A Fun Thought....But
Well, I’ve put some thought into this (probably too much) and the logistics are probably too great but it’s a fun thought:
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Each year, an on-line auction fund raiser is held at my workplace for a designated charity (Wounded Warrior Project this year) and it has been extremely successful. All items are employee donated and bid on by employees. I’m not sure what web-based tool is used and while pretty basic, it’s very effective. It simply lists the items and includes a photo, description, donating party, current high bid, and current high bidder (in real-time). All bids are submitted on-line. A lot of friendly bidding rivalries develop and the bid “rush” at the deadline is pretty entertaining. The bidding time is usually quite short – about five days. Not all auction items are physical items. For example: going along as a crew member on an Apostle Islands sailing trip.
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Since Ride-In would simply be facilitating the auction, I don’t know if a special license would be required. It would simply collect the “donated” money from the high bidder and the donating party would be responsible for providing delivery of the donated item to the winning bidder. One advantage of this is that the donating parties and bidding members that cannot attend the event could participate in this auction. While items would most likely be sledding related, it wouldn’t be a requirement.</SPAN>
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This may be a painless way to raise money:
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Rather than just writing out a check, I figured I’d make it more interesting and fun by donating money for each TX-rated mile I ride this season. The way I see it, every mile I ride would be benefitting more than just me. I rode about 350 mi. on the old iron last season and hope to do at least the same this season. Since I won’t have the final tally until the end of the season, I’ll base this year’s donation on the miles from last season and will do the same next year. At 25 cents a mile, I don’t think it will break the bank account so that’s what I’m going with.
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Other individuals could do the same or groups that regularly make trips to riding destinations away from home could throw a few bucks in a kitty each trip and donate that money in the name of the group. It’s unlikely that a few bucks each trip would be missed. I think donations are accepted after the Ride-In and a lot of people have made trips and/or ridden a lot of miles by mid-Feb. so I think donations could still be made at that time.</SPAN>