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Home » Donors Choose and Contests

Red Ops Day 1: Albuquerque, NM

Submitted by on May 21, 2012 – 6:02 PM25 Comments

11:45 PM
Just a short while left in Albuquerque, friends! And as of this writing, just $44 to go on that iPad project. Let’s finish that off before the page flips over to Brownsville, TX in a little while.

Match code “PURPLE” will still work ’til 3 AM ET. Brownsville page will show up at about 1 AM ET. Strong finish for NM! Go!

7 PM
Over 3K so far; almost half done with ABQ! Good work! But we can do even better. Not much left on the graphing calculators — and we still have that match code (PURPLE) to help you out. Lean into it, folks. Skip a coffee tomorrow. Short yourself a gallon of gas. These communities need your help, and you can double down today with that match code. Scroll down for the prizes you could win — and don’t forget to send me those receipts!

11:15 AM
Great job so far, Nation. A couple of things:

1) That reading center only has 2 days left. Let’s make it happen for Mrs. Gonzalez.
1b) Someone totally donated to it while I was typing. Love you guys.
2) In honor of attica’s comment below, I’m adding a prize: the Partridge Family’s greatest hits. (Or, if you would rather, a copy of David Cassidy’s obnoxious but still entertaining C’mon Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus. Forward those receipts today!

And don’t forget those other prizes — and the match code! Keep going!

9:15 AM
Good morning! Good news: there’s a match code in play! Totally coincidentally, Anil Dash supplied us some ammo with a Teacher Appreciation Week matching fund. Use the code PURPLE at checkout to match your donation up to $500! (Thanks so much to reader Cindy for spotting that.)

And! By donating to Albuquerque projects today, you could win a season of Breaking Bad on DVD or a $100 gift card to the Apple store! Just forward those receipts to bunting at tomatonation dot com by 11:59 PM ET to get in on the action — even a dollar’ll do ya!

12:01 AM
Let’s do this, team! First target is up: Albuquerque, NM.

You know the drill: donate to a project you like (kindergarten cheffery! composition books! quiz games!). Forward me your receipt (bunting at tomatonation dot com). Share the Red Ops URL with friends and on social media.

…Welcome back, Nation. Just eleven projects on the list today; you guys are pros. Let’s get it done. Don’t forget to check the FAQ for more prizes and match info; I’ll see you back here later with a little breakfast prizing, just as soon as I take my change jar in to the bank.

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25 Comments »

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    And we’re on the board! Get it, night shift.

  • Cindy says:

    I think this is important:

    Teacher Appreciation Week was Monday, May 7, 2012 through Friday, May 11, 2012. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week philanthropist/Expert Labs genius Anil Dash is funding a Donors Choose match code: PURPLE. I don’t know when this match code will expire but as of Monday, May 20, 2012, at 4:00 a.m. (EST) it was still working.

    So (until it expires, whenever that is) if you use the word PURPLE in the Donors Choose match code box, your donation will be doubled up until $500 (per donor).

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    Still working as of 8:30 AM!

  • attica says:

    Sings along with Keith Partridge: Point meeeee in the direction of Albuquerqueeeeee! I wanna go ho-o-o-ome, please let me go ho-o-ome!

    Many of you will be too young to enjoy that earworm. Many of you who have better taste will be immune to that earworm. The rest of you? Enjoy!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    That started a totally different Partridge earworm for me: “Albuquerque [Echo Valley] 2-6809.”

  • lizzie says:

    11:10am on the east coast, and PURPLE just worked for me…

  • Wehaf says:

    The match code is still working as of 10:15 Central time. Thanks, Anil Dash!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    PURPLE it up, people! Purple is, after all, half red! Make up your own “Dash” pun; Buntsy is tired!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    Also: y’all’s comments on the project pages are the cutest. If any of you are looking for some lunchtime reading/inspiration, go check those out.

  • Tylia says:

    Didn’t get the Partridge reference (Sorry) but did give my $25 to the reading center project. Go ABQ, Go!

  • Leigh in CO says:

    I am thrilled ABQ made the list — it’s my hometown, and it’s nice to see it get support from the Nation. And thanks to Cindy for the PURPLE code.

    (I spent my youth singing that Partidge Family song. I had a tambourine, and I so badly wanted to be Laurie. We had all the albums. Ahhh…good times.)

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    FYI, the PURPLE code ends at 3 AM ET tonight. Get matchin’!

  • Lamoshe says:

    Yay! After struggling with the Donor’s Choose website (password? why does it need a password when it already knows my name? “Darn. Something went wrong.” Does that mean my donation didn’t go through? Reset password…try again…success!), I have joined the donation fray. Except, it didn’t count my donation as part of Red Ops, which it totally is. Boo. But, Mrs. Gonzalez & her students are getting that Reading Center, methinks! So: Yay!

  • Lamoshe says:

    Also: PURPLE FTW!

  • Sarah says:

    The Reading Center project has been completed! Nice work, Nation.

  • MsC says:

    Reading Center fully funded! Go Nation!

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    Awesome job, guys!

    I encourage you now to put a bird on it for Ms. DeBellis. Ms. D used the word “awesome” in her remarks earlier today, and also said she thought everyone forgot about her project. Go get it: http://www.donorschoose.org/project/oviparous-animals-are-engrossing-kinde/772081/?challengeid=236853

  • attica says:

    As a totally not-proud owner of that now em-prizened Partridge Family cd, I used to pack it to take along on vacay with my girlbuds. They’d see it, exclaim how doofy I was to own such a thing….and then play it to death.

    Honestly, that’s some kitch klassic right there. Horribly produced, engineered, and written. A trifecta of badness. That no one can help but love.

    Even now, when any song on it shows up in the i-shuffle, I’m torn between ‘eeeyack’ and ‘duuuude.’

  • Jen S 1.0 says:

    Donated to Ms. Debellis! Should be able to close her out right quick!

    I entered the PURPLE code but I’m not sure if it worked or not.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    2 projects completed! PURPLE still in play! Good momentum so far, friends. If you can give even a few bucks (more) today, it doubles your money.

  • Joanna says:

    Just donated to the ABQ Crunching Numbers (Mrs. Wauneka) project. Sadly, I missed the PURPLE thing. Sigh…

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    I believe PURPLE still has 8 more hours, if anyone else still wants to use it!

  • Kristin says:

    PURPLE code still working!

  • I love the Tomato Nation Page. How do I get my project on it?

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