Closing in on 2,000...

It has been a busy few weeks. I will keep it brief by starting with the addition of 154 picks donated since the last update. That brings the new total to 1,967 picks donated!

Let's start with Jimmy Buffett. The men in Mr. Buffett's crew were quite generous and promised a "care package" to be forwarded in the next couple of weeks. I cannot wait! All I was told was that it would contain "goodies" for the fundraiser. I gotta admit, I am as anxious as my 5-year-old is just before Christmas. At the show, though, I was given five picks by Dan. His comment as he gave them to me was great: We're in Wisconsin, so green and gold seem appropriate..."
An old friend of AVMT, Mr. JL donated three pair of drumsticks to auction off as well. One of each is shown here...

The boys from 3 Doors Down and Hinder made a donation of a combined 82 picks (40 from 3 Doors Down, 42 from hinder). Thanks to Chris, Matt, Todd & Judah from 3 Doors Down and Moose with Hinder. You may remember Moose from the previous record holding donation of over 300 Three Days Grace picks. Thanks to all of these wonderful men.

I dropped in to solicit donations at the Kittie / Dope concert recently and Joe from dope gladly donated 16 picks.
After his donation, he actually went and talked to the ladies in Kittie and asked them for a donation. Unfortunately they do not use custom picks, but I was told that they now want some so they can make a donation. That was good to hear and I hope that if I ever cross paths with the gals in Kittie again, I can take them up on their offer.

Finally, I collected most of the donation of picks made at Summerfest this year between June 26 and July 6. I was able to collect a total of 51 picks from various artists who stopped through and were gracious enough to drop a few in the collection boxes I left out. Unfortunately, I do not have any individual names to thank, but I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to any and all who took the time to read my donation request and drop a few picks into the boxes. Below are pictures of some of the picks donated.

Independence Day update!

Alright. I will keep the commentary to a mininum for now. But I will say that to date, I have over $1,000 in pledges and donated over $600 to Children's Hospital from pick sales on eBay. Speaking of which, there has been a slight change in the way eBay sales are going to be run. Because Childre's Hospital does not reimburse me for expenses incurred from running the fundraiser, it is up to me to collect these expenses off the top from money coming in through sales or pledges.

Such expenses have been primarially eBay fees, but also include purchase of materials for the Summerfest collections and the picks I had made up for the fundraiser. I try to keep these expenses to a minimum, but they DO exist. I am keeping meticulous records and will gladly disclose them to anyone who requests them. That being said, I will continue with the eBay sales as they appear to be the most effective method of raising money for the Hospital.

Now to the good stuff. I will start with one of the cooler things that has been donated. At the Jack Johnson Show at Alpine Valley this summer, one of the opening acts, Money Mark, donated to me one of his personal laminate passes from Bonnaroo 2008.

Jack Johnson's tech, Boogie, donated several picks from Jack's stash. I do not know if these are stock picks or custom made for Jack, buth they are pretty cool.I received a total of ten picks from Steve Vai's organization. eight from Steve Vai and two from Billy Sheehan:

One of my eBay buyers wanted to help by not only buying picks to raise money, but donating four picks from his personal collection, the two from the Misfits, I am told, were given to him by the band directly. Thank you very much for the support from the Holcombes

The boys in the Type O Negative pitched in with an eight pick donation:

Mick from the Hatebreed crew threw in for 19 picks:

Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous made another contribution of 11 picks, including four of the cool Willie Nelson picks (destined to raise a lot on eBay):

Finally, a fellow stagehand and friend, Jimbo, just passed on a donation of 18 picks from his personal collection. Here are a few...

Thank you to all who have donated during this past round. Words cannot say enough...you all are awesome!