Do you have a hole in your collection? Are you missing HL-128 Southeast Light, Block Island? This might be the way to fill that hole if you are lucky. This piece is a Limited Edition and retired in 1994 and is very difficult to find on the market.

One of our Wackos, who is very much interested in lighthouse preservation and restoration, has donated this piece to the Wacko Pin Committee to use in an Opportunity Drawing. He would like to see a healthy amount of money raised by this year's 2002 Wacko Pin, where all net profits will be donated to Southeast Light, Block Island, R.I. What better way to stimulate sales of our pin, which will have on it the image of the Limited Southeast Light made by Harbour Lights, than to donate that very same sculpture for the drawing.

In our Opportunity Drawing, for EACH pin ordered on a pre-paid basis, the purchaser's name will be entered into the entry box by our committee member in charge of receiving the orders, Darlene Cook aka LADYBUG. If she receives two pin orders from you, your name will be entered twice; three pin orders get 3 entries, and so on. Anyone may purchase a pin. If a club orders a pin, then one entry goes into the box in the NAME OF THE CLUB. Multiple club pin purchases would get multiple entries in the CLUB'S name. Members of the committee and their immediate family are not eligible to win.

The winning name will be drawn and announced in late spring or early summer, upon delivery to the committee of all pins from the manufacturer and their mailing out to those who pre-paid for them. The HL-128 piece will be shipped to the lucky winner.

Pins are not yet ready to be ordered. We need to wait until we have approved the final design and the prototype which will be made in China. When we are satisfied that all meets our standards, then we will announce a date when your pin orders can start to be sent in on the pre-paid basis. There will be a cut-off date, as we order only the amount that are pre-paid and this makes this pin a real collectible, manufactured for this year only. So do not wait too long once the date is announced.

The date will be posted on this Preservation Forum, so keep checking back here to read of the pin's progress through its manufacturing steps. We also maintain a direct e-mail notification mailing list, which will be sent out with news of the ordering date. If you wish to be included on that list, please send your full and real name, and your e-mail address to Darlene Cook at her address which is bugqueen@earthlink.net

If you are new to the Forum, this is the third year that we have made a pin. Each year a different lighthouse is voted in, to become that year's pin and money recipient. This is based on Forum posters who nominate lighthouses which have non-profit preservation groups in existence and actively working towards a restoration, and which meet the committee's criteria.

Our first pin was 2000 and over $1200 was sent to Morris Island Light, in Charleston, S.C. The 2001 pin just raised over $1300 for St. George Reef Lighthouse near Crescent City, CA. The pin which is part of this Opportunity Drawing features Southeast Light on Block Island, R.I.

In all cases, these were lights that need large amounts of money for very key restoration efforts. Our donation, though small in the total amount needed, does help and adds up along with other donations to make these repairs possible. As an example of how we can and did make a difference, please read my posting on this same Forum about how St. George was able to install its temporary roof due to our donation, thus protecting the interior of the tower from the ravaging winter storms.

It is our hope that we can raise an even more significant amount of money this year through your generosity and the presence of this great Opportunity Drawing. Southeast is such a popular light and visited by so many people, yet its drastic need for repairs has not been noticed by the public. Photos of how bad it is were posted on the General Forum this summer, and the response from interested lighthouse enthusiasts signing up on our sheets at the Baltimore Reunion were very encouraging.

We hope you can do your part by buying one or more of our striking collectible pins -- and by passing news of this pin and drawing onto your friends who also love lighthouses. These Forums are a great place to visit and spend time reading; and all of us Forumites would enjoy more newcomers discovering the goldmine of information posted here.

All of us on the Wacko Committee would like to thank the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, for his donation of this Southeast Limited piece. Share his interest in preserving our historic sentinels by ordering your pin when the time comes. Thank you so much for your interest in what we are doing.

Help us keep the flame burning,

Chairperson: Barbara Hupp
Committee: Lamar Bevil, Darlene Cook, Henry Hupp

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ladylightkeeper

Can you give us at least a ballpark figure as to how much this pin will cost? Sounds like something I would like to buy, but surely want to know how much $$$ is exspected to be paid before I put my name in the hat!

Stephanie

I think I paid $30.00 for two pins last year, but I don't remember if that was the actual price or if there was a small extra donation in there. Either way, this will give you some idea of what to expect.

Rick

Stephanie: Thank you so much for your interest in the Wacko pin. I apologize for not answering you sooner. My husband and I left New England before you posted your message. We are now in Mississippi for the winter months, and have just figured out how to connect my webtv unit, which I brought down with me, to the local provider here.

In answer to your question: last year's Wacko pin sold for $15, which included shipping. We are going to try to keep the price the same this year. All net proceeds will go to the Southeast Light's non-profit preservation group.

Anyone may order the Wacko pin and may order as many as they wish. They would make nice gifts for friends or relatives who are interested in lighthouses, which would help the committee raise even more money to donate for this worthy preservation project. For EACH pin ordered on a prepaid basis, the purchaser's name will go into the Opportunity Drawing. The prize is a retired Limited Edition of Harbour Light's Southeast Block Island lighthouse sculpture.

There will be a posting here when it is time to send in your prepaid pin orders. This will be sometime this winter. You may get on the automatic e-mail notification list by sending your name and e-mail address to committee member, Darlene Cook, at bugqueen@earthlink.net

I want to thank Rick for providing his help on the pin price while I was temporarily off line.

On behalf of the Wacko Pin committee, I would like to extend seasonal holiday wishes to you all, and hope that you get the lighthouses under the tree that you wrote to Santa about !

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ladylightkeeper