Would you like to thank HP for helping us to reach our goal? So would I. Candice recommends doing the following:
Our contact at HP suggests that readers contact CEO Mark Hurd via the "Contact Us" form on this link.
He says they take these comments and feedback seriously, so this is a great forum for your readers to say thanks!
$305,486 with just under 7 hours left. HP Halloween!
In previous years, when I'd tell someone our fundraising goal for October — at a cocktail party, say, or while arranging a match with $ and the Mysterians — that someone would always say something encouraging. "That's awesome — good luck!" "Wow, cool!"
This year, nothing but eyebrows. Both eyebrows, every time. "It's 150, and then if they get to 210, I'll dress as a tomato and… [brows shoot up all Look, Lady, There's "Ambitious" And Then There's "Bazoo"] …I'll just trail off now. Unless you have five bucks?"
The brows had a point. It's a ridiculous amount of money in a crappy economy. I probably should have set the goal point lower, gotten more matches lined up over the summer, whatever, and you can say what you like about big risks having big payoffs — betting big means losing big, sometimes, too. Usually, in fact.
Dear Sars,
As a longtime reader, at long last, I have a question that I'm desperately hoping can benefit from the wide-ranging good taste of the TN readership. And my question is: bath towels. Where do I find mod, two-tone, patterned bath towels, like the polka-dot and damask ones my hip Grandma used to have from the 1960s?
Here's my situation. I just bought my first house, and it came equipped with a vintage pink-and-blue-tiled bathroom. Read: blue sink, blue toilet, blue tub, floor-to-ceiling pink-tiled walls, pink-and-blue floor…we're talking the 1950s works. It's not without its charm, but I want to punch up all that pastel with some brighter linens.
…Okay, proud Nation. It's the 30th. $275,660 right now; 1,068 of you have given to 44,801 students in the last 30 days.
Others of you have given prizes; shared and forwarded and cheerled; watched the widget and wiped away single, gorgeous tears; written recaps; and sent me pictures of your own Master and Miss Readerheads.
atta boy, sleepy grape tomato
Above, please enjoy a family portrait from reader Alicia M. "I won these hats as a prize in last year's Donors Choose contest. So here's a picture of me and my two-week-old tomato, I mean son, at his very first trip to the zoo. Thanks for being awesome." That's pretty freakin' cute, Alicia. Way to affirm your commitment to field trips as a key element of the educational experience! (And to wear green. Very chic.) (Thanks again to the talented Claire J. for the hats, which you may recognize.)
…All right. Less than 5K to 280K. At 280K, we get another 20K. My day today is what a client of mine likes to call "a fuckshow," but I'll have my computer with me and check in frequently. Can we get this done today, and spend Halloween Saturday celebrating? I bet we can. Let's try.
Speaking of chic, I'm giving away two (2) copies of Thom Filicia's Style, donated by Susan, and five (5) copies of Civilization IV, donated by Lisa M. Just donate to anything you like and send me your receipt to bunting at tomatonation dot com by midnight tonight ET.
280, friends. Do it for the class of 2027.
Sars,
I'm an intern in my state's legislature. My boss is a progressive, feminist woman; however, one of the staffers in her office (and thus my superior) is a guy, and a somewhat misogynistic guy at that.
He's perfectly fine around my boss and his female colleagues, but when it's just the two of us, he often makes sexist remarks. Most of the time it's silly "women! what can you do?"-type stuff, but occasionally he gets annoyed with either my boss or one of our female coworkers and will go off on a sexist rant about how stupid women are and how they should never have power over anything. He even called a particularly difficult lobbyist the C-word (behind her back, of course). He also occasionally engages me in conversations about the levels of attractiveness of the women in our mutual acquaintance.
Now I consider myself a feminist (that's why I'm working for one in the legislature) and as such when other men act sexist around me, I like to shut them down whenever possible. The problem I have is that I don't know how to do that here.
…Well, well, well. $271,888. Five grand in a day. It's a pleasure working with you.
Just a little more work left to do: keep in mind, reaching 280K by Saturday at 5 PM qualifies us for a 20K match from Mighty Big TARhead. I think we can hit the goal well ahead of time, the better to enjoy the climbing numbers. Don't you? So let's do that. Just over 8K to go — let's get to $280,000.
"What's my motivation?" Well, let's see. If you donate to anything today, you could win: a copy of Ocean's 11 OR Ocean's 13 (thanks, Trash!); a copy of Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead; or a copy of Office Space. Mmmmmkay?
And if you donate to "Eager Language Learners Need French Materials," you could win a $10 Amazon gift card, compliments of Kim G. (Funded!)
