You’ve done something incredible for a great cause – really made an impact in peoples’ lives – and now you get your reward.
With a huge thanks to The Wife for her generous offer, and an even bigger thanks to you all for taking her up on it (immediately, and dramatically), we surpassed the $12,000 mark yesterday, meaning that we’ve raised enough to sponsor two wishes for children and their families – folks who could really use a great experience.
I am so proud of what this community can do, and I can’t tell you all enough – you who gave, you who shared, you who supported – how much I appreciate what you’ve done.
So, that reward: 37 hours STRAIGHT of me blogging/losing my mind at the Trade Deadline next week. That’ll be from 6am, July 30 until 7pm, July 31. No breaks. No sleep. No sense of reasonable cognition by the last few hours. Last year, I went 36 hours, and I can tell you that I was absolutely crumbling by the 32/33 hour range. Adding an hour to the end this year is no small feat. More details on the Blogathon to follow.
There is a still a sub-offer out there for you regarding a certain hat, and we’ve got to discuss.
As you may recall, I – partly in jest, partly seriously – offered to do the entire Blogathon in a particularly amazing hat if we got to $15,000 total. I have some very good news in that regard: with The Wife’s matching donation on the way, our current $12,000 is bumped up to $13,000, and a generous donor worked directly with Make-A-Wish Illinois to offer to match our match – in other words, someone is donating another $1,000.
That means, at present, we’re just over $14,000 total raised for Make-A-Wish. With a week left to go, there’s a very real chance we get to the $15,000 “Brett wears a hat” level of giving. Once again, here’s the hat I promised to wear:
It also glows in the dark. Yes, I know you want to see this happen.
Here’s the problem, and I’ll need your help. The hat no longer appears to be for sale, and I can’t find it anywhere else on the web. Further compounding the problem is that I need time to order the hat and make sure I have it by next Tuesday so that I can start wearing it in earnest early Wednesday morning (if we raise another $1000). I pretty much have to order today to make it very likely to be here in time.
If someone can find the hat from another source, I’ll make it happen. Alternatively, if you peruse the available Cubs hats of the world and find an appropriately magnificent substitute, I could go that route. I don’t want to beg off the offer I made, and I intend to stand by it if at all possible.
So, do your best to find the hat out there – or to find an acceptable substitute. Either way, share in the comments.
And in any case, we need you to give a little bit more to make the hat thing happen. I ain’t stylin’ for free. And, of course, it’s all going to a great cause, one that you’ve already supported more than I even hoped. Thank you again.