Chaos All-Stars team + Impact! extras up for charity auction

GalakStarscraper

A game store that is a frequent poster on many of the miniatures forums has a son who needs hearing aids so he can learn to speak.

I've donated a Chaos All-Stars team to the charity auction ... not sure if I'll ever do this again ... but my 4 year old niece has a similar plight so this one hit me very close to home. She has metal poisoning interfering/fully preventing with her ability to learn to speak and my brother is paying for very expensive treatments to try to help her and I'm doing what I can for him as well.

So this could very well be a pretty rare one of a kind auction if you are interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI....em&rd=1&item=360005000067

Galak

Mephisto

I'll post it in the Spanish Forum, so that more people can bid for it.

http://www.bloodbowlforo.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=148074#148074

GalakStarscraper

Norse

I am very moved by this cause. Not only is the boy the same age as my sons, but my first born is also named Alexander.

If anyone wishes to make me a serious offer on any of my painted FF teams, I will donate the whole lot to this cause. It's the time of year when people should think of others. So, let me know. I hardly play table-top games anymore anyway, so if you always wanted one of my teams, now is your chance!

Rabid_Bogscum

can I see your teams anywhere Norse?

Thadrin

How quickly could Impact! get something done as a special fig for this kid?

(considers breaking out greenstuff and trying sculpting despite zero experience.)

GalakStarscraper

brownrob

I wish I could help

Ive just spent the guts of $2000 this week myself on car insurance and investments that wont come back to me for a month

Its wonderful to see this kind of generosity

The only thing I can offer him is the £35 (i think!) Impact voucher that I have!

Mephisto

lahatiel

I'm afraid I'm neither in the market nor the price bracket for something like the All-Stars, despite the sheer amount of awesome contained in that auction. But I went through everything else they have listed right now and found about a dozen or so Reaper figures that I have on my "oh, it would be cool to get around to that one someday" list, including some that would be destined for FF conversions (at least six teams down the line, probably, but eventually...). So, I figure this is as good a time and reason as any to pick them up -- given my current boxes and drawers of unopened blisters, a few more won't hurt. And, while a dozen blisters won't be much, I figure this qualifies as an "every little bit helps" situation.

Norse

I don't have a repository of all my painted teams in any one location, but they are scattered about online in various places..

Norse (basic boxed official team + Thrudd, well painted)
Orcs (all hand build from WH and 40K plastics, heavily converted and painted to my highest standards - massive team with all positionals, staff etc)
SF Elves (have won best painted at 2 tourneys, basic team plus staff)
CDs (have won best painted at 1 tourney - all hand build from WH and 40K plastics, heavily converted and painted to my highest standards)
Dwarves (official figs painted very nicely - large team with 16 figs plus sideline figs)

a serious offer is one which will not insult me and also help a child to hear.. almost all of the above teams are worth $50-100 just to buy the parts or base metal.. factor in my time and the good cause.

R

brownrob

A high standard "Norse" team should easily start at $400 IMHO

GalakStarscraper

brownrob

Hi Tom, would you please make a charitable donation in my name to whatever the value of my giftvoucher was? I realise £35 would be less as its Impact and you have a margin on all stock (obviously!) Are you prepared to do that for me? Just trying to do my bit with the limited funds I have this week! Im buying the Gnomes anyway

GalakStarscraper

Mephisto

Norse

don't have pics of all my stuff, but...

Chaos Dwarves:

Orcs:

SF Elves:

I don't have pics of the other teams, but the Dwarves wear green and white and very nicely painted and the Norse wear blue and are well painted, but not as well as the rest if I am honest..

Norse

Oh, I also have an undead team in purple and black.. there are enough converted zombies for the team to double as Necromantic plus I did 2 werewolves.. (no golems though).. I don't have pics of the team, but I do have pics of the re-roll counters and biased ref which I would include in the deal..

Darkson

if I had the (any!) money spare, I'd bid for all of them except the CD team. The orcs especially.

Valloa

Hello all,
I am the mother of the child that this auction is benefiting (little 2-year-old miniature hobbyist in training Alexander).

@GalakStarscraper Thank you for this auction, it's a wonderfully rare army that someone has the chance to win and will be a good step forward for Alex's funds.

@Mephisto Thank you for posting!

@Norse Thank you. Thats an extremely generous offer of your well painted miniatures.

@Lahatiel While we tried to do this by ourselves we have found that the generosity of the gaming and miniature community, regardless of how large or small, has made his hearing aids seem like a reachable goal. Everything from the smallest to the largest bit is deeply appreciated. Thank you for thinking of us.

