The fundraiser for Friends of Pine Ridge--Holy Moses, what a time!

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A portion of the crowd at the oral auction segment of the Friends
of Pine Ridge fundraiser -- everyone excited about bidding and
having a good time (image courtesy of September Blaisdale)

The fundraiser held this last Sunday, October 18, was a huge success in every sense of the word. Vendors and content makers contributed plenty of great items, from firearms, to elegant ladies' dresses, to useful furnishings, to houses--even an authentic Norman keep--to be auctioned off. A good crowd turned out and the bidding was enthusiastic. Like many of those in attendance, I got the "auction fever" and found myself bidding like a looney, and having a great time.

And the results far exceeded anyone's expectations.

Clay Kungler and September Blaisdale, the folks who organized this event to benefit the Friends of Pine Ridge (the Oglala Sioux reservation), told me that their original goal was a modest 20,000 to 25,000 linden. Man were they low-balling it. In the course of the afternoon, 74,898 Linden came in from the event--additional donations were then made to bring the total raised up to an even 80,000 Linden (approximately 307.00 USD).

Is that something or what?

The following folks donated items to be auctioned:

Caed Aldwych
Renate Marchionne
Marrant Vita
Diogenes Kuhr
Renate Marchionne
Master Glendevon
Astolat Dufaux
Jasper Kiergarten
Rod Eun:
Skeeter Sabra:
Fatmina U
Reghan Straaf
Addison Leigh
Ernst Osterham
Rynn Dryke
Viv Trafalgar

This list is from Clay's follow-up post on the Deadwood forum, which may be seen here: http://www.theroadtodeadwood.com/forum/index.php?topic=3448.0

Items valued at less than 500L were placed in a silent auction in which bidders could submit an offer all afternoon. The higher-value goods went into an oral auction, in which Clay served admirably as auctioneer, despite his PC dying a horrible death right in the middle of the proceedings (he switched over to his laptop in rapid fashion). Even with the spirited bidding, the folks who attended got some pretty decent bargains.

September is now in the process of buying useful items from a 'shopping list" provided by the Friends of Pine Ridge. Rather than sending the money and having them trying to find a volunteer to go make the purchases (a major commitment as there are no stores terribly close to the reservation), September is hunting for bargains to make the funds go even further--her priority is gloves, boots and hats in children's sizes, as many of the kids on the res have to walk to school, and you can imagine what that is like in a South Dakota winter. The Friends of Pine Ridge organziaton will take care of distributing these items to the folks who need them.

Yeah, I know...it's gonna take us an awful long time to save the world, doing it 80,000 lindens at a time. But it beats the hell outta doing nothin'.

Everyone who who made this happen from organizers to donors to bidders deserves some real credit for thinking outside of themselves in this.

And you know what else?

It proves something that I've known all along. I give my pard Clay a hard time about his in-world persona, which I have described on a number of occasions as being that of "an asshole of epic proportions." You gotta rp with Clay sometime to really appreciate that concept. And mind you, Clay is inordinately proud of his rep. The truth, however, is that he is truly one of the good guys, one of the most decent people I have met in-world. But we'll just keep that as a little secret between us, ok?

At right, Clay Kungler, saloon keeper, politician, gunfighter, headhunter and auctioneer (image courtesy of Neil Streeter)

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A worthwhile event -- Auction to benefit Friends of Pine Ridge

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Dakota Playhouse--site of the auction on Oct. 18th

Sometimes this pixelated vale of tears seems like it's pretty much a festival of narcissistic self-indulgence, so it's always a refreshing change when some SL residents elect to use the platform as a philanthropic tool. What makes SL special, after all, isn't so much the platform and it's clunky technology, it's the people who inhabit this pile of virtual spaces and what they choose to use it for. A couple of my friends in Deadwood, Clay Kungler and September Blaisdale (also known as Mrs. Kungler), decided to take advantage of SL's potential for positive social interaction, and are putting together an in-world auction to benefit the Friends of Pine Ridge, a charitable organization that seeks to address various needs of folks on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The auction is going to be held this weekend at the Dakota Playhouse theater in the OOC area of the Deadwood 1876 sim. For you non-rp folks, that means it will be in the part of the sim where you don't have to wear period clothing, you don't have to act and talk like it's the 1870s, and you can wear any kind of avie you want. Want to come as a Vampire Chipmunk from New Jersey, or one of the Sanitation Engineers of the Old Republic? That's cool.

Anyhow, Clay and September are still gathering donations and sent me the following note, which I would like to pass on to y'all:

Sunday October 18th starting 3 pm SLT, the town of Deadwood presents a charity auction at the Dakota Playhouse theater in the Deadwood welcome area, with all proceeds going to the RL charity, the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation located in South Dakota.

We thought it would be an interesting choice since it's near the location of our RP town and a very worthy cause. Here's a small write up from the website (http://www.friendsofpineridgereservation.org/):

"Pine Ridge Reservation, located in South Dakota, is home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is 2,000,000 acres large with an estimated population of close to 40,000. The reservation is large, and its needs are immense, commensurate with grinding poverty. Unemployment is over 80%, the weather is extreme, and families struggle mightily with crushing financial, housing, health, educational and social issues.

Since it is impossible to provide assistance to individual families on the reservation from a distance and do it equitably, the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation website focuses on specific needs of the many schools and social service organizations such as shelters, children's organizations, and clinics physically located on the reservation. These organizations, always understaffed and under-funded, struggle in turn to serve thousands of children, women and men in dire need. Please do not underestimate the importance of a small donation. Your contribution, sent directly to a reservation organization--even if only a single pair of socks for a child who has none--makes a huge impact when combined with many others."

We already have some great items donated and hope more people will help us out. Donations can be sent to directly to Claytanic Kungler. This is a chance for you to get some great stuff such as guns, clothing, buckboard and covered wagons and much more--join us to support a good cause and have a good time.

Any questions feel free to drop a notecard or IM Claytanic Kungler

*Items Donated so far* (more items being added daily)

From Caed Aldwych:
-Buckboard Wagon
-Colt Army Pistol
-Dual Navy Colt Pistols
-Dual Remington Pistols
-Ladies Pistol
-Le Mat Pistol
-Old Fashioned Spectacles
-Pot Bellied Stove x4
-Stove Pipe Boots

From Marrant Vita:
-Antique Sewing Machine

From Diogenes Kuhr:
-Large Street Lamp
-Rolltop Desk
-Library Chair
-set of six 19th century cigar boxes
-beadboard-sided dry sink

From Bleak House Designs:
-BHD- Eliza's Ascot Dress-Gothed
-BHD- White/Black Bustle Gown
-BHD- *Titanic* Boarding Dress

So anyway, I hope some of y'all out there might want to help. If you can't make it to the auction maybe you can donate something--just give Clay a holler. These are good folks, completely trustworthy and I guarantee that all of the proceeds are going to go to the charity and not to underwrite Clay's ongoing commitment to the health of the brewing and donut-making industries.

If you want to attend, the slurl is:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Pass/180/141/650/

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