July 5th Fight For Kids update
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:54 am
Guys,
Just a note to let everybody know how the Fight for Kids thing is coming.
For those of you who don't know, I am planning to fight a thousand fights at Pennsic War this year to raise money for the Zirafka Orphanage in the Czech Republic. They need the money far more than I need the brain cells.
OK, status report.
As far as I can ascertain, I missed the official announcement in the Pennsic booklet. That's gonna hurt, but I expected it.
Community Bank, a branch of Bank of America, has allowed me to open a dedicated account to receive money from sponsors. The IRS has issued FFK an EIN for purposes of running a non-profit fundraiser. A local bank account at some New Castle bank that will allow some sort of night deposit is still needed, but I will be handling that on the 4th or 5th of August.
It looks like the field opens on monday the 8th of August. No fighting will be allowed before that. This gives about ten days of field time. Obviously, that means I will have to average one hundred fights every open field day. Since it will rain at least some days, I expect it would be a whole lot better to run at about two hundred.
My wife, who has vowed on a number of occasions that she would never, ever come to Pennsic, is attending to make sure things go off right.
It looks like I am coming up really short on cornermen. A cornerman's job is to stand there with a clipboard and record the names and pertinent information so I don't have to pull my gaunts on and off a thousand times. There is also a waterbearing function, and an "Oh, Crap! Fetch a medic!" function. At present, I have two lined up - cornermen not medics. I was hoping to have twenty, so that nobody would have to spend more than a half a day. If anybody knows of somebody that will be banging loose around with nothing to do, it looks like we will be serving pizza to the volunteers on the seventh of August as a combination reward/organizational meeting. Maybe. Possibly. Depends on cost and trouble level involved.
I am beginning to think that it might be possible to convince the waterbearers that waterbearing for the fighters at the FFK is a legitimate waterbearer function. If so, that would help a lot.
A gentle harper from the Great Dark Horde has agreed to do some (note the some) coordination with the bards and minstrels that I would like to have in the pavillion. At this point, it's still fuzzy as to her preferred level of involvement. I am just the kind of stupid person to demand more effort, and thus lose the helper entirely.
The heat is scary to me. I want to do as much fighting as possible before noon or after six PM. It will be tough to get fighters to the field early in the day, but my wife and I have some ideas.
I have acquired a US army ammunition box that is in the process of being rebuilt and painted as a "treasure box" for folks who want to make some sort of a cash donation on site. Since kicking in ten bucks would get somebody listed as a "penny a fight sponsor" (and listed on the sponsor's page), I expect to see at least some, hopefully a lot. I wanted to avoid handling money in any way, but that won't be possible. It was a choice between CYA and having the whole thing fall flat. I guess I am exposed now.
About the only thing that looks like it is set in stone and able to be safely assumed to funtion without babysitting is (Sir?) Gaston and Sir Baldar's Pavillion on the fighting field. I am unsure of it's size and location. It may be big enough to fight in if there is rain. If not, it will certainly be enough to allow the opponents a chance to rest out of the sun, it will allow minstrels to bring their instruments to the field without worrying about them being in direct sunlight for hours, and will allow food to be set out without it cooking on the table from solar energy. Sir Baldar reminded me that he and Gaston would be willing to see that there is light food to refresh the fighters who come to whack me. I need to think about a good way to say thank you.
OK, we are looking at about sixteen hundred dollars and four hundred Euros for the entire thing. That is only counting the sponsors we have gotten a confirmation note from. If you have pledged, and have not heard from me and my wife, there is something wrong. It's probably me. Please drop me a line and we can get it straightened out.
Next year, this is going to be a contest. I will be making a cool prize (probably a harp) and giving it to the fighter who raises the most for their charity. I think that that was Jehan's idea, but I think I can make it work. I also think that setting it up for different levels of committment is important.
Maybe we whacky Knight in Shining Armor types can make a difference in the world. Maybe we can get some good press.