@brownrob That's very generous of you!

Maya~

brownrob

GalakStarscraper

brownrob

Thanks

Norse

I have some wonderful news - an anonymous benefactor has agreed to donate $450 in exchange for me painting a team for them.

Valloa, you can expect contact from this kind gentleman in the near future in order to arrange the payment.

Tom, have some Brandy..

GalakStarscraper

Depending on what the All-Stars go for we'll have donated close to 1/3rd the money they had left to collect for the hearing aids as of Dec. 6th.

Thanks Impact! fans.

Galak

Valloa

We are quite speechless. Thats a massive step for Alex.

@brownrob Hearing aids funds by Christmas...a great possibility, thanks to wonderful and caring people. The aids themselves will take about 2 weeks for them to get them made and fitted after payment but oh I soo look forward to needing to wait those two weeks! We got the certificate fund, thank you!

@Norse That's wonderful news, thank you all so much!

I will certainly keep everyone here informed of how Alex is doing, when he gets the aids and when he says his first real words!

Maya~

Norse

I have received and accepted an extremely kind offer of 500 USD for my SF Elves! Valloa, please let me know when you receive the funds.

Can you also please advise how close you are to hitting the 5K target??

Thx,

R

Dark Lord

Great scott!!

I had better get down to the basement and rummage around before you guys raise the money without me!

lahatiel

Norse

I'm blown away.. I really am.. and delighted too!

Maybe Alexander will be able to hear Christmas carols this year.. fingers crossed!

brownrob

Amazing Rams, for once Im speechless!

Norse

OK, we are apparently very near to target, so I will close these "auctions" until I hear back how much more may be required. If necessary, I will re-open the auctions next week.

Thanks to everyone for their interest and especially to the two benefactors who helped to raise just under 1000 USD!!

Happy holidays people..

I have to go find my paints I think..

Valloa

@norse Thank you very much that is extremely generous!

With this generous offer that will leave us with1,000 USD left to go. Tonight I will be putting up some additional auctions (I found a box of Ral Partha I didn't even know I had...I think my mother was hiding them) and I have several more donations coming in. Ann also has some Warhammer that will go up. People have been so generous that we feel that with the items we have, we will have no problem in reaching that 1,000. Should we reach our goal, any unsold donations will be returned to the donors or if they are in the process of being auctioned and there are no bids, we will end the auction and return the items to the donor. If they have bids we will give the donor a choice of completing the auction and having the money paypal'd to their account or we have no problem withdrawing the auction if the high bidder agrees. If the donor does not want the funds back, then they will be donated to another child who needs medical help in the name of the donor. Any live auctions that are ours will remain up until the auction is over. When all auctions end, the store items will be removed.

a very floored Maya

GalakStarscraper

Dan Titan

Hi all:
I just saw the post of Mephisto in the Spanish Forum.... I hope im not too late to help out a bit... my economy is bad, really bad, but I offer myself to paint anything that could rise up a few $$$ (cant get anywhere near Norse, but ill try). Any one interested???
@Maya: Keep the spirit up, im sure little Alex will be ok soon (I didnt know anything of this special "father world" until a month and half, when little Diana came to us...)

Dan Titan

GalakStarscraper

I've thought this for a long time ... FF players are awesome people.

Galak

bouncergriim

You know this speaks volumes for our community. I think it is great and especially that Impact and all of Impacts friends can help someone in need.

That is one nice thing about an small company with a strong following. It is easy for them to say, "hey lets help" without having to consult a bunch of accountants and PR people.

I was only able to contribute a small amount, but it was wonderful to see this thread develop and help out a little one and a family in need.

I know about medical cost even with insurance (I have 3 kiddos and one on the way). It seems to be a never ending thing.

Valloa

Whoohoo! Only $1000 left to raise!!! We feel that with the auctions that are currently running and the auctions of our stuff that goe up tonight and tomorrow will fully finish this amount out. We cannot tell you how much it means to us that you have given from the heart to a little boy you did not know. That speaks volumes to us about everyones character and is truly a wonderful thing.

@Dan Thank you very much for the offer. It is appreciated, however I think that when the current auctions end we'll have reached our goal, most likely before any painting commissions could be finished. Since you want to help, we would appreciate your well wishes and prayers for Alexander.

@GalakStarscraper & bouncergriim I agree! There is no other community out there like the gaming community!

Maya~

Mephisto

Well, I think that when your child gets the help and all is ok, you can just post some nice photos of your child.

