Help Vera!

Well, looks like I need help again, friends.

This time it's help of a different kind -- see here for details.

Sincerely,

Vera Nazarian

Just thought I'd give people a heads up about the con_or_bust community, helping Fen of Color get to Wiscon.
I'll be posting another candle auction, and I see some familiar names there already, and some fantastic offers :)

Well folks, a few months back we all came together to raise money for Vera, and we had an interesting (dare I say "fun") time doing it. As I look at other communities, I see an increasing need for this sort of emergency fund raising. So that others don't have to worry about re-inventing the wheel, I have started to gather my thoughts together over at my wiki: here.

What happened in this community was NOT a one-person show. We all helped in different ways. I know that a collection of notes by all of us will be more helpful than just mine, so I have setup the wiki to allow your LiveJournal login to allow you to edit. (Basically, it uses OpenID to say "if LJ says you're cool, you can edit me". At no point do I get your password, it's just a trust thing.) Details on that are at the "Logging In" section here.

I'd like to ask those of you who are still following this community to take the time to update the documentation, so that future fund raisers for similar causes can run more smoothly and with less stress for all involved. If you're familiar with wikis, just go in and make your changes. If not, just make a comment here and I'll get them merged in.

In particular, I need help filling in the bookkeeper and community organizer notes. I know that dsmoen and rose_lemberg did a fantastic job in those roles, but since I was busy doing auctiony stuff, I don't know enough to document those. However, even if you were more passive, suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks.

The auction I posted ended on December 20th, but I haven't heard from the winning bidder.

Besides the reply to the bid, I sent a followup through the LiveJournal message system. With so many people on a holiday schedule, I'm not sure how long it's reasonable to wait for a reply.

What's more, I'm running about a bit myself, and won't be able to get the box to the Post Office any earlier than January 5th in any case.

Can I get a group consensus on when I should offer the book to the next highest bidder?

Dear HelpVera community –

Some of my friends celebrate Christmas, others celebrate Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa. Some of my friends belong to faiths that do not celebrate in winter; others are atheists. And we’ve probably all felt ambivalent about the holiday season, at one time or the other.

But this holiday season is different - we made a huge change in a life of one family. How often can you say that? “I saved someone.” Well, you did. We all did.

Vera's words


And so we come to the end of our fundraiser. I was told that when we started this, some donors thought, “That would never work.” And then we amazed ourselves.

In folklore, the donor figure often has a role as important as the hero’s. In Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother appears miraculously to grant pumpkin transportation, dress and footwear to a despairing child. In the Russian fairytale Morozko, Father Frost finds an orphan girl freezing in the forest, and showers her with rich gifts. But there are other fairytales. The girl finds herself trapped by the witch, challenged with some impossible task, like sorting grain from lentils. To her rescue come a thousand helpful mice. Each tiny donor sorts a single grain; come morning, the work is done, and the girl is saved. Together, these mice are mightier even than Father Frost.

We gathered over 30,000 dollars. That's thirty thousand dollars. Enough to get Vera out of trouble with her mortgage, fix her sewer, provide cushion, provide dinner, medical, and even cat treats. The detailed treasurer’s report is coming up. Meanwhile, have a very happy $_Holiday, regardless of ethnicity and creed. And if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s “Validation.”

Much love,
Rose

Hello, folks! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far!

Alas, all good things must come to an end, even our charity auction. I wanted to remind you that the auctions end on 20th of December ( tomorrow!), noon PST.

There are still many wonderful items to bid on, including items with no bids yet; use the tag list on the left sidebar to browse auctions by category.

Sellers, please be ready to close your auctions tomorrow noon. At that time, please notify your winning bidders and let them know how to contact you!

As always, please feel free to ask questions in this thread.

many warm wishes,
Rose

This lot consists of the three paperback books in Sheri Tepper’s acclaimed Mavin Manyshaped series. At one point these were collectible, but I don’t know if they still are. Pages are tight and slightly yellowed with age.

The Song of Mavin Manyshaped – no spine creases

The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped – slanted spine, some spine creases, store stamp.

The Search of Mavin Manyshaped – no spine creases, some bumps at cover edges.

I’ll pay for shipping.

Starting bid: $9

Bidding closes Dec 20.

This lot consists of the three paperback books in Sheri Tepper’s acclaimed Jinian series. At one point these were collectible, but I don’t know if they still are. There is some edge wear at the spines, pages are slightly yellowed with age, no store stamps, pages tight.

Jinian Star-Eye – cover crease at left edge

Jinian Footseer – slightly dirty paper edges

Dervish Daughter – one black mark across bottom pages

I’ll pay for shipping.

Starting bid: $9

Bidding closes Dec 20.

Buy the Butcher Bonanza – 5 Harry Dresden paperbacks!!




This is for 5 paperback books in the Harry Dresden Series:

#1 Storm Front
#3 Grave Peril
#4 Summer Knight
#5 Death Masks
#6 Blood Rites

They have some spine creases, but are in good condition otherwise.

I’ll pay for shipping.

Starting bid: $7

Buy it now: $20

Bidding closes Dec 20.

Offer: The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary

This is a two volume set and it weighs a ton (22 pounds, actually, but it sure feels like a ton).

The two volumes are in a slipcase and there’s a top drawer which is supposed to contain the magnifying glass, which is missing. And you do need a magnifying glass to read it because “compact” means they put four pages on one page. The picture of the quarter is to show you how small the print is.

Like any dictionary, this book is fun for random reading, but you will have to buy your own magnifying glass. I’m near-sighted and can see the print just fine as long as I’m an inch away from the page, which is how I read it.

ETA: Forgot to mention this is the 1989 edition.

Because it’s so heavy, I ask that you pay shipping (~$10).

Starting bid: $20

Buy it now: $50

Bidding closes Dec 20.