I was contacted by a member of these Forums last evening who wishes to remain anonymous. When this member saw that the Opportunity Drawing closed just $50.00 shy of the next prize tier of $1400., this person thought it a shame that we weren't going to give away the next two prizes from that tier. This member pledged to me that the $1400.00 amount would be guaranteed to be raised for lighthouse preservation. If we don't receive donations which arrive late to cover the difference, this member, (who, by the way already has donated to the cause and is NOT receiving entries for this add-on), will pay the difference so that the amount is reached.
As such, I have changed the Opportunity Drawing to reflect that amount and have added the two prizes from the tier to this morning's drawing.
I wish to publicly thank this member for his/her generosity! It is that spirit of giving and caring which is so widely lacking in today's world and will ultimately help save these American treasures which we all collect, visit, and enjoy. WE CAN'T TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT THEY'LL ALWAYS BE THERE UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO HELP!

Checking in...

OK everyone, the announcement will be beginning in a few minutes. First some preliminaries.
1) First of all, the most important thing is to thank everyone who donated to the lighthouse fund. The lighthouse preservation groups will be very thankful for your efforts!
2) Please bear with me today as my typing may be a bit slow. The tendonitis in my hands and forearms flaring up a bit today, relegating me to typing with only a limited amount of fingers!
3) To those who may not be familiar with the forums, in order to read subsequent posts, periodically refresh or reload your browser and all of the new posts will appear.
So let's have some fun!! Please join in with your comments, "attaboys", and anything else you may want to add to the conversation. ARE WE READY?

Apparently not! Anyone out there?

While waiting, I will give you an idea of how the winners were chosen.
Nearly everyone who donated to the lighthouse fund got entries in the Opportunity Drawing, (a few people donated, but didn't want to participate in the drawing). Everyone's name was written on shhets of paper which were all exactly the same. The number of entries one had constituted how many shhets of paper were placed in the bin with his/her name on it. Once all entries were in the bin, it was covered and vigorously shaken. The names were then drawn one by one by my granddaughter and verified by two people who were present and had nothing to do with the drawing, the Forums, or Sand and Sea Enterprises. They were merely observers making sure all went well.

Sorry - the server was WAY overloaded and if you were here, you found out that you couldn't refresh to keep up.

On short notice, we arranged a conference call at 3:00 PM EDST noon PDST. Those who held tickets for the drawing were sent an email.

Roland will post the winners here shortly. Thanks to everyone who organized and who participated. Lighthouses will be 'better off' by $1,400 - good in these bad times.

Where is the LIST of WINNERS???????!!!!!!
RIP

Sorry for the delay in posting the winners' list. I had to prevent a murder. MINE!! If I didn't get a couple of things done today my wife would have killed me!!!!
I also had to inform all of the winners first by e-mail who weren't part of the conference call.
Thanks to all who contributed to the lighthouse fund. The money, I'm sure, will be put to good use!!
Congratulations to the winners!!
Prize-HL364 Sabine Pass....Rip Puls
HL801 Sapelo Island Front Range...Ken Reese
HL376 Haut-Fond Prince....Stephanie Dingler
HL362 Ludlum Beach...Hal Dean
HL700 Big Bay Point...Stan Maleszewski
AB121 USCGC Taney set...Jo Crivea
HL308 Northwest Passage...Stephen Glotzbach
HL202 Gray's Harbor....Michael J. Glynn
Reunion whiteware trio...Laura Chewning

Congratulations to ALL the winners!!! It didn't go exactly as planned but we all had a good time and the money will be well spent by the real winners, the LIGHTHOUSES and the groups supporting them.

Congrats to all the winners!

It's great to know that we collected a good amount to help lighthouse preservation. We can all be proud about that.

WOOHOO !!!

Big thank you to everyone who put this together!


Is this the most money the forum has raised?

Lets hope we can do this again, next year !!!

