a 501(c)(3), and to Rallyup.com for running the raffle.  I will make every effort to supply the winners with the appropriate prizes.  If there are shipping issues, inventory issues or potential problems beyond my control, I will make sure the winners are awarded LEGO sets/gift cards comparable to the original prizes.  Any questions, ideas or concerns, please reply below or PM Jeff or me...

TICKETS AVAILABLE UNTIL: March 13, 2018 at 11:59 PM EST (My 50th Birthday)

DRAWING DATE: March 14, 2018 at 12:00 AM EST

Thanks again!

Ed Mack

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Sweet, I won the imperial star destroyer!  That was my hope, how awesome.  Looks like building time to come with my kids.  I'm glad the raffle was another success.

6 hours ago, djtsmith007 said:

Not to get to far off topic but how does RallyUp pick a ticket? Looking at mine over the years it's seems to always pick towards the middle of the tickets pulled. Leaving the ones at the beginning and end out. Anyone know?

Completely random....Takes seconds.  We tell them to run it, it happens within a second or so.   belljohn just won his prize by buying at the very end.  He bought the winning ticket at 11:03 PM.  

So the longer you wait to buy your ticket the higher chance you have of winning? That makes no SENSE! Because it doesn't matter if you buy your tickets on the first or last day because they are picked randomly. Right? I think I remember reading that half the winners bought their tickets on the last day. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

3 minutes ago, Saruman said:

So the longer you wait to buy your ticket the higher chance you have of winning? That makes no SENSE! Because it doesn't matter if you buy your tickets on the first or last day because they are picked randomly. Right? I think I remember reading that half the winners bought their tickets on the last day. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Well, last year, I bought tickets twice in the beginning and once at the end - and won with a ticket from the beginning (if I remember correctly).

This year I bought tickets over the period of a week. I started on Monday the 5th and finished with my last tickets 15 minutes before the end of the raffle.

Finally, I had 56 tickets, "spread" all over these 9 days and won .... the great feeling of having participated in two wonderful causes:

 

1.) support for. St. Paul !

2.) hopefully helping a fantastic "young guy" to have a great birthday !

 

I am looking forward to next year (and maybe a new strategy)

 

Once again: Happy Birthday, Ed !!!!!

45 minutes ago, Saruman said:

So the longer you wait to buy your ticket the higher chance you have of winning? That makes no SENSE! Because it doesn't matter if you buy your tickets on the first or last day because they are picked randomly. Right? I think I remember reading that half the winners bought their tickets on the last day. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

It's completely random.  It's hard to tell anything off of 30 raffle drawings.  Statistics guys can tell you more on that.  The one uber generous donor who bought $600.00 worth of tickets at 11:57PM (plus another $500 days earlier) to put us over the top won nothing...just my respect.  Hadrake is another generous person who went all out and won nothing this year, but won last year with big ticket purchases.  I have bought $3000.00 in tickets the last three years for members and myself and have won nothing.  

What gives you a better chance is buying more tickets.  Waddamon won a prize and bought early, but he also bought a ton of tickets.  He bought a similar amount last year and won nothing, but did win the secondary raffle I ran.  Hadrake won last year...Big time tickets.  belljohn the same.  These generous souls chip in hundreds and hundreds of dollars, so their chance are better.

The thing you must realize is that there have been more tickets bought in the last two weeks of each raffle than the previous month they ran.  Each raffle in 2016, 17 and 18 ran about 6 weeks, but most of the ticket sold in the last two weeks.  People procrastinate.  Two weeks ago, we had around $4000.00 contributed, but when Jeff sent out the mass emails, we had big time donations....hitting $40,000.00!!!  We always have had a strong last week and last day.  Tens of thousands have been donated on the last day alone over the past three years.  More tickets sold on a day/time...more chances to pick a winner.  Simple.  

12 minutes ago, hadrake said:

Well, last year, I bought tickets twice in the beginning and once at the end - and won with a ticket from the beginning (if I remember correctly).

This year I bought tickets over the period of a week. I started on Monday the 5th and finished with my last tickets 15 minutes before the end of the raffle.

Finally, I had 56 tickets, "spread" all over these 9 days and won .... the great feeling of having participated in two wonderful causes:

 

1.) support for. St. Paul !

2.) hopefully helping a fantastic "young guy" to have a great birthday !

 

I am looking forward to next year (and maybe a new strategy)

 

Once again: Happy Birthday, Ed !!!!!

Thank you for being so generous....

4 hours ago, Saruman said:

So the longer you wait to buy your ticket the higher chance you have of winning? That makes no SENSE! Because it doesn't matter if you buy your tickets on the first or last day because they are picked randomly. Right? I think I remember reading that half the winners bought their tickets on the last day. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

You sound pretty salty. There were 594 contributions amounting to $40,000. I don't know the total number of tickets sold, but I would imagine, we all had the exact same holds to win something. I don't know how many tickets you bought, or when, but wasn't it all for a cause? You sound like a conspiracy theorist, and there's no call for it. It's not like ed and Jeff were the winners and kept the money for themselves. Honestly, I could have taken the money I spent on tickets and bought myself a nice set, but this was for kids and it's because someone who has put a lot of work into a site that has allowed me to make money asked.

I can't wait to build ours, perfect spot for it to.  It will then force me to crack open an ssd, or buy a used one.  I'm always an investment guy first.

Didn't win, but was a fun raffle, I will for sure be back next year!!!?

 

TY!

14 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

Thank you for being so generous....

No, thank YOU (and of course Jeff) for sharing so much of your time and effort to keep up this great site across the years.

So don't listen too much to the suspicious minds. From the start, everyone who participates in a raffle has to be aware of the possible outcome of winning or loosing.