Dark Lord

Okay my auctions are:

2nd Ed. Orc Linemen

2nd Ed. Orc Blockers

2nd Ed. Orc Blitzers

Snotlings

2nd Edition Goblins & Hooligan

Grim Ironjaw

Bilerot Vomitflesh

Lewdgrip Whiparm

2nd Ed. Human Thrower 2

It's not as much as you guys are giving but I got rid of so much stuff when I moved and I promised the wife I would sell my Warhammer bitz for profit.

So if you need bitz stay tuned to this forum cuz I'll be selling them right after Christmas when you guys are fat with cash!
Whatever I earn will go to help this cause.

Valloa

@ Mephisto I'll be more than happy to post pictures of Alex with his hearing aids!

@Dark Lord I hope your auctions go well. :)

Maya~

Dark Lord

Thadrin

Damn, I wish my finances and time allowed me to do more...Unfortunately I have nothing worth selling.

Next time. Or maybe I will try sculpting something and we can make it a straightforward charity deal.

Dark Lord

You can bid on an auction.

Thadrin

majortusk

If there is anyway I can help tom, I can do something as well.

GalakStarscraper

Valloa

@Thadrin Well wishes are always welcome. Well wishes have kept us going through the hardest part of this process.

@Majortusk Tom is correct, by the time the auctions end we should have enough for his hearing aids. Your kind offer is very much appreciated.

Maya~

majortusk

Well, i was sitting at $200 for a couple days :)

I am glad though that people are still bidding, my offer still stands if you need anything else :)

GalakStarscraper

Final 7 hours of the auction.

I'm pretty sure this auction will pretty much guarantee that they have the money they need by Christmas for the hearing aids ... so thanks to everyone that helped either by bidding on this auction, donating something to the cause, or buying one of the auction items she was selling.

Galak

Dark Lord

Thanks to everyone for bigging on my stuff. Especially Brownrob who got the ball rolling.

We brought in about $75 for Valloa.

Wish it could have been more but from the looks of it Galak & Norse have it covered.

The Freedom for Animals association on Second Avenue is the secret headquarters of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, they're the one's that are gonna do it. I can't do anymore; I have to go now. Have a...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

GalakStarscraper

There will be a note soon more public ... but I heard from the family and Alex is going in Monday to get his hearing aids as the money that will be raised by the time the last of the auctions is over will be enough to cover.

Combining brownrob, Dark Lord, the two folks buying Ramsay's generous donations (GrumpyGrizzly and someone else) and the All-Stars donation... Impact! raised $1515 of the $5000 just on our own ... (and this doesn't consider the auctions I know you guys have bid on).

So for everyone who pulled out the holiday spirit on this cause in whatever way they did it ... thank you!

Galak

Valloa

@Dark Lord Thank you very much for your auction efforts, every bit is appreciated and will go to good us. You can contact me at anatora@aol.com

@GalakStarscraper The amount that Impact! has raised is flooring! We appreciate all of your efforts to help Alex. Everyone will be treated to lovely pictures of him with his new aids, when they are made and hopefully, a video of him speaking when he catches up enough to do so.

Maya~

Valloa

Greetings to all,

Last night was a milestone in our quest to pay for Alex's hearing aids. When all the auctions currently up have been paid for, we will have reached beyond the goal of $5000 we needed. Next week, after all the auctions are ended, we intend to do a final accounting and post on all boards.We know everyone is anxious to see what your efforts have achieved in the past few weeks.

While we have probably passed the final goal when all the people have paid for tonight's auctions, we have put up a last batch of auctions of donated items which arrived in the mail today, and those last auctions will end on the day after Christmas. We were told by the people who donated the items to auction that if we reached our goal before their items arrived in the mail, we could just keep them or auction them and keep the money rather than return them. We have no intention of keeping them or the money from the auctions. There are two reasons we are putting them up as a final auction: one, they were donations intended to help Alex; two, although we will have reached our goal, we think the donors would like to see their donations go to good use. After subtracting the cost of Alex's hearing aids from the total raised, we intend to "pay it forward." Any money left over after paying for the hearing aids will be donated, in honor of everyone on the boards, to another child in the miniature community whose illness has caused financial hardship on the parents. We estimate that sum should be considerable. It is only fair that we take the money we do not need beyond our original goal and help another child. Also, as soon as the last auction has ended, we will be closing the eBay store and removing all items. They will not be needed again until Alex is ready for his first upgrade in 6 months and that sum is one we can manage by ourselves.