Laura,
To my knowledge it is, but I'm sure Dave or Paul or Rich could answer that better than I, as this is the first one I've been involved with.
$1400.00 is great, but I'm not satisfied. Our goal remains $2,000.!! We still have four pieces that have been unclaimed, the Kim, the Cedar Point artist proof, the Sankaty Head #32, and the Waugoshance mini. 4 pieces and $600.00 needed. Any ideas anyone?

I wanted to thank everyone who bought an opportunity in the drawing! The lighthouses came out the big winners here along with a few lucky people..

Roland, Can you organize a separate raffle for each of the four remaining pieces?

$5 a chance, per piece. Once $150 is raised for each individual piece, it can then be raffled.

Why not do a separate raffle and let's see if we can pass $2,000?

Congratulations to the winners. I'm always game for another raffle!

Judy

Do another raffle,Loon,s idea sounds good
Rip

Another Opportunity Drawing? After the one we just had which ran short, don't think there would be enough interest in it.

How about an Auction? Start with an opening low yet reasonable price, set a date and time for the bids to end (say one week... or two). And the high bidder gets the piece. This could be done by blind bidding through emails.

Each piece would have to be a seperate Auction, so that you are only bidding on one piece at a time.

Before I add my 2 cents worth to this discussion, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our members and non-members that took the time to participate in this Opportunity Drawing. It didn't matter whether you donated $5.00 or $100.00, your donation will be appreciated very much by the lighthouse groups that receive their share. Thank you again from an Opportunity Drawing committee member and a person that has worked on several lighthouses while serving in the Coast Guard.

I agree with Roland that another drawing at this time would not be advantageous. Maybe at a later time, around Thanksgiving-Christmas time frame, it might work out. An auction also might work if the economy was in better shape and if the interest was higher on lighthouses but I don't think the interest is there to even support an auction.

We could set a price on each of the 4 pieces remaining and the first buyer to agree to pay that price gets the piece. An example would be the OE Kim that has a secondary market value of approximately $400 - $450. Would anyone pay that dollar amount or how much would a buyer pay to own a VERY limited OE piece? The other 3 pieces all have a secondary market value of approximately $150 - $175 each and again would there be buyer(s) for each one of them? Again, these are my thoughts only and do not reflect the opinions of the Opportunity Drawing Committee.

Those that have attended Harbour Light Reunions and/or Harbour Lights collectible show events in the past may recall that there were raffles or opportunity drawings AND auctions. This gave everyone a chance at something, raffles for us limited budget buyers and auctions for the high dollar spenders. The raffle constituency did a pretty good job and had their chance on this, but didn't complete it, SO give the spenders a chance.


You want $600. Keep it simple. One auction for one or two weeks for one lot of all 4 pieces with a minimum opening bid of $600. The worst that can happen is no bids, but maybe a newer forum member or one of the high dollar spenders of years ago are out there and would like the whole lot. Can't hurt to try it.

Want it even simpler? The first payment for $600 gets the 4 pieces and the $2000 target is thus reached.

One other thing that might help, is if PayPal or a credit card could be accepted. The small fee would be worth the cost to raise $600 or more.

mg

If you have another raffle, could it be for the ones who did not win the first raffle?

Here is the reason why I think another Opportunity Drawing at this time won't work and why we as a committee are disappointed with the results. If, after reading this, you disagree, please chime in.
The drawing began on April 20 and ended on August 15. In essence, 4 months duration.
In all, we had a total of 33 donors. That's right, only 33! Of those 33, 4 were ineligible or didn't want to participate in the drawing. That brings us down to 29. 9 of those donors were non-members and came from outside of the Forums. In other words, more than one-fourth of the donors weren't members. That leaves 20 members in the drawing. And by the way, all of the committee members except for me were eligible to win someone else's donation because I was the only one who was handling the entries. (In fact, like you, the rest of the committee members don't even know any of the names of the donors, except the winners, and it will remain that way.) Five other committee members from the mix, you do the math.
At any point of time there are usually 40-45 members signed in to these Forums. In the four months that this drawing took place, there had to be more than a couple of hundred members, (Rich, Dave, John, please correct me if I'm wrong on this). So, to the countless other members who visited this site, even 5 bucks was too much to ask to help keep these lighthouses from being lost forever! THAT is why another Opportunity Drawing won't work!