And in "our" case the special thing is that there is always a winner guaranteed - the kids!

Oh, and I did not want to bring it up again but .... welcome to the club of "The 50+" ? (had to mention it?)

24 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

You sound pretty salty. There were 594 contributions amounting to $40,000. I don't know the total number of tickets sold, but I would imagine, we all had the exact same holds to win something. I don't know how many tickets you bought, or when, but wasn't it all for a cause? You sound like a conspiracy theorist, and there's no call for it. It's not like ed and Jeff were the winners and kept the money for themselves. Honestly, I could have taken the money I spent on tickets and bought myself a nice set, but this was for kids and it's because someone who has put a lot of work into a site that has allowed me to make money asked.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound salty. I was just confused and didn't really understand because Ed said that half the winners bought the tickets that day. But now that I think long and hard about it, I realized that over 25% of the 40,000 was raised on the last day. So, it makes sense that at least 25% or more of the winners bought tickets on the last day. I did buy a few tickets but only because I don't have much money and most of the money was my profits from last year(which I don't mind). This site has helped me so I wanted to help the kids. I was just not paying attention and thinking about the winning stats and stuff. Well, I'm cleared up now and fully understand.  

2 hours ago, Saruman said:

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound salty. I was just confused and didn't really understand because Ed said that half the winners bought the tickets that day. But now that I think long and hard about it, I realized that over 25% of the 40,000 was raised on the last day. So, it makes sense that at least 25% or more of the winners bought tickets on the last day. I did buy a few tickets but only because I don't have much money and most of the money was my profits from last year(which I don't mind). This site has helped me so I wanted to help the kids. I was just not paying attention and thinking about the winning stats and stuff. Well, I'm cleared up now and fully understand.  

Thanks....I wish I would have won all of them so I wouldn't have to give away these kick ass sets!

3 hours ago, hadrake said:

No, thank YOU (and of course Jeff) for sharing so much of your time and effort to keep up this great site across the years.

So don't listen too much to the suspicious minds. From the start, everyone who participates in a raffle has to be aware of the possible outcome of winning or loosing.

And in "our" case the special thing is that there is always a winner guaranteed - the kids!

Oh, and I did not want to bring it up again but .... welcome to the club of "The 50+" (had to mention it)

Thanks for reminding me....LOL...I was just getting over it.  Well, hopefully everyone on the site who isn't there yet, will reach it one day.  Appreciate your 20s, 30s, and 40s and how good you feel!

Just wanted to let you all now that I was the winner of the Amazon GC, and that Ed has already sent the GC to me!!

I am glad that I got to donate some money to the kids, and I am thankful for all of Ed's time and effort. Off to Amazon

to buy more Lego's!!! 

12 hours ago, AztecRol said:

Just wanted to let you all now that I was the winner of the Amazon GC, and that Ed has already sent the GC to me!!

I am glad that I got to donate some money to the kids, and I am thankful for all of Ed's time and effort. Off to Amazon

to buy more Lego's!!! 

Thanks for your donation...your was easy to send...a few clicks.   Another two are being worked on now and the rest will start going out on Monday, one by one.  Unfortunately, it has been extremely busy business week for me personally since the raffle ended and I always try to ship these right and safe.  

Update...

All packages except for belljohn's 30 pound box of goodness have shipped!  

 

Update...

All packages have shipped.  I really hope everyone enjoys their prizes and bonus sets.  I look forward to seeing pictures of the sets built.  Once again, I would like to thank everyone who contributed.  It is always fun and "stressful" watching the donations come in.  I look forward to next year...I still have a ton more sets to raffle off!

 

Received my Lord of The Rings bundle raffle prize. I don't know who was more excited, my 7 year old son or me! Fantastic way to raise money for a good cause. Here's to the St. Paul School and Brickpicker! Thanks again!

31 minutes ago, southendsox said:

Received my Lord of The Rings bundle raffle prize. I don't know who was more excited, my 7 year old son or me! Fantastic way to raise money for a good cause. Here's to the St. Paul School and Brickpicker! Thanks again!

Thanks for contributing and your photo!  The LOTR lot ended up being quite a nice one!

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to a great cause and have the chance to get a great prize. You guys are awesome 

14 hours ago, Mrbigz8657 said:

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to a great cause and have the chance to get a great prize. You guys are awesome 

Thanks for the photos and generous contribution.  Two great sets right there!

I'm jealous and I still own those two.

Opened my 5000 piece box this afternoon with my daughter filming.  She is camera shy now.  I will get that uploaded soon.  Here is a still until I  am home from work.  Nice selection Ed, I have always regretted selling my last B-Wing, and I accidentally sold my last Research Institute.   I especially love the chrome trooper and the Coruscant planet. The Ewok's remind me of when my boys loved Lego, it is great to have it.  My daughter really wants the Falcon, so now I have her birthday covered.  Thanks again.

7 minutes ago, belljohn said:

Opened my 5000 piece box this afternoon with my daughter filming.  She is camera shy now.  I will get that uploaded soon.  Here is a still until I  am home from work.  Nice selection Ed, I have always regretted selling my last B-Wing, and I accidentally sold my last Research Institute.   I especially love the chrome trooper and the Coruscant planet. The Ewok's remind me of when my boys loved Lego, it is great to have it.  My daughter really wants the Falcon, so now I have her birthday covered.  Thanks again.

I'm glad it made it there in one piece.  It was hard to come up with a set selection for you.  You seemed to have all the major sets.  Thanks for the photo and as always...very generous donation and contributions!

My Star Wars Super Star Destroyer arrived today. Thanks to Ed and the team for the awesome raffle.