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Home » Donors Choose and Contests

Contest: Warm and fuzzy feelings

Submitted by on October 27, 2009 – 10:35 PM24 Comments

threemato2UPDATED 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.

Wollmeise1I’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!)

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24 Comments »

  • Alicia says:

    If I’m doing my math right, the HP funds should get us to the AC goal (and then some), and then the rest of us have the rest of the week to shoot for that quarter-million mark. Right? RIGHT???

  • Leia says:

    Yarn!

    So do you and Intern O’ Awesome get to have a wild party of HP money distribution? Or does HP slap down the funds as they please? Or is that a secret?

  • Emerson says:

    I must quote the Boss now. Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty!

  • Jessica says:

    1) Apropos of red things: it is a shame that Erick Aybar waited until the very last game to lose the dreadlocks, as the clean-shaven look was a big improvement, in my opinion.

    2) Zach at DC writes the NICEST notes to dumb donors.

    3) I am impressed that y’all managed to time it so that Master S neither spit up on nor pooped in the tomato.

    4) Hooray for yarn!

  • Natalie says:

    Question – to be eligible for the yarn, does one need to donate to all four projects, or just one of the four?

  • Karen says:

    Wollmeise!?! Woo!!

    Plus… WOW we got far this weekend. Awesome work, everyone!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @Leia: It’s a little more complicated than that; I’ll explain in a later post.

    @Jessica: Wasn’t for lack of trying.

    @Natalie: Just one is fine.

  • AES says:

    YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Lynne says:

    I’m away from a computer for two days and look what happens! So, so amazing. I love Mrs. M’s Conceptual Art project so I just tossed a few dollars her way. Arts in a technical school. Fantastic. I also have a new answer for any stubborn Luddites who still question the value of the internet. Behold the Tomato Nation. It can so connect humanity.

  • Leia says:

    My sock yarn stash demanded that Pump it Up needed funds and now its all funded! Yay!

  • attica says:

    You know, if you offered up the actual tomato-clad baby as a prize instead of a photo thereof, there would never be an unfunded project ever.

    Not that you’d want to, of course. I’m just saying. The tomato-fu is strong with that one.

  • Carolyn I says:

    S.E. Hinton! Expires in 7 days! C’mon!

    http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=284844&challengeid=23248

    (In Connecticut we are not all money-dripping hedge fund managers. The kids in our cities need all the help a Tomato can give.)

  • Jen S says:

    How could I tell kids that they can’t have a table?? Plus, a baby in a tomato! Here, take it all!

    Tomato Nation’s P-Patch of AWESOME grows by leaps and bounds!

  • Lynne says:

    Making English “Pop” For Students is funded!

  • Cathy says:

    “Read All About It” back in my homestate of VA is now all kinds of funded because of a gift card I wasn’t going to use! Thanks to Plastic Jungle and thank you, Capo Pomodoro!

    We’re a dusty bedroom away from $133K y’all!

  • Jennie says:

    So…I’ve cried multiple times this month in response to the awesomeness that is Tomato Nation, and then I went to see “Up” on my 1st anniversary w/ the husband and sobbed for like two hours, and now…now the tears are flowing again.

    I’ve watched this contest several years running, this year was the first I could participate. It is an amazing thing.

    Off to sniffle a little more now.

  • Deanna says:

    @ Jennie, so with ya, girl. I burst into tears when I read the 210K mark will be met. So many kids!!! I also felt an overwhelming desire to pop my 6-month old into a tomato costume next week. Onward to 250, everyone!!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @Deanna: DO IT. Just put the nipper in a red…well, actually, a bunting would work best, now that I’m thinking about it. Add a green bandanna; done!

  • Maria says:

    Young Master S looks like he’s having SO MUCH FUN in these pics! Wait till he sees his favorite aunt in the ‘mater. I bet it cracks his shit up.

    In related news, GO NATION.

  • Deanna says:

    I did it, it’s the most ghetto thing you’ve ever seen, but I’ve got a tomato-esque baby. I’ll email the photo.

  • anotherkate says:

    Oh my god. $266,206.00 I’m going to short out my keyboard with tears of joy. Wow.

  • Robin says:

    re: yarn prizes: To a dedicated Crazy Cat Lady, cat hair in the yarn is a fashion statement AND an important accessory. NOT a problem. Of course, if said CCL also has allergies, well, what’s one more sniffle in the crowd?

  • Heather says:

    Hey, Robin, I agree, but I thought we should err on the side of caution. Although I consider cats to be essential parts of the knitting experience, I don’t want to be responsible for causing someone’s wheezing death due to their generosity, y’know?

    (BTW: Pimp this to your fellow knitters…I’d like to see that last project closed out!)

  • Elizabeth says:

    Waaaaah where’s my HP credit I want it!!

    I hope it comes in before the deadline…

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