As a committee member I did want to give my opinion.
A lot of good ideas here.
I have been switching back and forth myself on this decision.
Do we sell chances or do we sell the lighthouses?

But after the smoke has all settled and I have heard the different opinions, this is what I feel is the way we should go.

First of all it is not fair to all of those that have donated to the first drawing not to have a chance at the KIM. Many have donated with hopes of winning the top prizes and we should not take that hope away from them.

Second; I think we should have a second drawing with a guarantee that the four prizes that were not won in the first drawing will be the prizes offered at the $600 mark.

Third; let’s go around the table again and come up with some prizes for the higher levels with $1200 or even $1400 as the cap.
I am prepared to put another collectable in drawing and I am sure we can find some others to sweeten up the pot.

Fourth; use the webpage that Roland has already made, but put some small edits to it for a second drawing, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Now it is Roland that is stuck with all the work, so I respectfully support his final decision.

Wow! No wonder the results are disappointing. It is amazing that over 200 visited the site and only a small number donated. I can understand why you would like to wait and rethink this process. My only concern is if you do an auction that will eliminate many of us that cannot compete financially. The auctions at the Reunions are fun but only for a small number who can afford them but they do raise good funds for preservation so that is the important thing.

The $5.00 per ticket, however, is a great opportunity to contribute to preservation efforts but unfortunately in this economy the drawing does not result in enough funds.

Thanks anyway for all your work in putting this together.

Judy

Using Roland's numbers, we ONLY HAD 20 MEMBERS DONATE to the Oportunity Drawing and without knowing who the members were, at least 6 of them were Committee Members. That leaves only 14 members that donated. We gave away over $1000 (Secondary Market Value) worth of prizes and only brought in $1400. We had almost as many non-members as we did members and the tickets were ONLY $5.00 EA.

I originally thought that another drawing would be the way to go but I'm starting to lean towards an auction or a flat out purchase with a RESERVE. That way we won't give away the KIM or any of the other pieces for much less then they're worth. We could sell/auction off as a group of 4 or individual pieces.

OH WOW.... I can't believe my eyes. Am I reading this right.... only 20 forum members donated?

Come on folks what's wrong with you? ! Most of you who come here to these forums do so because of your Love for and interest in LIGHTHOUSES. I know that times are bad and money is tight.... but $5. for Lighthouse Restoration wouldn't have killed you! Yes... the more you could donate the better... but even just $5. would help (and would have gotten your name in the pot). Think of it this way... if 100 of you out there could have only donated $5. that would have been $500. for Lighthouse Restoration! It's not a matter of how much you can do, it's a matter of DO what you can!

I myself made two separate donations, one in the first few days and another at the very end. Neither were very substantial amounts... but they were the best that I could do. And yes I was lucky, I was one of the prize winners. But if I hadn't been... that would have been ok... because what I was doing was for the Lighthouses, not for the prize!
(I will however take my prize and display it with pride! )

Roland, I understand your disappointment. I am disappointed too! I know that you worked long and hard on this endeavor. But at least you did raise $1400. for the Lighthouses, so that is good. Thank You for all you, and the other Committee Members did for this great opportunity to both help the Lighthouses and a chance to receive some great prizes.

Knowing what I do now, I would have to say the best thing to do with the remaining 4 prizes is to tell the donors... Thank You for offering them, but you keep them. Maybe we can do something again another day in the future and they can offer them again.

