>

Winners

Read on

November 9, 2008

Alright, it’s time to announce the winners from the blog contest. Again, I randomly drew names out of a hat in my super scientific method.

Winner of the TONIC t-shirt: Matt (Corrugated City).
Winners of MAC Viva Glam lipstick: Lydia (Just Smile and Nod), Sarah Mu (Our New Office) and Tyffanie (La Chilenguita).

Congrats to all! I’ll email you today so you can collect your prizes.

I have to say that this was the weirdest contest ever. I expected that the contest would draw people in to read about Marcelo’s story and that would be the way I’d get people to post about it. Instead, I had people emailing and asking if they could donate without entering the contest or without buying anything (for the record, umm, heck YEAH). People had some strange aversion to this contest…maybe the requirements of posting in your own blog was too much effort, I don’t know. So while the contest was not a rip-roaring success, the fundraiser definitely was.

We raised….

…..

Wait for it….

Enough to cover Marcelo’s entire first semester. The grand total is $981.32 dollars plus + $80,500 Chilean pesos. I took the money in dollars out when the dollar was at like 670, so I have to say, that was pretty genius of me, seeing as how it seems to be on it’s way back down. Watch me have to eat my words though if the dollar goes back up through the roof. Anyways, so the money was added to a CD of a deposit that we already had started and it’s earning interest and come March we’ll take the dinero out of the CD and start making payments at DUOC! I’m excited and so is Marcelo!!!

This is corny beyond belief, but I really want to thank you all so very much.

I wish I could give every single person who donated/bought pictures and postcards/spread the word/supported the cause in any way a hug right now. I know there’s not a single millionaire amongst the group (well, I guess you never know…). Money is tight for a lot of people, especially right now, yet somehow we have managed to raise a sum, that while it may seem ordinary to some, will be an extraordinary change in one person’s life.

I’m impressed and proud and humbled all at the same time. I think it says a lot about this little community of Chile/Expat/Really Cool People bloggers that we have going on here.

And when Marcelo graduates I’m going to post pictures of him in a cap and gown (do they even do that in Chile?) and you all are going to bawl like little babies or my husband when he watches The Notebook…because you did this!!!!

8 Comments

Facebook comments:

8 Comments »

  1. kyle- that is so exciting! congrats on raising so much money. very inspiring!

    Comment by nyGRINGAinCHILE — November 10, 2008 @ 4:40 am

  2. Yay! That’s SO exciting. Can Marcelo hurry up and graduate now, so that we can have pictures to tear up over? Or – I am nerdily excited about this now – can we get a first day of school picture?! And report card updates? You could tell him it was to make sure he’s studying, he wouldn’t have to know it was for a bunch of people online to coo over when he brings home those 7s :)

    Comment by Emily — November 10, 2008 @ 6:29 am

  3. Congratulations to all of the winners, and and a big thanks and hug to you, Kyle, for working to help someone out.

    Keep up updated!

    Comment by Ordinary Girl — November 10, 2008 @ 9:57 am

  4. I won? Woo-hoo, I didn’t know I was even in a competition! I have to say, though, that I’m upset I didn’t win the Viva Glam Lipstick :)

    Comment by Matt — November 10, 2008 @ 10:41 am

  5. Brilliant!!

    Comment by Carlos — November 10, 2008 @ 3:15 pm

  6. Haha, S. cries when he watches the Notebook?! Hilarious! I love it!

    Comment by EvilJoy — November 10, 2008 @ 6:34 pm

  7. That is great!

    Comment by TD — November 10, 2008 @ 7:14 pm

  8. Yeah, we want a first day of school picture of Marcelo! He probably doesn’t know that he is going to be both educated AND famous.

    Comment by Ritamae — November 11, 2008 @ 7:23 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment