Not sure if its going to make much difference but the CU thread has taken a turn.....I have decided against donating to this cause but will send to the Red Cross instead.

Jason- I know you are doing a good thing here but what you said over on the CU thread, pertaining to getting your 3k back for the card, is a bit perplexing. I still think what you are doing is great but you should have been a bit more clear about recouping your money if you give away the Mantle. My donation sticks and I still back you but it's not exactly as I had thought. I thought if you sold the 2000 bags at $10 each, it would all go charity. That isn't the case. Just being a bit more clear would have helped you in this very nice and well intention-ed endeavor. Good luck and I hope you collect a lot to help those folks. They sure need it.

Leon


Thanks and yes I should have said something to the effect, I am willing to add the mantle as a prize, but will be compensated for what I paid for it, considering the level of card it is. If people would have read it over there, I have decided to just donate the Mantle at this point to stake my reputation. I didnt meant to deceive, but I never intended to donate the Mantle, just the packs etc. At this point like I posted in CU if WE hit the 2000 mark I will donate the Mantle funds.

Thanks
Jason

Woa woa woa. So if you paid $2k for the Mantle you're going to take $2k out of the pot that was raised for the victims and donate the rest? It is a little upsetting to read that. I might be mistaken, but if that's the case it should've been more clear at the outset. I would rather have 100% of the money sent directly to the victims instead of you taking a cut. I'm happy to help out people in need and someone wanting to recoup $2k for a card isn't something that I would be interested in.

If you "never intended to donate the Mantle" than dont you think that should have been disclosed up front? Why do we need to read between the lines? It certainly would have done you more good to disclose the fact that you are taking donated proceeds to pay for your Mantle and NOT "donating" it! You look foolish and devious to many people now who would have donated because they believe in the cause you were working for.

And for the record..my name is Andrew White. (dont want to get Leon mad at me!) :)

syck

I am taking no cut. Please read both entire posts. IF WE can get to 2000 packs the Mantle will be sent and I will donate the entire amount to sake my reputation. The Mantle was meant as a hook to sell alot of these fast. I was already donating thousands of dollars worth of nice stuff aside from the Mantle.

Jason

Andrew-

I understand how it looked. Again not meant to be deceptive. I never said I was donating the Mantle alone. I just didnt say that I was keeping my original amount I paid for it if I had to give it away. Therefore, now I have decided to give it away if we get it to that point anyway. I do not want people to feel duped. I am a very honest and reputable man both in my community and here. I do not want this to become a trainwreck and I want people to give if they can.

Thanks
Jason

No problem here Jason as I am no longer going to donate to this cause through you. Non-disclosure of the little tidbit about you keeping 3K of the donated money to cover your cost of the Mantle sure doesnt do much for your reputation.

Andrew


Great keep it. I tried to do a good thing and even go beyond trying to see the point. If you dont like it just leave and keep it.

Thanks
Jason

The impression from your first post was that you were selling these packs for $10 apiece, incentivized by the chance to win the Mantle, in order to donate 100% of any sales to disaster victims.

It was then uncovered that it was actually your intention to take $2k or $3k out for your cost of the Mantle.

Now, you will not take any funds out for your cost of the Mantle IF you sell 2,000 packs.

If this is accurate?

my take
 

My take, for what it's worth. I think Jason is doing a great thing AND I think his heart IS in the right place. That is what really matters to me. A bit better communication on the front end would have avoided some of this mess. But, when I step back and look at the big picture, to me, Jason is still doing a hell of a nice thing for those in need. I was, and am, happy to contribute and help. If anyone else feels differently, and they still want to help those in need, then they can easily donate to the Red Cross in that area. No matter what, this thread and Jason helped raise awareness for fellow mankind that is in desperate need. Kudos for that......

YES at this point considering I was in a hurry when I posted originally and didnt clarify as well as I should have, I will donate the Mantle 100% if we get all or most all packs sold. I have said this a few times on both forums. They continue to pick and trash me on CU....a few of them. I see the point of clarity, but I have tried my best to remedy the suspect issue. Regardless........we have raised $1200 so far and only 1 person has asked for a refund so alot of good people believe in this. We all dont have the means or cashflow to donate big amounts when tragedy hits, but in my case I had extra nice cards that I had never planned to sell on ebay and do not personally collect. I dont have a whole lot in them, but they could be used for a cause such as this and I had plenty. I should have left the Mantel of out the equation, but I wanted to stir up interest and raise alot for these folks in a little amount of time, even if I had to use a hook from my own collection.

Thanks
Jason

I can't speak for everyone, but for me personally the prospect of the Mantle had nothing to do with my donation. It was just kind of iffy how it came out that money would be taken out. I still think you're doing a great thing if 100% of the money people given to you is donated. Best of luck in raising more money for this great cause.

Again......100% of net proceeds will go straight to help victims. Thanks for the donation and enjoy the cards!

Jason

I'll throw in for a few more packs, yes I believe in good people in the world.

Rawn

Rawn

Thank you so much. Due to the spewing over on CU I have refunded 2 donators so far. Still sending packs in hopes they see through it. My intentions are sincere and it breaks my heart to see some jerk try to stir things up. I will post everyone on how exactly funds will help.

Jason

I just finished reading the CU thread. I too believe that your heart is in the right place, that you realized your mistake and rectified it, and that all of the funds raised will go to the victims of this horrible disaster.

Not reading the other thread
 

Not only will I not read the other thread, I will be buying more packs this weekend ...I reserved three, but realize that is way less than I can afford to give.
(btw-Late last year my hometown was flooded out in the aftermath of hurricane Irene, including my mom's house where 100,000 of 80's and 90's cards + hundreds of my classic rock albums were stored and since have floated away)

The mess that Jason is trying to help with looks even more devasting, and his efforts shouldn't be questioned...he's given his time, energy and trade skills to help this town. He has created a way for others to help, without a risk to themselves, (because the card value of his packs exceed the measly 10 bucks) and once again, its Jason providing the cards in the first place.

There are plenty of good causes to donate to in our mixed up world. What this man is doing willingly is to be commended. Give if you want to help, but if you don't want to or cannot give to this cause...you don't have to.
You don't have to post your reasons here either.

i'm in for 5!

Thanks guys!

Jason, you'd do very well to take some of the comments on CU to heart. You seem to be very, very defensive about how things went. Your responses to any comments, be they critical or helpful, did NOT help you. Yes, there were absolutely some juvenile comments, some by yours truly. The longer that thread went, the better chance for silliness - these kinds of things eventually always devolve to that.

You can say you "have had several new donations on net54 thanks to this 'trainwreck'", but I firmly believe the only reason you still have any support there is because Leon chose to continue to endorse you (despite his admitted misgivings about the initial duplicity). Leon is extremely well respected here - his endorsement in this case helped your cause a little. He could just as easily have thrown you under the bus. Had that happened, you would have had nobody to blame but yourself.

edit: hello, Mr. Lindholme!

I appreciate and respect Leon and this forum and take comments both ways with more respect here. Put yourself in my shoes. I got completely railed over there. I stand by my comments for they are just.

Thanks for the support.

Jason

I wasnt going to say anymore more here but the fact you mentioned "you got railed over there" made me laugh. The only railing that happened was your failure to completly disclose your intentions. You caused this and you are the one responsible. Dont put this on anyone else besides yourself! if you had been up front and honest about your intentions to recoup your investment in the Mantle you would not have caught the hell that you have. Own up to your mistake and get on with life!

I still don't understand why all of the people donating money to this cause are concerned with what they would receive. To me, I could care less about anything being received. For the money I donated I told Jason to keep the cards. Jason admitted he didn't communicate well, end of story. All of the people continuing to belabor the issue are missing the point. This is to help people that are in the middle of a disaster. Jason is helping,. I applaud Jason for his efforts. His motives and intentions are admirable. I wish I could say the same for the people who are badmouthing him. No good deed goes unpunished.

Andrew

Quit private messaging me. If you dont like this, then feel free not to participate. Your thirst for trying to stir up trouble here is not appreciated. I already explained myself on both forums....ENOUGH!

Leon

I am so sorry for this becoming a circus over here. Feel free to lock this thread and let it die. I was able to raise almost $1200 and it will be spent wisely. I appreciate all of the donations and efforts. If anyone else wants to give just email me privately or give to an organization of your choice. All packs will be sent shortly and we will end it here.


Thanks
Jason

And I am sorry you had to go through this Jason. I know exactly what you were/are trying to do, in getting attention for your effort. The 2000 was a long shot......I hope you use the money to help the worst situation you can find in that area. I absolutely believe you and trust you. All anyone ever had to do is pick up the phone and chat with you instead of pounding on a keyboard. Anyone that spoke with you would know your intentions are good. I don' t want to lock this thread as I rarely do that. If folks want to voice their opinion they should be able to, imo. No worries about a circus around here. I am open for a professional and friendly debate.

Please do not end because of one or two. If you do then it will discourage others from trying to help those in need.

Rawn

+1 Would you mind making this thread a sticky Leon?

Thanks Rawn and Leon. I am not letting 1 or 2 ruin it. I will continue the same deal. I just want the bashing and slander to end. I know it probably will not on CU, but I appreciate the overwhelming support here.


Jason

This will be my last word on this

Dont make it sound like I am constantly pm'ing you. I sent two or three to you yesterday and with the exception of the first pm, my pm's were a response to the one's you sent me the so dont make it sound like I am pestering you. I took comments to PM to avoid clogging up the boards.

Leon, I have no complaint with what he is doing and I applaud his efforts if the money is going where he says is is. My only complaint was he did not disclose a small but very important piece of information. This was a deal breaker for me and I have decided to donate elsewhere. This is all I have ever said about the issue. I had to respond to the charge of being railed because I feel he brought this on himself even if it was an accidental "non-disclosure". Again, I applaud the effort as my wife and I did something similar for friends who lived in Joplin, MO last year where we had a garage sale and sent the money directly to friends we knew who were hit hard by the tornadoes. Everyone has to decide for themselves where they will send their money, if at all. The inadvertent non-disclosure was enough for me to question this endevour and I have chosen to send my money elsewhere.

I do hope all of this money goes to help needy families who are effected by this tragic event and I have no doubt that they will. I have just taken back by the attitude of Jason when called on the fact he never said he was going to get paid for his card if enough money was spent. That is what I had a problem with. I voiced my displeasure and was met with attitude and sarcasm. On this subject...I am now done. Have a safe trip.

Wow, for the most part, we have some adults over here. Amazing!

I am the guy that started the thread over at CU and I am blown away at the circus. Sure, Jason could have been a little clearer, but his intentions were very noble. I have talked to him several times on the phone about this. It really bothers me that a simple misunderstanding has a good guy stressed out over trying to do a good deed.

Since having met Jason in 2008, he has become a friend that I talk to on a regular basis. We have done several deals together in the thousands of dollars. I said that to simply say that I trust him and that comes from experience.

Keep your head up, Jason.

There's a lot of hate on here for a guy that's trying to help out people in need. Best of luck in raising more funds.

Shane and Pete

Thanks so much. I am looking forward to getting back down there and helping physically as well. We have a few more late ones just come through and I will send those Monday. All in all it looks like I will have a nice little amount to help with thanks to gracious contributors.

Jason

Read through the PSA posts
 

That is 10 minutes of my life I would like back

1) Jason probably meant well. His point was to sell cards to us, to raise money and time to help people physically and financially devasted by a recent natural disaster. The problem is, unless you work directly WITH an agency and let them do the selling, there is no way for "US" to get the tax writeoff.

2) He brought up that a 52 Mantle MIGHT be part of the raffle. Frankly, IMHO, the card either *IS* or *IS NOT* part of the raffle. I can understand why anyone is uncomfortable about making a $3K donation without really having a way to document on their taxes, Eventually, the agreement was this card should be part of the whole deal. We may not have gotten their the way we wanted to,,,, but we got the right ending.

3) I sent out a check for 3 packs and will probably send out another check for some more packages. To me, since I don't get the tax writeoff, this is a cool grab bag, nothing more nothing less and a nice way to get some new stuff to look at. Since I don't like the Topps "giveaway" this year, I'm buying very little at the retail stores -- much to the gless of the wife and MIL

4) Leon, next time stay strong with not letting most charitable things come on the board. I asked you, and respect the reasons I was turned down, for asking for items for my synagogue's yearly auction. (I can provide tax receipts immediately so its legit) and having done a turn as treasurer this year, when we have to raise money every years to keep the doors open, the job turned my hair an extreme shade of grey. (Still have about one week to accept items :) )


Regards
Rich

Nicely put Mr. Klein. I can say that I too have sent to this cause. I do agree with these types of solicitations being allowed here. I will not need the tax deductions from such donations as I don't make any money to speak of anyway.

I notice a hint of a background story that is bugging you about a similar type of fund raising. I have no idea if a disaster hit your synagogue or not, had it, I would be more than happy to contribute. A church or synogoue or my sick grandfather, who I'm sure has a shoebox full of cards , is not a fundraiser that I'm comfortable donating to, this was a natural disaster.

It is not a true donation, however. You are agreeing to purchase said items with the intent that the proceeds will be going to this effort. I would never ask for a tax receipt as I will have what I agreed to purchase soon.

If the building has suffered damage as a result of a disaster where many where left homeless, broken, or worse yet, dead, please let me know where to contribute.

Rawn

I can promise that I will be taking no deductions here. My reason for doing this was to help, not for write offs or anything else suggested as on CU. Rich got the check yesterday and cards shipped Monday.