Most importantly everybody can feel as cool as I feel right now.
thanks again,
freiman
Just a note to let everybody know how the Fight for Kids thing is coming.
For those of you who don't know, I am planning to fight a thousand fights at Pennsic War this year to raise money for the Zirafka Orphanage in the Czech Republic. They need the money far more than I need the brain cells.
OK, status report.
As far as I can ascertain, I missed the official announcement in the Pennsic booklet. That's gonna hurt, but I expected it.
Community Bank, a branch of Bank of America, has allowed me to open a dedicated account to receive money from sponsors. The IRS has issued FFK an EIN for purposes of running a non-profit fundraiser. A local bank account at some New Castle bank that will allow some sort of night deposit is still needed, but I will be handling that on the 4th or 5th of August.
It looks like the field opens on monday the 8th of August. No fighting will be allowed before that. This gives about ten days of field time. Obviously, that means I will have to average one hundred fights every open field day. Since it will rain at least some days, I expect it would be a whole lot better to run at about two hundred.
My wife, who has vowed on a number of occasions that she would never, ever come to Pennsic, is attending to make sure things go off right.
It looks like I am coming up really short on cornermen. A cornerman's job is to stand there with a clipboard and record the names and pertinent information so I don't have to pull my gaunts on and off a thousand times. There is also a waterbearing function, and an "Oh, Crap! Fetch a medic!" function. At present, I have two lined up - cornermen not medics. I was hoping to have twenty, so that nobody would have to spend more than a half a day. If anybody knows of somebody that will be banging loose around with nothing to do, it looks like we will be serving pizza to the volunteers on the seventh of August as a combination reward/organizational meeting. Maybe. Possibly. Depends on cost and trouble level involved.
I am beginning to think that it might be possible to convince the waterbearers that waterbearing for the fighters at the FFK is a legitimate waterbearer function. If so, that would help a lot.
A gentle harper from the Great Dark Horde has agreed to do some (note the some) coordination with the bards and minstrels that I would like to have in the pavillion. At this point, it's still fuzzy as to her preferred level of involvement. I am just the kind of stupid person to demand more effort, and thus lose the helper entirely.
The heat is scary to me. I want to do as much fighting as possible before noon or after six PM. It will be tough to get fighters to the field early in the day, but my wife and I have some ideas.
I have acquired a US army ammunition box that is in the process of being rebuilt and painted as a "treasure box" for folks who want to make some sort of a cash donation on site. Since kicking in ten bucks would get somebody listed as a "penny a fight sponsor" (and listed on the sponsor's page), I expect to see at least some, hopefully a lot. I wanted to avoid handling money in any way, but that won't be possible. It was a choice between CYA and having the whole thing fall flat. I guess I am exposed now.
About the only thing that looks like it is set in stone and able to be safely assumed to funtion without babysitting is (Sir?) Gaston and Sir Baldar's Pavillion on the fighting field. I am unsure of it's size and location. It may be big enough to fight in if there is rain. If not, it will certainly be enough to allow the opponents a chance to rest out of the sun, it will allow minstrels to bring their instruments to the field without worrying about them being in direct sunlight for hours, and will allow food to be set out without it cooking on the table from solar energy. Sir Baldar reminded me that he and Gaston would be willing to see that there is light food to refresh the fighters who come to whack me. I need to think about a good way to say thank you.
OK, we are looking at about sixteen hundred dollars and four hundred Euros for the entire thing. That is only counting the sponsors we have gotten a confirmation note from. If you have pledged, and have not heard from me and my wife, there is something wrong. It's probably me. Please drop me a line and we can get it straightened out.
Next year, this is going to be a contest. I will be making a cool prize (probably a harp) and giving it to the fighter who raises the most for their charity. I think that that was Jehan's idea, but I think I can make it work. I also think that setting it up for different levels of committment is important.
Maybe we whacky Knight in Shining Armor types can make a difference in the world. Maybe we can get some good press.
Most importantly everybody can feel as cool as I feel right now.
thanks again,
freiman