Tomorrow, April 21, was to have been the deadline for ordering the Bodie Wacko pin. However, we are still quite a bit short of the required minimum needed in order to send in our order to the manufacturer.

We are holding all your payments for those of you who have already ordered your pins. And are making a plea for the many others who originally expressed enthusiastic support and vowed to buy this beautiful pin, to actually send in your order with payment, as we had anticipated.

This is the original Wacko fundraising project, now into its fourth pin. The other three were all smash hits and raised significant money for designated lighthouses. It would be a shame for this worthy preservation fundraiser project to die out because our membership is not supporting it.

Yes, there are other fundraisers out here for Bodie, and that is a plus. BUT I really don't think you realize how differently we are forced to operate. Whereas the great Bodie name badge can be made in whatever quantity to cover orders that come in, we are contracted commercially with a professonal pin-making company who tells us how many pins we have to sell (our minimum order) in order for them to make a justified profit and for us to stay as their customer. We have the "best deal" out there in the field, and an extremely fair minimum quantity being required by them.

So we are locked in, and need to get your orders for not only this current pin to reach its conclusion and mailed out to you; but also need a very sincere commitment from enough Forum registrants that they will support this fundraiser in the future. Bottom line, this IS a Wacko or Forum project and enough sales should come just from all of us to make it fly. Any other orders that come in from club members, HL Society members, lighthouse enthusiasts, are the frosting on top that puts us over that minimum and creates a larger donation to the lighthouse, as was the case with last year's SE Block final and fantastic money tally.

I and the committee members and outside volunteers literally put in thousands of hours per year for just one pin creation. We stay up late working; re-arrange personal life and vacation schedules when delays occur in our fairly dictated production schedule such as now is occurring if this deadline has to be extended too much further; and personally order extra pins ourselves just trying to make the minimum reality. It is all because we love lighthouses and want to help them stay in existence. But without your commitment, which translates into dollars to support this project, we cannot continue this effort nor afford to bail out this project personally each time it falls short.

PLEASE do your part -- if you indeed treasure those lighthouses. And spread the word to others who would be willing to support all of our efforts.

Darlene will be posting here, on the Club News, and the General Forum, advising you of this fluid deadline based on new orders coming in, hoping to reach that minimum in the near future.

It is not going to be possible to wait a long period of time, as we have commitments in scheduling to the manufacturer. Having an article in the Legacy will not come to our rescue this time because of the time frame. An article had been submitted in the past to the Legacy for the wacko pin project, but it was rejected. We will try submitting again for a future pin, hoping our project can be featured so that ALL HL Society members know of its existence.

The committee is also primed and ready to begin the 2004 pin campaign, but did not wish to do this until the Bodie project was in the can, order wise. The faster we can wind 2003 up, the quicker we can launch the 2004 and still stay on our necessary schedule.

What can YOU do to help?

1. Order the Bodie pin and support this project, if you have not already done so.

2. Post on this thread as to your own personal interest and commitment to supporting this as an ONGOING project. We need to know this before we start in on all that work again for 2004.

3. Post your answer truthfully: do you come to this Preservation forum on a regular basis to check out what is current? We feel that many don't do so, and we are not getting the needed exposure by not appearing on the General Forum. It has surely affected sales this year. Would you like to see a project like this, that represents all Forum registrants, to have a dual posting, both on Preservation and General Forums, as was done to promote the Wacko Name Badge -- do you think it would help your ability to keep up to date on something this important and make it easier for you time-wise as you browse? We are just looking for ways to improve our future pin promotions.
Thank you from the committee to all who have supported the pin to date.

Help keep that flame burning.

Barb

After reading Ladylightkeeper's post I am going to order a couple more pins. I figure that over the next year I will be meeting new Lighthouse Lovers that were not aware of our project. I will be happy to tell them about it and maybe even give them one of my pins to get them interested in joining us here in the forums. Even if each person orders just one extra pin I'm sure we will make this goal a reality. Let's not let Bodie Island Lighthouse down. Go right now to this web site and do your part to help this worthy cause.
http://home.earthlink.net/~wackopin/index.html
Ruthie

Thanks Ruthie for ordering those extra pins. This year most of our orders were for just one pin as opposed to the average of 2 pins in past years.

I have extended the deadline to Friday April 25th in hopes that we can get enough orders to make this pin a reality.

Darlene

Go to our website http://home.earthlink.net/~wackopin/index.html now and Order your 2003 Bodie Island Wacko Pin. Thanks for your continued support

My hopes are that others will follow Ruthie's lead and order an extra pin. This is a very worthy cause and a beautiful pin. Let's all join in and get that minimum order.

WHAT A SHAME IT WOULD BE IF IT WERE NEVER DONE!!!

I HAVE FAITH IN THE WACKO COMMUNITY, WE'LL MEET THE MINIMUM!!!

Bert

As promised, I have submitted an order for a third pin!

Thank you Ruthie, Bert, and Mel, and others who have ordered extra pins. That is most generous of you, and will surely help us move towards our minimum. I am putting my extra pins each year in a small glass display case along with LLOM of the matching lighthouse. Just an idea for displaying your extra pins.

KTF, Barb