Update: 10/24, 11 AM
Just FYI, I am traveling today; comments/emails may not get addressed until late tonight.I’ll do my best to keep up, and I appreciate your patience.
Nearly at 89K as of this writing. Words fail me.
Happily, words do not fail Michelle “Ma Belle” LaRue, whose project you’ve recently funded. A lovely letter from your-all’s new biggest fan, after the jump.
Dear Sarah,
I received notification from DonorsChoose this afternoon that a project Iproposed was fully funded. My students were very excited and I was completelyfloored because I had felt certain that in this economic decline we would nevercatch anyone’s eye with our proposal. I am so humbled by this generosity andwords can’t fully express how grateful we are for this support.
Keith from Pawtucket, RI was the last donor for our project and he gave onOctober 23rd. His was the final amount we needed to make this dream a reality. He noted in the Donors Section that he was a reader of Tomato Nation and I wasastonished to read your blog when I looked further into what he meant.
You are an exceptional person! It’s not easy to give to total strangers andtrust that your hard-earned dollars will be seriously spent to help students intrue need. I liken you to the Fairy Godmother that I wished as a kid would comeand rescue me from my unexceptional life and my awkward experiences. Yourefforts, enthusiasm, witty pleas and overall incredible support rejuvenatesthose who need it most and I’ve forwarded your blog info to all of my colleagueshere at our northern NH middle school.
If you have a chance, please thank Keith and all of the others who sogenerously donated with money that easily could have spent on a million otherimportant items. These kids really do deserve the best we can give them andit’s easy to see that priorities in our “Live Free or Die” state change quicklywhen taxes, unemployment rates, heating fuel costs and prices for just abouteverything else get too high.
We are very, very grateful for the support. Know that “We’re Going On ADig! Rock Hounds In Action” was funded at last because of you and this projectwill service hundreds of children for years to come.
– Michelle LaRue, Kennett Middle School, Conway, NH
Thanks for the kind words, Michelle, but I can’t take credit for the awesome things my readers do. Keith et al.: this is a day to be proud of.
Tags: contests snif!
Of course, by “nearly at 89,” I obviously meant “nearly at 90.”
If I pull into Cincinnati and you guys have finished the 100K…I don’t even know what.
Oh, well now you’ve gone and challenged us. :-)
Well hell, Sarah, if I knew you were coming to Cincinnati, I’d have sent you the lists of things you MUST eat and places to avoid~as it is, you’re coming here on a dreary, rainy, cold day.
But I hope you have fun here in Cinci, and even though it’s cold, TRY to hit up Graeters and get some ice cream. They have Apple Cider Sorbet as a seasonal flavor this month!
GO TOMATOES!
Is there a way we can see what projects are funded? I went to check on the one I donated to yesterday and it is gone…so I guess it was funded but I just wanted to see it :)
I’m sure this darn sniffling is because I forgot to take my allergy meds.
@nik: You’ll need to go through to the later pages to see the funded projects. Recently funded stuff probably starts around p. 19.
You’re coming to Cincinnati and didn’t tell us? Girrrrrrl…we could have hooked you up with some Skyline Chili.
You can also log on to your account at donorschoose and it puts up your projects on a graph that makes you feel (even more) all warm and fuzzy!
999 donors and 90,862 dollars. GO NATION GO! 1000 donors! 100k! WE CAN DO THIS!
1000 donors.
Almost 91K.
Dang.
Oh geez…then I saw there was a project looking to buy Little House in the Big Woods books. Not looking at my credit card statement…its better that way. Bask in the glory of giving. Ah. Glow. Snif. Darn dusty office.
1001 donors and 92K? AWESOME!
I’ve never been so proud to be a citizen of Tomato Nation. Sniffle
Total snif. It’s an emotional time, anyway, what with everything that’s going on in the world, but there’s something about the emails from the teachers that really, really gets me. I think partly it’s that they seem so surprised that anyone would actually help them.
Sars, thanks for doing this. It takes a concerted effort like yours to make change happen, and it is happening in all these classrooms all over the country.
Crying at my desk. Again!
This is fantastic. Just the news I needed on a dreary Friday, but a Friday that is a PAYDAY! Whee! A few more dollars just went to the “Night: History, Holocaust, Humanity.”
Approaching $95K, and couldn’t pass up the chance to help get a Tomato to the capital, so scrounged up a bit more and donated again. We are totally gonna do this. And I am unspeakably proud to have been a teeny tiny little part of it. Thanks for the ego boost, Sars.
Yay Cincy! That’s my hometown! I could have told you what flights to avoid ;) But baring that I’ll say Graeters raspberry chip is a must, or the suggestion for the flavor of the month above sounds tasty. Have fun in the ‘Nati!
I can’t stay away; just slapped down the credit card towards a full set of Little House books, because: LITTLE HOUSE BOOKS. And because watching those numbers climb ($94K, as I type) fills me with joy. Go, TN citizens, go, go, go! (cries/chairdances)
I just had to donate again, after a challenge like that – and now, the Elie Wiesel project is GO. Sweet.
