Holiday Donation Raffle

[🪦 mperaginejr ●]

As some of you may know, I am a featured artist on the Fright Forum of Fright Stuff, and have been for a little bit over a year now. I am not trying to bring up an FS debate, simply trying to put some credibility behind what I am posting below.

Also, as some of you know, my wife and I run a foundation called Breathe-and-Release.

For those of you who are unaware of this, you can find more information about the foundation here: http://breathe-and-release.com/

That is our main website, and includes links to our various other online sites including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. You can read a bit about the foundation, our mission statement, etc., if you wish.

The following is what we have posted on our Facebook, forwarded electronically to our partners and sponsors, and sent around many places of employment in Pittsburgh.

"This Christmas, Breathe and Release, a Pittsburgh based foundation, has partnered with the Salvation Army and adopted a local family in need to provide them the Christmas they deserve.
...
At this time, we are reaching out to you, our supporters, friends, family, clients, and partners, asking for donations to spread the holiday spirit and help us accomplish this goal.

The family is head by single mother, Heather, who due to injury is unable to work, and her three children: David, age 10; Mariah, age 7; Brandon, age 5. The goal is to raise the funds necessary to provide toys and clothing for the children, a small gift for mom, and dinner for the family on Christmas night. Donations can be made through PayPal (PayPal Account/credit/debit cards). Please send donations to: donate@breathe-and-release.com. We apologize, but toys/clothes/etc. donations cannot be accepted for online supporters due to the shortage in time for this event. Donations should be made by December 16th, to allow time for items to be purchased and delivered to the family.

100% OF DONATIONS WILL GO TO DIRECTLY TO GIFTS & A MEAL FOR THIS FAMILY IN NEED FOR CHRISTMAS.

All those who make a donation will receive an update of what was raised, as well as picture updates of the items being delivered to the Salvation Army.

BREATHE-AND-RELEASE can be contacted directly for this event at:
events@BREATHE-AND-RELEASE.com

Donations can be made using the following email address via PayPal:
donate@breathe-and-release.com

For more information on Breathe and Release, please visit:
http://breathe-and-release.com/"

Now to entice my fellow horror fans, collectors, and brothers, I am going to offer you something more to get the donations for this family rolling. For every one of you who makes a donation, your name will be entered into a raffle to receive a free paintup from me. Any hockey mask, from any movie or custom made, any donation amount, with a minimum donation of $5. The mask will be done on an FS blank and signed by me, and individually numbered as #1 of 1, and come with a certificate from our foundation in addition to normal tags, etc. You can only enter once, and besides the minimum there is not a limit on how much or little you can donate. As stated above, every penny donated will go directly to this family. If you do decide to donate, you must contact me through PM, or post directly in this thread, so I know it was you and that you wish to enter the raffle and were not simply making a donation. I will need your email address for verification. Donations must be received by December 16, 2010. The mask will be made and shipped in January.

Here is how the drawing will work:

This is not the only site I am posting this on. This will be posted on Facebook, other forums, etc.. On Friday, the 17th, I will let everyone know how many names are in the drawing, on all sites this has been posted to. On Friday, December 24th, I will hold the drawing in my home, with my wife pulling the winning name, and I will record it via my webcam. This will be posted on Youtube to verify the winning name and ensure you all are confident in the way the drawing was held. I will then inform the winner and begin communication on details of the mask to be made as I would for any normal paying customer. After the holidays the mask will be made, with normal picture updates, etc., as my masks are. In addition, I will also be posting pictures of gifts we deliver for the family and the dollar amounts raised here on Night Owl, so you all can be a part of the goal you are helping us to accomplish.

I do not have as much feedback here as on other sites, however, my feedback section on FS is rather large, and if you check my profile here I have dealt positively with quite a bit of Night Owl members. I also have 100% positive feedback on my eBay user ID mamma's boyfanatic80.

If you would like to see a few examples of my work you can check my artist section on FS or view my photobucket here:
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/m...ts%20VF80/

So, my fellow horror fans, I ask you to reach out this holiday season and lend a helping hand to a family who needs it, and maybe score yourself a cool collectible in the process. Any questions feel free to contact me. I know times are tough right now, better then most, so everyone have a safe and happy holiday. Even if you do not participate in this raffle, please do something to help someone this holiday season. If you don't, there is a chance no one will.

[🪦 mperaginejr ●]

so far we have 8 entries into the raffle and $240 in donations, thank you very much to those who have donated, I will have final details on the raffle this Friday

all total we have raised $1030 to this family, something that would not have been possible without those of you who have contributed

anyone still interested in joining the raffle for a small donation can do so following the instructions in the first post

thank you all for helping us bring this family a merry christmas

[🪦 Chainsaw ●]

CONGRATS on raising that amount so far Mike!! That is sure to let the family have a very nice Christmas :thumbsup:

[🪦 mperaginejr ●]

I would like to first thank everyone who donated. We raised a grand total of $1550 for this family in items and money. Pictured here are the gifts we purchased for the children and the mother. Also gifted to the family, but not pictured, are $150 in gift cards for the mother to use for household needs, a full meal for the family donated by our local Olive Garden, a full 8 person Christmas dinner donated by our local super market, a gift package of dinner drinks and bowling for the whole family donated by a local bowling alley, and a free trip to the movies with refreshments donated by our local theater. After arriving at the Salvation Army to deliver our donation the workers were so excited by how much we tried to do for the family that they called Heather, the mother, and asked if she would like to come and pick everything up and meet us, and she did. It has been a long time since I have felt very good about anything, but seeing the look on that woman's face when she saw everything we were able to donate to her family made me melt. I am not really in the festive mood this Christmas with all the heartache I have gone through in the past year, but this afternoon was a bright spot for me this holiday season. I would like to think for the first time in a long while I would have been able to put a smile on my mom's face today, because she always loved Christmas with her children, and it was very special to be able to help another mother provide that for hers.

Of the $1550 raised, $330 was raised through the mask raffle, with 11 entries total. I will be contacting those 11 individuals in the next day or so, and as previously mentioned, the raffle will be drawn next Friday on Christmas Eve. Thanks to everyone who helped us this holiday season, and I hope you all enjoy the holidays with friends and family.