Shortcake, I appreciate your concern about donations for restoration. Remember some of us donate to restoration of a lighthouse of our choice. Mine is New Canal in New Orleans and I live in Arizona. Art

I know that a lot of members donate to church, charities, schools, lighthouses, etc. and that times are tough for a lot of us. However, people always have a $5.00 bill for a burger, movie, lottery, etc. and this is what Stephanie was probably trying to make a point of. I, like Roland and Stephanie, am happy with the amount we did raise but am dissapointed that it couldn't have been the $2,000.00 goal that we set.

With that being said, we must look to the future and see what we can do to come up with an additional $600.00 to meet our goal or just give up the ghost on our $2,000.00 goal and give the preservation groups what we have already collected. Another drawing or auction is not going to bring in the money we need. If only 33 members/non-members took the time to send in their donations when we had over $1,600.00 worth of prizes, how many are going to send in donations for the remaining prizes? I think the only way to go is to take offers on the remaining 4 prizes and take the highest offer on each prize, as long as the predetermined reserve is met for that prize.

It is just too bad that all the members couldn't spare $5.00. I guess the times are tough and hopefully everyone is giving to some lighthouse of their choice as Art mentioned.

Opportunity drawings are about the only thing we in Colorado have for raising funds for lighthouse preservation. Sometimes we only take in a little but it all adds up. Even our last store event didn't take in as much as we hoped but at least it was something we could send to our adopted lighthouse.

Collecting is great but as far as I am concerned, preservation is number one!

Judy

Some people are out of work, some people have days off without pay (better than losing a job, but it still hurts), some have money but are worried about tomorrow, so hold on to their money.

I am in the category of days off without pay. It has averaged about 1 a month, not much, but many of the day to day costs have gone up in the meanwhile. Thank goodness Susan has not been effected, YET. Nonetheless we bought 3 tickets in April and another one at the Bronze Lady. Had it been two years ago below I lost my previous job, I would have bought more. While I like my present job, it makes about half of what I made before. I have cut back on trips, lighthouse stuff, etc.. So with that in mind, maybe we did not do so bad and it is more than the badge sales last year.

Look for a post about the Kim in the Trading Post tomorrow. The committee has come up with a plan on how to raise money with the prizes not given out because their tier wasn't reached. The Kim will be first.

We are looking to raise as much as we can for the lighthouses and still offer these prizes to the Forum members.

We are offering the Kim in a blind auction with a reserve. This means that the minimum winning bid will be needed to win the auction. The high bid at 7PM on Sunday August 30th will win the Very Rare Kim Anchor Bay Ship. AB105 Regular Edition Motor Yacht Kim, only 13 known to exist! All of the money raised by this auction will go to the lighthouses for restoration help.

AB105 Regular Edition Motor Yacht Kim

Do Not post bids in this thread, they will only be accepted by email to me at wackopaul@att.net

Just a little over 4 more days to bid on the Kim AB.. I will re-post the information that we have received more than one bid over the reserve price of $250 which means that we will have a winner on Sunday at 7pm.

Thats good news Paul!
I got the whiteware yesterday. They are so cool looking. The white somehow makes them look even more detailed and precise. Dave kindly gave me some history and now I know more about just how unique they are.

I got confirmation that the winner of the Grays Harbor got it delivered on Tuesday..

The following pieces were all delivered last Thursday with no breakage. I got confirmation on all pieces by the lucky winners over the weekend.

HL801 Sapelo Island Front Range...Ken Reese
HL700 Big Bay Point...Stan Maleszewski
HL362 Ludlum Beach...Hal Dean

Thanks for the delivery updates everyone. I know that Daniel's Northwest Passage was also received by the winner. Haven't heard from John's Taney winner, though. Do you have any news on that front yet John? Has it bent sent?
Now if only the Sabine Pass would get here, then I could make Rip a very happy man!

Shipped the Monday after the drawing by UPS, delivery by Friday of the same week.

Thank you John. That means only the Sabine Pass needs to be sent.

Did Terry ship his Haut Fond?