Forward me your receipts to bunting at tomatonation dot com by midnight ET. But if you're having trouble choosing, I'd suggest the French materials (you're still eligible for the other prizes for today), or picking from the short-expiry-date list below.
Taking the Leap: Multimedia Learning for Students with Autism
Hear It, See It. Now I'm Learning.
Math Mania! (funded!)
Cultural Connections to Historical Fiction (funded!)
and the biggest kahuna of them all: Youth Voices Across Curriculum: Documentary Film Makers
Come see me read at "How I Learned," hosted by Blaise K — the month's theme is "How I Learned What Everybody Else Already Knew." Not sure what I'll be talking about yet, but the rest of the reading roster is pretty damn impressive; come on out and enjoy!
All the info is available behind that link up there, but just in case: head to Happy Ending, 302 Broome St. between Forsyth and Eldridge in the 212. The fun starts at 8 PM. You can also join HIL's Facebook group to get regular updates.
Head-banging synchronized with synthesizer chords compliments of Europe. $266,851 compliments of Tomato Nation, Asirda, HP, Jenn and Wiley, and $ and His Mysterians.
And like the little green Jedi once said…there is another.
A gentleman we will know only as Mighty Big TARhead has placed a side bet: if our total reaches $280,000 by 5 PM EST on Saturday 31 October, Mighty Big TARhead will contribute another $20,000.
MBT has excellent taste in non-fiction television, and in non-profit organizations. Let's not let him down, shall we? Just over 13K to go and several days to do it. No problem.
In keeping with the Star Wars theme, anyone donating to today's list of projects (scroll down, won'tcha) is eligible to win two (2) tickets to Star Wars In Concert at the Nassau Coliseum, donated by the celestial Tammy D. You could also win a Wonder Killer t-shirt — you guys are the opposite of that, and so is the talented and good-hearted Pamie (she donated them), but the shirts are still rad. (And red, as it happens.) Lots of sizes…lots of love aw group hug.
The list is below; email me your receipts at bunting at tomatonation dot com.
Calling All Scientists! (funded!)
Books Worth A Million (funded!)
Native American POW WOW (funded!)
Waking Up Our Reading Skills with "Twilight" (funded!)
Taking the Leap: Multimedia Learning for Students with Autism
Hidden Hallway to Health (funded!)
Datalicious! (funded!)
Hear It, See It. Now I'm Learning.
Awesome Alphabet Activities (funded!)
UPDATED WITH MORE PRIZE-AGE. SCROLL DOWN.
Good morning, friends. What's up? Ohhhh right, of course. $131,137 raised; 953 donors (welcome, first-timers!); and 40,422 students reached.
Hell of a weekend at sea.
In case you missed the super-flurry of activity yesterday, it looks like we've qualified for about 43% of the HP funds. And you know what that means: 1) we'll likely make both the 150K goal AND the 210K goal, so 2) a tomato is going to Atlantic City, and 3) the awesomeness of the Tomato Nation readership is once again a beacon to all.
I'd like to make the warm-and-fuzzies a bit more literal today, at the suggestion of reader Heather P. Y'all knitters will love this: Heather is donating a skein of Wollmeise superwash sock yarn in Campari orange. You can see it to your right here, and it's a nice tomatoey red. All donors contributing to one (or all) of the four projects below could win that yarn for themselves or their friends; this mini-prize will stay open until all pertinent projects have gotten funded. Just forward me your receipts, preferably with the words "knitting" and/or "Wollmeise" in the subject line, anytime before 31 October to bunting at tomatonation dot com.
Heather added another prize to this drawing on Tuesday evening, too! Another winner could snag a grab bag (well, actually a Priority Mail box) of yarn: "good stuff," she says, with probably at least one hand-painted skein in the haul. She can accommodate wool allergies and vegan concerns up to a point, but the very occasional cat hair may stray into the stash, so the highly cat-averse should be aware.
Not much left on this list; let's go!
Making English "Pop" for Students (funded!)
Pump It Up! (Part 1) (funded!)
Student Desk (funded!)
Conceptual Art and Critical Thinking (funded!)
Gather Around the Table (funded!)
More Novel Reading (funded!)
(tm State and Main)
From Candice, our HP-ologist:
Actually, that is no mistake!
We ran the percentages of Giving Page totals against the support that HP is providing to Social Media Challenge donors and Tomato Nation's share was close to $130,000! You guys rocked it as usual! The total jumped a little because HP actually ended up having around $225,000 to allocate. So, Yay!!
In other words, that $264,705 is not an error.
997 donors. 41,379 students reached.
Tomato Nation readership lifetime total: over half a million dollars.
Pass the bourbon.