UPDATE:
Wow Marsh! In less than 24 hours, we raised $635.00 in support of another member. That’s impressive! Congratulations!
I spoke with Ben last night about how much we raised and he didn’t know what to say. He was speechless. Really, he was silent for at least 10 seconds (processing I guess). I think he had no idea that he was going to receive that level of support. I really don’t think he thought we would make it to the $200 goal. Initially, we were laughing about it when I told him I wanted to start this “gofundme” page. He was kinda like, “yea right, like you’re gonna raise that much money.” I know it’s one thing to say we appreciate someone via a post, but another when others actually show their support with their wallets.
I told him we had raised the money to make him a sponsor because we wanted him to stay around and be able to promote his tank, sell his frags, and keep doing all the fun stuff he was doing.
He said that he had been considering becoming a sponsor for a day or so but decided that he was really just a hobbyist at heart and didn’twant to have to treat his tank as a business. He loves bragging about something he is obviously successful at, and sharing that success with others, whether it be through frags, or assistance, or whatever. When you get to name an unknown frag something like “the Weasel Diesel” and promote it as such, it’s all in the spirit of fun. Yea, he may make a few bucks here and there, but if he’s like me, it all goes right back into salt, lights, or freebies for other less fortunate reefers. He said, when you turn that fun hobby into a business, it can cease to be fun. I get that.
Besides, if he became a Sponsor, he feared it would disqualify him from serving in other volunteer roles that he currently enjoys doing, or may want to do in the future. He likes to volunteer and offer help as a Marsh member and fellow enthusiast. When you become a sponsor, it moves you to a different level and changes a lot of relationships.
However, he was so taken back by the show of support that he said that he was going to still hang around the board and offer his tips and advice to others, answer his PM’s, etc. He was however going to take a break from trying to promote the TOTM and other contests that he enjoyed doing so much. I know doing that kind of stuff takes time; promoting contests, dragging prizes from distributors, and bartering things to help others out. And it’s easy to feel underappreciated sometimes because the boards don’t offer much face time. Well we have at least shown him how much he is appreciated.
Bottom line, we didn’t get the full result that we had hoped for, but I feel we got some of it. At least Ben isn’t going away. And if you know Ben, he will cool his jets and be active again sometime in the future. That’s just him.
So, at his request, we are going to donate the funds to the Coral Restoration Foundation in the name of the cause “make Diesel a Sponsor.” The “gofundme” guys take an 8% cut, so after that, the balance will be donated CRF. I will post the receipt up for all to see once it’s done.
Now for the good stuff: those that donated will first get to go see “The Diesel Tank” in person. Then, you will get to pick a coral you like, in "The Diesel Tank", and Ben will frag it for you right there in front of your eyes. He is not pre-selecting it for you, and you don’t have to pick from frags in his frag tank (unless you see one in there you want). You get to choose from ones right there in the big tank so you can see what the mother colony looks like. I think that’s pretty cool, not being an SPS guy. I wish he had some big torches or hammers.
Now some expressed to me that they weren’t interested in a frag and were donating just because they love Ben and want him to hang around and become a sponsor. When I told him that, he suggested an additional idea. He said that he had a couple of things that he would donate for a drawing.
He suggested putting everyone who donate d’s name in a hat and draw for a couple of great prizes. The prizes he had to offer were as follows:
· Walt Disney (“WD” because of trademark issues) acro frag. Now I’m no SPS guy but supposedly that is a badboy acro. I saw a small frag online this morning for $599, larger one for $899. I don’t know how big his is but either way…that ain’t bad.
· A brand new Ecotech MP40 QD. Everybody knows what that is. Value $350
Rules are as follows:
First, if you donated, you still get to go to "The Diesel Tank" and pick out a frag. But you also get to participate in the drawing. The catch is, you have to choose which drawing you want to be in. You can’t be in both. I will post up a list of donor’s screen names and ask each to reply with which drawing you want to be in. Once all have replied, I will do a youtube video of the names going into the hat, and hopefully my gf (if I can get her on camera) doing the drawing so all can see. If she won’t do it, maybe one of the birds will do it. That way, there is no question that the drawing was fair. I will download and post the link for those that want to go watch it.
Also, in the spirit of transparency, I will not put my name in any hat, although you can bet I’m going to get my “Diesel Tank” frag.
Note: As I was compiling the names, I noticed that there was one “anonymous” donor that made a donation and marked it as anonymous. I didn’t think anything of it because I did that on mine too, but now, I don’t know who to contact. If you are this person and wish to remain anonymous, I respect that. But if you want in on the drawing and Diesel frag, please PM me asap so I will know who you are. If you chose to remain anonymous on purpose, no need to PM.
Like I said above, it was great to see the troops rally around this cause and makes me feel good about the community we have here. Thanks to all that participated and to those who posted supporting comments for Ben. We all knew he was appreciated, and now he knows it too.
More details to follow in a day or two. (Webster)