Told me he was sending it.
Shortcake, did you get your lighthouse from Terry?

Since there is only one more day and a few hours before the Kim auction is over, the committee decided to put the 2nd item up for auction in the trading post..

The HL357 Cedar Point, OH Artist Proof is the 2nd item being auctioned with a $100 reserve. This means that the minimum winning bid will need to be at least $100.00. The high bid at 7PM on Saturday September 5th will win the HL357 Cedar Point AP. All of the money raised by this auction will go to the lighthouses for restoration help. This also is a blind auction, which means that I will be the only person to know how much each bidder has bid on the AP.

If you make a bid and later, before the deadline, want to raise your bid, that is acceptable also. This auction will run just a little longer than a week in duration. In case of duplicate bid amounts the first one received wins the tie.

Do Not place a bid in this thread but only by email to me at:

wackopaul@att.net

The winner of the Kim Anchor Bay is RIP Puls, his winning bid is $500, which raises the total to $1900 for lighthouse restoration.

Thanks RIP for your winning bid. I will be shipping the Kim to RIP and his wife Sharon in Tampa, Florida and RIP will send the $500 to Roland to join with the other funds raised so far in the Forums Opportunity Drawing. The committee wishes to thank the other 3 bidders for their bids on the Kim AB.

The second item of those that's tier weren’t reached in the drawing is the HL357 Cedar Point Artist Proof Lighthouse is being offered in a blind auction with a reserve of $100. So far no bids have been received for the Cedar Point Lighthouse. This auction runs until 7:00PM on Saturday September 6th…

Congratulations RIP! Your bid has really made a dent in reaching our $2000.00 goal.

We have 3 more pieces to auction off to reach and exceed our original goal. Certainly there is someone out there that wants an Artist Proof. I have read several posts over the past year about members saying that they don't have an AP in their collection, so HERE IS YOUR CHANCE! You have 6 DAYS left to place your bid. The bidding will end at 7:00 PM Saturday (same time as my Florida Gators start their football season).

The remaining 2 pieces after the Cedar Point AP will also run a week apiece for the bidding. Paul knows what order they will be auctioned off in.

Rip,
Thank you so much for that great donation to the lighthouse fund. The money will be very much appreciated by the lighthouse groups, I'm sure. Thanks also to Paul for donating the Kim for the fundraiser. I commend both of you on your generosity.

I have now received a bid for the Cedar Point AP over the reserve.. Only 3 more days left to bid on the lighthouse. Remember all of the money will go to the lighthouse restoration fund..

Cedar Point AP Auction

Only 2 days to go on the Cedar Point AP auction, I will be posting the auction in the Trading Post starting tomorrow for the Waugoshance Mini from the 2005 Reunion..

Tomorrow, September 5th at 7pm is the last chance on the Cedar Point AP..

The Waugoshance Mini from the 2005 Reunion is the 3rd item being auctioned starting today, with a $75 reserve in the Trading Post Forum. This means that the minimum winning bid will need to be at least $75.00. The high bid at 7PM on Saturday September 12th will win the Waugoshance Mini.

All of the money raised by this auction will go to the lighthouses for restoration help. This is a blind auction, which means that I will be the only person to know how much each bidder has bid on the AP.

If you make a bid and later, before the deadline, want to raise your bid, that is acceptable also. This auction will run just a little longer than a week in duration. In case of duplicate bid amounts the first one received wins the tie.

Do Not place a bid in this thread but only by email to me at:

wackopaul@att.net

Randy Ronne has won the HL357 Cedar Point Artist Proof Lighthouse with a bid of $150. Congratulations Randy!

A week to go on the Waugoshance Mini auction!!

And thank you Randy for the donation to the lighthouse preservation fund. That means we have now reached our goal of $2,000!!! To all who sent donations, thank you all so very much!
How much higher can we make it? Two more items to auction. Can we send more financial help their way?????

Congrtulations Randy! Thank you for your winning bid.

