OOPS...

I was in such a hurry during the last posting, I accidentally forgot to include Florida, Ethan and Tooker out on the All American Rejects tour who donated 13 picks, and here they are.
Sorry for the omission, fellas. I am sincerely greatful that you made these donations, and the last thing I meant to do was pass you over during the last posting...

Alright. It's been nearly 3 weeks since my last posting and I have had a few additions from new friends, some from a few old friends and still some more from people who I have never met and wanted to make a donation.

Here we go:

First, from my good friend "Moose" who recently came off tour with Hinder during Motley Crue's winter tour. Here's where it gets kind of cool. I sent Moose a bunch of the Pickin' For Sick Children picks along with a SASE and a request to ask people on the tour to put a few picks together and send them to me. The package arrived sent me a total of 64 picks from Hinder, Motley Crue, Theory of a Deadman and Train. I want to thank Moose, of course. But I also want to thank those who also donated through Moose. When, and if, I ever get names of these people, they will be sure to get the appropriate public thank-you that I want to give to whomever gives me permission to do so. Until then, thank you to you all who gave picks to Moose...you know who you are!

Next, another friend I have not met before donated 25 picks. Ian from the Band New Found Glory donated a ton of picks at the beginning of the fundraiser, but I have not had the opportunity before to thank him in person. I was given the opportunity to do so the other day when they visited Milwaukee on their current tour. I want to take a moment to thank Ian again for his generosity and support as well as his kind words regarding the fundraiser.

On tour with New Found Glory is a band named Bayside who also donated 6 picks. Thanks to the boys in Bayside!

Dragonforce was in town last night and absolutely blew me away. Not only are they a great band to see perform some incredible musical acrobatics, but I dare say you would be hard-pressed to find a more down-to-earth group of guys. They were all very nice and approachable. When they heard of the fundraiser, they were eager to donate a total of 46 picks. Thank you to the guys in the band and on the crew.

Another friend I have crossed paths with several times in the past 16 months is Brian. This time he was touring with Cannibal Corpse and donated five picks:

Last and certainly not least, Matt from Alkaline Trio donated 14 picks to the cause. Matt is another friend I have been lucky enough to encounter a couple of times in the past year. I would also like to send a thank you out to Scott with Alkaline Trio who I have known for years and was a catalyst in getting me connected with Matt to solicit donations. Thank yo Matt and Scott!

A few more...

I was fortunate enough to work the Doobie Brothers show the other night and want to send a thank you to the entire crew for not only donating 47 picks, but for being so cool and fun to work with. I wish the best to these guys and hope the road keeps them safe throughout 2009 and beyond.

Here are the different picks the boys donated:

Even a few from the Tim McGraw / Faith Hill tour in 2006:

Also, Mr. Anonymous collected a total of 20 picks from The Kentucky Headhunters:

REO Speedwagon:

and Little Big Town:

When they passed through town, he solicited these donations on my behalf. Thank you to Mr. Anonymous as well as the tour members from these bands who made their donations:

Thank you for checking in and I'll update again soon!

Keep On Keepin' On!

Lets start by confirming that we have surpassed the $4,600 mark! In just over a year, you all have helped raise this money from either donating picks, buying picks or pledging money directly to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Not too bad for a (very) small organization with limited resources. I think the true thanks for this goes to everyone who has taken time to simply listen to the proposition to give just a little with hopes of turning it into so much more. If this success continues, I dare say that the sky is the limit. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT, HELP AND GENEROSITY!




Now, to donation updates...

With this latest round of donations, Pickin' For Sick Children has been given 4,013 picks!

Joe, with the band Dope donated seven picks:

Greg, who is currently out with Darius Rucker, donated a total of 24 picks of various designs. Even as a Green Bay Packer fan, I think the Miami Dolphin picks are pretty cool...

Marty, Stan and Moby with Black Label Society donated a combined 39 picks to the cause.

Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society has done some tremendously generous things for St. Jude's Hospital and I encourage anyone reading this to check out the Black Label Society webpage at http://www.blacklabelsociety.com/ and click the link to St Jude's. This man has a heart of gold and, for what it's worth, I throw my full support behind him, his band and this wonderful cause.

The boys from Less Than Jake gave me eight picks...

A special thanks to the guys in Nickelback who took time during their stop in Milwaukee to donate seven picks for the fundraiser!

Greg with Sevendust opened up his road case enough to donate a very generous 31 picks...

Last (only because they were in town most recently), and most certainly not least, Jimmy Johnson and Greg who are currently out with Styx gave two handfulls - totaling 64 picks!

Again, I would like to thank everyone who takes the time to listen to my plea for donations, read this blog, send me encouraging e-mails and contribute financially to Pickin' For Sick Children! You are all the best!

Overdue update...

A few picks have been added since the last update.

Bring me the Horizon came to town on the Taste of Chaos tour and donated a total of 45 picks (15 sets of three different picks). Sorry, but the black & white pick needed a bit of selective editing...

George Thorogood & the Destroyers donated a pair of picks:

The Dropkick Murphys and their crew (specifically Grizz, Billy and Kevin) donated a total of 14 picks:

Jonny Lang's crew donated four picks:

After a letter-writing request, I received a pair of donated picks from Sammy Hagar:

Finally, I had new picks made for the fundraiser to give as thank-you's for pick donations and to include in shipments to people who buy picks on eBay. The design is obviously inspired by Cheap Trick and I think they turned out great...

Thank you to all who donated, purchaced and otherwise supported the fundraiser!

We've reached $4,500!

As of this writing, Pickin' for sick Children has surpassed the $4,500 mark in fundraising with a lot of help from eBay sales. Specifically Metallica and Cheap Trick pick sales alone have generated over $1,500 themselves. A check for an additional $2,225.78 will be sent to Children's this week. Thank you to all of you who have donated picks, money, time or resources to helping the cause!

Since the last posting, I have received a few more donations. First, I would like to thank a Anonymous donor from a land far away for donating 30 picks from various artists. This particular donor is rather modest and would like to keep his name and the picks he donated quiet, so I will respect that. However, I want to publicly thank him for the donation. You know who you are mystery donor...

I also had the privilege of running into the Merchandise Manager for the legendary band Foghat, Mr. RC McWilliams. RC sent me a extensive care package of donations for the fundraiser including 15 picks, a pair of signature drumsticks, two can cozies, a mouse pad, a live DVD, a live CD and a hand-signed 8x10 glossy photo of the band. These are sure to make a pretty penny at auction. Thank you again RC.

Finally, Michel with the band Meshuggah donated 16 picks during their stop in town on February 14:

Thanks again to all involved. Without your help, this fundraiser would not be possible!

I just got a few more picks from Disturbed, Cheap Trick and Rodney Atkins. Here we go...

Trevor & Bull from Disturbed donated a total of 30 picks:

Bryan with the Rodney Atkins crew donated 11 picks:

During a 3-day run of Cheap Trick I was able to collect 111 picks left on the stage after Rick Neilson's pick-tossing rampages during the song "Dream Police":

I was also given two unopened bags of picks from Paul. Each bag has about 100 picks in them. Thank you to Trevor, Bull, Bryan, and Paul for helping out Pickin' for Sick Children.