Holy crapballs, $94,000. I’ll admit, I knew we’d get to $50,000, but I thought that $100,000 was a bit of a stretch. The people of this size continue to amaze me.
I am one of the teachers whose project got funded! I am truly in awe, thank you So MUCH for choosing my classroom to benefit from your readers’ largess.
Every day I am seeing my kids, who are in a high poverty district in Arizona, be a little more curious about what books could bring to their lives. I really suspect many of my kids have never been inside a bookstore, because they ask me where I got certain books and when I answer them with a name of a national bookstore, they give me puzzled looks. I cannot WAIT for the day this box arrives with more S.E. Hinton books, sports books, fantasy, Harry Potter, all the “cool” books that my former students from a more affluent school devoured happily.
Thank you again to those who donated to my project and to all donorschoose projects! This is an awesome effort and congratulations to your readers for their formidable generosity!
@nik — Even easier, if you log in to your account on the DonorsChoose site, and click on My Account, you can see “My Donations and Impact”. It’s so cool. They have graphs and everything!
$94,219!!!!!!! I’d make a “shrieking with joy” noise right now, but nothing seems adequate! I’m waiting until Tuesday (payday) before I can participate again!
@nik. If you go to “My Account” (link on the top left of the page), the “My Donations and Impact” section has links to any projects you’ve donated to.
Oh, and 95K even at this second. So, so awesome.
TN! Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness….. 94,219 and Sars isn’t to Cincinnati yet…. $5800 LEFT… WE CAN DO THIS!
…and we are $5,000 from having a traveling tomato
I checked this afternoon and it was over 95,000, so I had to kick for a few more projects: puppets and copies of Little House in the Big Woods. Whoever made the comment about addictive donating is soooo right!
I’m so glad this project got funded. There is NOTHING more fun than a rock hunt.
…it’s possible I’m a nerd, but it’s true!
For the record, I think we’re breaking the widget thing that’s keeping track. It’s NEARLY 96K! GO NATION GO!
Man, there is most definitely something under my contacts. That always seems to happen when I’m reading about these projects being funded.
Sarah;
One of the projects almost funded (!) on the site, Future Meteorologists of the world, is requesting the purchase of a product, the Vantage Pro2. I work for the company that makes these, and could use my employee discount to get the VP2 at a much better price. I’d be interested into talking to somebody at Donor’s choose about doing that. Is that at all possible?
I LOVE US!
Donated:
$96,802
Donors:
1,033
Students Reached:
16,877
The “fully funded” projects start on page TWO.
Dang (snifsniffle) I’ve never had allergies before! Could I be allergic to AWESOME???
Long time lurker, first time poster. Sars gave me some wonderful advice on the vine about 3 years ago when I was at my lowest. Happy to report that I’m now over that creep and am getting married next year (ladies Ialways thought I would marry a tall dark banker -am marrying a red head New Zealand chef and couldn’t be happier) but on topic, was inspired to donate – and donate – and donate … You are all fabulous – GO TOMATOES!!!!
Is it pathetic that I have to go out and am bummed because I’m probably going to miss the moment we pass 100K? I keep donating incremental amounts to see that number go up. It’s become an addiction, for sure.
Over 98K when I checked a minute ago. Man.
Between the first year(s?) you did this, the Year of the Hair, last year’s Tomato Dance, and this year’s DC-or-bust challenge, how much has Tomato Nation raised in total? It has to be in the neighborhood of a quarter million. And do you know how many students in all? Might be kind of cool at the end of this to post a cumulative recap of all your and your readership’s amazing efforts over the years.
Bunting! Look what happens when you take a break from your computer! A-MAZ-ING! Way to go! Looking forward to DC video ;)
Holy crap, you guys! I step away from my computer for one day, and we go from 87ishK to 98K?! That is beyond awesomeness.
And? It’s awfully dusty in here.
ONE PAGE OF PROJECTS remain! http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?page=1&id=18975&category=21&zone=0
ALL of the rest are FUNDED!!!!!!!
GO TOMATOES! GO GO TOMATOES!!!
$1400 to $100K, y’all … so awesome. I just checked on the funded projects (after I gave again, lol) and they start on PAGE TWO. There’s only a little over a page of open projects left! Go go go!!
I’m very grateful for Linda Holmes’s support in watching the donation total near $100k. Waiting for Sars to return to join in the collective freak out.
WE!!!!! RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
100589 as of this posting!
It’s DONE!!
“If I pull into Cincinnati and you guys have finished the 100K…I don’t even know what.”
You’re going to have to think of something: 99,601 now.
I finally got paid and I finally donated. Hooray for everything!
Wooooooooo! 9:18 pm ET. $100,764.
And this story has been officially blogged: http://academiccrossroads.blogspot.com/2008/10/totally-freaking-out.html
Dance little tomato, dance….
100K! Tomatoes for ever!
It’s over 100K ($100,764 as of right now)! Awesome!