Monday, we will be setting up an appointment for Alex to have impressions made and hopefully he will have hearing aids within the next two weeks. You will never know how grateful we are to the many people on the boards who stepped forward to help, by sending good wishes, donating items for auction, selling their painting services, buying from the eBay store, bidding on the auctions, donating money raised from their own auctions, paying extra for their purchases to donate to Alex, and to those who gave cash donations. We had no idea that it was possible to get this far in a few short weeks. Miracles do happen and Alex will be hearing soon. We will keep everyone informed of Alex's progress and also post when everyone has paid and we have reached a final amount. Have a wonderful holiday from our family to yours.

Valloa (Maya), Anatora (Ann) and Alex

Valloa

For all of you who helped Alex get his hearing aids, we gratefully send our thanks. We got his set of temperary aids this morning. It took a week for the permanent behind-the-ears part to be made and these temps will help him hear at a low level until his permanent in-the-ear section come in next week. By that time, we hope he has gotten used to wearing them. Already we notice a great difference in his demenor. With them on, he tries out different sound ranges, volume and he said "Bye-Bye" clear as a bell today. We were afraid he would freak out at hearing a stranger's voice for the first time, but he was fearless. He wants to hear.

For those interested in the accounting for this project, here is the breakdown.

$2606.80 sale of donated items
$ 252.62 in cash donations
+$3523.97 from sales of our items
----------------------
$6383.39 Total
-$288.28 from people who did not pay (one even resigned from eBay to avoid paying).
-$1013.49 Ebay fees and Paypal fees
----------------
$5081.62
-$5000.00 for hearing aids
---------------
81.62 used as part of the $150 paid for temperary in-the-ear aids

We are not counting the overpayments for shipping we made when the packages costs more to send than the buyer's paid and refunds which are a part of doing business on eBay.

We had hoped to have money left over to send on to another child, but the eBay and Paypal fees were taken out over the course of the project. At the end, when all auctions were done and the store items removed, all the money had been accounted for.

Again we send everyone our thanks for helping Alex hear. The support and help we have received has been flooring. You folks truly are angels. Thank you!

Maya~

Valloa

Hi to All,

I am sorry for the delay in this post but wanted to update everyone who helped with Alex's hearings aids as to his condition.

Alex has had his permanent hearing aids for almost a month now (barring several problems such as one of them not working and needing to be remade). As you can see from the photograph, they are quite inconspicuous which will help him later when he interacts with a group of other children and has helped him to avoid stares from adults now. Being a friendly child, he cannot quite understand why they look at him so intently when he tries to be friendly. We couldn't care if they looked like those massive headphones from the 1980s; we just are beyond belief in the difference they make in his ability to hear. His vocabulary increases each day by leaps and bounds and, for the first time, he can interact with us using words. He's gone through the babbling stage and is back to simple sentences and the occasional full sentence. A massive improvement from silence! For some unknown reason, his hearing, when the aids are not in, has increased since he had tubes put in his eardrums and he has been wearing his aids. During his final hearing test he was tested both with and without his hearing aids. His hearing loss, without aids, has decreased from 50 dbLs to 30 dbLs since he got tubes and received his hearing aids. Why no one can say. With his hearing aids, his range is 15 dbls (average is up to 20 dbls) which means he in functioning within the normal range. He's got a lot of catching up to do, but is learning quickly. He's already learning to re-label things that were set in his head, such as all children were "babies" but now they are "girls" and "boys", even if it took a little girl his age being offended at being called a "baby" for him to want to make the distinction.

We cannot thank all of you enough for helping us give Alex this chance to hear so much sooner than we could have done on our own. The past few months have been a whirlwind of tests, adjustments, language lessons and watching Alex experience a hearing world without being scared by it. We are deeply touched by Impact and their forum members generosity. Thank you very much!

Maya~

[/img]

bouncergriim

That is great to hear

. Keep us posted and may he keep improving and learning daily.

Rabid_Bogscum

that is fantastic news.. thanks for letting the community know

Dark Lord

Hooray!

Never underestimate the ability of children to rebound!

So glad to hear this great news!

lahatiel

This is extremely wonderful news, Valloa! Thank you for keeping us updated: seeing something like this allows me to say, without hesitation, that the miniatures I bought from your auctions -- though they've done nothing but sit in a cabinet, untouched and collecting dust since the day they arrived, due to a busy schedule -- still easily rank as the best hobby-related purchase I've ever made! :)

Norse

seeing this fills me full of joy and sorrow...

joy for Alex...

sorrow for all those minis I still have to paint..

Dan Titan

Great news!!!

I hope that he improves quickly and im sure he will catch up with all the childs of his age soon!