Way to go Randy. We might not have lighthouses in Colorado but we have great lighthouse lovers here!

Judy

Thanks and congrats to Randy and Rip!

I have received a bid over the reserve for the Waugoshance Mini lighthouse. This is more good news for the lighthouse restoration fund!



wackopaul@att.net

Only 9 more hours left on the Waugoshance Mini Auction!! We have multiple bids on the Waugoshance and soon we will have a winner...

Last but definitely not least the Opportunity Drawing Committee is offering the HL367 Sankaty Head On The Move with a $145 reserve. This means that the minimum winning bid will need to be at least $145.00 , which is the list price for this double digit lighthouse. The high bid at 7PM on Saturday September 19th will win the HL367 Sankaty Head. All of the money raised by this auction will go to the lighthouses for restoration help. This is a blind auction, which means that I will be the only person to know how much each bidder has bid on the lighthouse.

Do not post a bid in this forum the only bids accepted must be by email to me at:
wackopaul@att.net

As soon as this auction ends whether there is a qualifying bid on the Sankaty or not that will be the end of the money making project for this opportunity drawing in 2009. The money raised will then be split by the committee and sent to the lighthouses for restoration.

This will be a fantastic chance for the procrastinators that have not bought this piece yet. It will give you a chance to get a low number double digit piece for retail with no shipping charges or sales tax and give you a chance to donate to lighthouse preservation.

John Thomas won the Waugoshance Mini with a bid of $135

Congratulations John on your winning bid!

Congratulations John and thanks for the generous donation to the lighthouse fund!!

By the way, in case anyone is wondering what the exact flag # is on the Sankaty, #32!

5 more days to bid on the Sankaty on the Move #32 lighthouse, no bids yet.. There is a reserve of the list price of $145..

Make your bid by email only to me at:

wackopaul@att.net

Come on guys and gals, Surely there is one of you that has not bought the Sankaty-on-the-Move lighthouse yet. You can kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak. You can aquire a #32 Sankaty-on-the-Move at retail price with no shipping or tax(that's a savings of at least $20.00 right there) plus you can donate to lighthouse preservation and put us over our original $2,000 goal by almost $400. This is our last piece to auction and it would be a shame if we were left with this last piece.

Only 8 hours left to bid on the Sankaty on the Move Lighthouse..

At 7pm the Forum's opportunity drawing project will end and if the Sankaty has no bids at that time, it will revert back to Roland who donated it for the drawing. The committee wants to thank everybody who has made a donation for lighthouse restoration..

There is still time to win the Sankaty, just make a bid to me by email, $145 minimum bid:

wackopaul@att.net

No bids on the Sankaty Lighthouse, it's back to you Roland.. We now have finished this years fund raising for lighthouse restoration.

Nice Job Saints!

Great job everyone who was involved!!!

Roland and the his CapCod store, the CF committee, the Bronze Lady, those who contributed prizes, and those who contributed funds!!!

While looking for the phone number to inform the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (which is in charge of the restoration of the New Canal Lighthouse) about funds coming their way. I found some great news about Anne Rheams, who gave us the tour of the area around Lake Pontchartrain last year at the New Orleans Regional..

New Executive Director

I just finished talking to Anne about the funds heading her way for New Canal Restoration and she said that they have put your name the brick fund raising going on and she will make sure the Forums has their own brick with our website name on it..

She was very grateful for the donation from our Forums Opportunity Drawing and wanted me to thank everyone for all that we have done to help them with their restoration of the New Canal Lighthouse..

New Canal Lighthouse BRICK Campaign

I received an email from the Ashtabula Lighthouse restoration committee and they want to thank us very much for the donation from our Opportunity Drawing.

They said "The money will be used on our next project of lantern room door repair. The lock and original brass locking device was missing and we will have a new one cast and machined to match the original period style".

Great news!!! Any chance of having pictures posted when work is complete??
Rick