Thanks
Jason

to be clear
 

I get a lot of requests for doing charity stuff on the main page. I usually, begrudgingly have to say "no." This was a National disaster where there were people that got everything in their life wiped out and many family and friends lost their lives. A board member (could have been any board member) came to me and asked if I would help with it in letting him use the board to help raise donations AND he was putting a lot of skin in the game with his efforts. I made an exception to the rule. Rich's situation was an annual charity event and I had to say no. He did get to put it in the Water-cooler section.....but I do protect the front page a little bit, on purpose. It's certainly not personal and I hope everyone who I have had to say "no" to understands my position. It's not an enviable one. best regards

For the good of it.
 

Leon,
Its always tough being the man who has to make the final decision on any issue here, But I must say I believe you did the right thing here. Even if Jasons effort is just a drop in the bucket, but if we had a 1000 more "Drops in the bucket" like Jason the world would be a better place in my opinion. I commend you sir on your effort.

Why pass on the write-off? Sure, I understand the charity factor, and writing it off may feel like cheapening it. But honestly, do you think the government is going to do anything worthwhile with that money? I say write it off, and then donate what you'd gained from the write-off. It's kind of like the legal "Robin Hood" loophole.

I have to say that I agree. Some people might have a problem with a tax write-off if that was your ONLY or MAIN motive for doing this. However, you motive is to help. I would at least write-off the many cards you donated. Why anyone would have a problem with a tax write-off is beyond me. I would much rather a fellow collector get the tax write-off then our government squandering it away.

Got my package today and opened the '81 Fleer pack and thought "I'm pretty sure the Henderson is the highest valued card" and low and behold out pops Rickey. Pretty excited to get the best card in the set in my 1 pack. Thanks again.

Thanks Jason!
 

I received my package today as well. As a kid of the '80s and '90s it was a fun trip down memory lane. There were even a couple of 70s cards in there. These cards will go in my stash for my nephew when he gets old enough to really start caring about baseball.

I'm glad to have participated and will continue to pray for the victims of this disaster.

Jason,

I just came across this thread and I think it's great with what you are doing. I was born and raised in Eldorado, Illinois which I am sure you know well. I have plenty of friends that were affected by this tornado as a couple of my close friends lost their homes and a distant family member of mine was hospitalized from it.

I live across the river from Louisville, Ky in Indiana and two days later after Harrisburg was hit, I watched a 1/2 mile wide F4 tornado from my home go into a towns of Henryville and Marysville and destroy them. It litterally wiped out the whole town of Marysville, Indiana off the map. It's been crazy around here but the amount of support has been overwhelming.

I plan on purchasing a couple of packs as I wasn't able to do anything for my hometown folks in Illinois as I have been busy with the efforts here.

Thanks for all of your efforts.

Todd Evans

Todd

Hey! My stepmother is Katy (Putnam) Duncan. I may be staying at her house in Eldorado (Bill and Helens old house on Benton St. ) while I fix up some homes. I am good friends with alot of people from Eldorado and miss going to the Holiday tournaments. I also played for Evansville Otters for s very short stint back in the day and my best friend lives in Newburgh. His business was wiped out by a tornado 2-3 years ago that hit Newburgh.

Be well,
Jason

I got my packs the other day and it was great ripping through them as I have not done that in nearly 20 years. Major trip down memory lane. I saved all the cards and a few packs for my son when he is old enough.

Jason was true to his word on all the add-in cards, signature cards, and packs. I am confident my donation went to a good person. Thanks.

Mine came via dog sled yesterday, but I've not opened them yet. Yeah. I was a prick at X-mas also, I could wait. Always happy to contribute to things that help those in true need....even if I don't get a tax break.

Rawn

Hey thanks for posting. I will update all shortly on how the funds raised are spent. The locally police whom I know very well, are making a fund for purchasing items for children affected and in need. I am leaning towards that or a local church that is buying building supplies and fixing houses for those who had no insurance. We have over $1000 to donate so this will be a huge help!

Thanks again!
Jason

Got package today
 

Not bad at all for a $30 "grab bab"

3 Scrub Autographs (just being honest -- but it is what it is)
Star Cards:

89-90 Hoops David Robinson RC #138
1981 Topps Pete Rose
1978 Topps Willie Stargell

45 STAR and I will stress STAR cards. Oldest one 72 Red Schoendienst MG (HOFer)


1985 Donruss Pack (Chance of tons of RC's)
1986 Donruss Pack (Chance at some decent RC's)
1992-93 Topps Series 2 Basketball Pack -- Chance of Shaquille O'Neal RC

Not bad -- yes moneys worth

Rich