Parris Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Dear Bros, as many of you have heard, there's a fundraiser going on in SF fandom to support Terry Pratchett's donation to Alzheimer's resesarch in the UK. Since Terry made the donation, fans across the world are joining together to matching funds for both the UK and US foundations that fund research in the causes and treatment of Alzheimer's and other brain diseases. You can read more about this effort at: [url="http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/"]http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/[/url] We're not asking for much, a pound, a couple of euros, a fiver, what ever you can spare to help. One of the contributions we are making to the effort are 7, that's right, 7, rare and collectible books, thru the current Match It for Pratchett' auction on eBay. You'll find all 7 of our donations at this link: [url="http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbenveniste"]http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbenveniste[/url] the books were put up on eBay by our good friends Deb & Mike, they photgraphed and listed the books since I wouldn't even know where to start with such a project. Five of the books are from George's personal collection, two are bound galleys of a couple of very interesting non-RR novels. If you have a few gaps in your GRRM collection, or want to find out what those two mystery titles are that I just alluded to, click the link and start bidding! You all have my express permission to spread this information far and wide, we would like to see a strong presence of fandom in this effort. Many folks have written about how much Terry and his work have meant to them. I cannot find the words to express the joy and laughter and pleasure he has given me over the last 25 years. But I can say thank you to him this way, by doing what he has done, and contributing to research to find ways to treat and prevent Alzheimer's and other brain diseases. I hope you will join us. thanks, Parris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Parris, what a great auction! Unfortunately the item I most desire has already gone way beyond my means. :/ One thing to note about donating through the "Match it for Pratchett" web site is that PayPal will take a percentage of your donation as a fee. That site has been a great way to raise everyone's awareness of the campaign, but if would-be donors want to get the most for their money, they should give directly to their national Alzheimer's charity. That'll get them a tax receipt as well. :) ETA: unless of course it is the Canadian site, which is refusing to take my money on the "In Honour donation" page. Grrr... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parris Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 [quote name='Angalin' post='1285195' date='Mar 22 2008, 23.30']One thing to note about donating through the "Match it for Pratchett" web site is that PayPal will take a percentage of your donation as a fee. That site has been a great way to raise everyone's awareness of the campaign, but if would-be donors want to get the most for their money, they should give directly to their national Alzheimer's charity. That'll get them a tax receipt as well. :)[/quote] Anagalin thanks for the support, and even though you can't bid on your object of desire, you can help by making a cash donation and spreading the word. According to a note on the 'matchit' site, they are in the process of turning over their PayPal funds to the UK Alzheimer's org, although that will take a week or so. Apparently even the folks who put up the website didn't expect such a response, and they've raised more than 5K in their tip bucket! Printing out a receipt will be adequate for tax purposes in the states if your donation is under $250 dollars. Let's do our best on this side of the pond to meet half of the campaign's overall goal. You sure you don't have a kindly rich uncle who would indulge you in that object of desire for your birthday? No? Well, it's exciting to see that this morning that all 7 of our donations now have at least one bid each, and I hope that folks will continue to bid and spread the word of the auction and the fundraising effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 I spread the news of this to the SFX, Malazanempire, Wotmania, Dragonmount, SFFWorld and Chronicles forums and put up more info on my own blog. Not sure what effect this will have, but it if gets even one donation in it'll be worth it. This is a damn good cause. Glad to see fandom stepping up to the plate with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caladanbrood Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Oh wow, there's some real gems in those auctions! Beyond my means too though, so I'll have to settle for just donating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poobah Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 Ditto, alas, that wonderful copy of A Game of Thrones is out of my reach. Still can donate though. -Poobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parris Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 thanks so much Wert and other friends, keep spreading the word about the fundraising and the auctions far and wide. My goal is to reach out to as many Pratchett fans as we can, we don't have to donate a lot individually, just the cost of pint or a paperback, and the impact of thousands of people doing just that is very powerful. that being said, I'm delighted and pleased to see so many bids on our auction items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 The word is spreading by any means possible. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 [quote name='Stego' post='1286399' date='Mar 24 2008, 14.17']The word is spreading by any means possible. :D[/quote] You tattoo'd it on your ass? How ingenious! :wideeyed: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Gotten a few good responses from Chronicles and SFX. One person on Chronicles was taking a ton of their old DVDs and books down to the charity shop but instead are Ebaying it and sending the proceeds to the campaign. Sweet :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parris Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 [quote name='Blanc de Wert '79' post='1286804' date='Mar 24 2008, 17.36']Sweet :thumbsup:[/quote] very very sweet, and we're hearing that several Easter week conventions did fundraisers of one sort or another, very spur of the moment. If there's folks out there who want to do another fundraiser at a convention this spring/summer at convention, I urge you to make it so, and I'll make sure a couple of goodies come your way. Keep up the talk and spreading the news, because there's folks out there on vacation and won't be hearing of this for many days, so do what you can to keep this idea fresh for people. Plus a little bird tells me that there might be other interesting items offered later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Hmm. Perhaps the Galway Meet could be an opportunity to do something as well. I'll have a think about some ideas to come up with. I only have a couple of signed GRRM books but maybe I could put them up for bidding from the meet-goers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 [quote name='Parris' post='1285423' date='Mar 23 2008, 10.25']You sure you don't have a kindly rich uncle who would indulge you in that object of desire for your birthday? No? Well, it's exciting to see that this morning that all 7 of our donations now have at least one bid each, and I hope that folks will continue to bid and spread the word of the auction and the fundraising effort.[/quote] :lol: Sadly, no... and $500+ for "Once More, With Footnotes" was too rich for my blood. I'd already donated to UK Alzheimers research, and can now say that I've finally, [i]finally[/i] gotten through to the Canadian site to donate. :) They probably haven't heard of Terry Pratchett, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Sky One auctioned off a replica of the Luggage from the recent Colour of Magic show, filled with the complete set of Discworld novels, in aid of this. It's a shame I didn't know about this before, even though £3,667 is a bit beyind my means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 You could just have moved into the Luggage in question, no? ;) Unless it was a good enough replica to have teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 This is a really good cause. When I have spending money again I'll donate something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parris Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 12 HOURS TO GO our eBay auction in support of Match It For Pratchett has about 12 hours to go as I write this post. Here's the link again: [url="http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbenveniste"]http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbenveniste[/url] and remember, if you can't bid for these fabulous and rare books and galleys, do the next best thing and donate the cost of a pint or a paperback to your national Alzheimer's research organization. Then ask a friend to do the same. The mind you save might very well be your own. Parris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 As of March 28th: [b]Total Raised via MatchItForPratchett.org: $7748.75.[/b] That doesn't include people like me, who gave directly to Alzheimer's organizations. The page had nods for Neil Gaiman, the Nielsen Haydens and GRRM for spreading the word so well. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Time for Wolves Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 I bought one of the Discworld shirts, the black one. That's part of the Match it for Pratchett drive, though unfortunately I don't have the dough to bid for one of those books. Wish I did though - I would salivate to get my hands on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 My Match It for Pratchett shirt came in today. It would be cool if we could set up a flickr site or something for people to put up pictures of themselves wearing their shirts and posing in some ridiculous DiscWorld manner, dressed up as Rincewind or something. It would be a fun way of spreading the word and getting people involved. Does anyone think that idea would work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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