To paraphrase an email I just sent to Angel DelliGatti of StreamLight:
"Once again I am truly humbled by your generosity. I don't know what else to say except thank you very much. I will of course pass the word onto others about what you have done, and when I shop for lights they will be StreamLights. You folks at StreamLight are so nice it is almost unbelievable, it is people like you who really make this country a great place! I am sure that my Soldiers' Angels soldier for this year - Jamie V., and his fellow troops, will make good use of them.
I would still like to know what price you can offer these at because I would buy at least a few more to ship to the troops. Please don't ad more to the freebie pile, it would be the right thing for us to make a purchase after how nice you have been."
Why am I humbled. Well, like last year, this year I sent out a few emails making inquiries in an attempt to get discounted pricing on some things to include in this years Soldiers' Holiday Care Package(s). One of those emails was sent to StreamLight. I really did not expect them to duplicate their generosity of last year when they donated 12 flashlights and batteries to the care package effort but that is what they did then, and they are doing it gain this year! She is going to send a dozen NF2-LED lights for the package(s). As far as I can figure, the NF2 stands for NightFighter 2.
When I checked their site, this is what I found for the NightFighter LED lights:
http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=32
While there is little more that I can say than I did in my above email to Ms. DelliGatti, there is something I have to say: She truly is an Angel, she lives up to her name, and how appropriate since I was put in contact with Jamie V., the soldier to whom I will be sending this year's package(s), through Soldiers' Angels!
One other thing I think I must say is that if you are considering a high quality flashlight, especially for tactical purposes, please consider StreamLight. I have used their products and can tell you they have met and exceeded my expectations in tactical flashlights just as their generosity has far surpassed even my wildest expectations.
As I mentioned in my email, I am hopeful we can also buy some lights from StreamLight, also for the troops. I figure it would be the right thing to do in light of their generosity. I realize that this year there is no way we will be able to supply each guy in our soldier's unit with a light (heck there are 26 guys in his direct unit, not 12 like our soldier from last year). That is there is no way unless you guys are extremely generous. So if you can find it in your hearts, please dig up some of your spare change or bills and send in a donation for this year's effort. So far we have gotten together a total of $255.00 including $160 of donations made via my PayPal account and $95 checks and cash.
As with last year's effort, I will document each and every penny of the donations I spend on this, and 100% of your donations will go to purchases of items to be included in the packages. I will pay for shipping charges to include boxes, tape, and postage to send the care packages to Jamie V. over in Afghanistan, and I have also made a $25.00 (included in the above total) donation toward purchases of items. I will also be donating another $25.00 out of my pocket. I suppose that Ms. DelliGatti's and StreamLights generosity has motivated me to do so - so the total of the monetary donations is now: $280.00.
To those of you who have made donations so far, money or otherwise I say THANK YOU; and likewise to those of you who will be making donations.
All the best,
Glenn B
Showing posts with label soldiers holiday care package. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soldiers holiday care package. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
I Suppose I'll Have To Go Shopping...
...sooner rather than later for items for the Soldiers' Holiday Care Package for which I have been accepting donations. So far I have collected $25 from me (I'll also throw in whatever I pay for shipping the package(s) to the soldiers) $50 in a check, and $150 of donations sent to me via PayPal 150. Those bastards at PayPal would not waive their fees on my received into my account relative to money donated toward this effort for a mere three weeks. Their explanation laid out the rules, which apparently they would not budge on, regardless of the fact that I am collecting for a care package and that every penny more we collect means all so much better contents inside the box. So far the fees I asked them to waive have amounted to an astronomical $5.87. Can you imagine that they would not waive those fees when it really could mean adding something nice to one of the care packages. My bet is that the fees will not amount to more than $10 to $20 for all the donations I receive toward this effort; and they are apparently too tight to want to help that effort by waiving those fees. Certainly has me considering whether or not I should keep using PayPal. I will make up the fees out of my own pocket, screw them. I digress from the original idea of this post, sorry bout that...
Okay, so I now actually have received $225.00 in donations. Some of it has already been spent, but not much of it. I bought the cigars, a box of Tootsie Roll pops, a package of ChapSticks, and another thing or two I cannot recall right now. I am probably left with about $165 to $170. I had been planning on buying including some flashlights in the care package like i did last year. too bad Streamlight has not gotten back to me on my inquiry about whether or not they could sell me some tactical lights at a discount. Last year they donated a dozen of those lights, very nice of them. This year not a peep from them, but I'll keep hoping. I also was going to buy ear plugs directly from the manufacturer - E.A.R. Inc. since they offered a 10% discount off of their online pricing. I have discovered that many retailers sell them online for even less than that - much less. I suppose they get em less expensive because they buy in bulk - so I'll be looking to an online dealer for them. The manufacturer was asking $42.00 for a box of 200 TaperFit 2 earplugs. I found them as low as $27.90 plus shipping per box of 200. Wait a few minutes here, I'll be right back. I am going to order them right now...
Five minutes or so later I am back at the blog, the ear plugs have been ordered from Cooper Safety at a total cost of: $35.04. That was a pretty good price. I probably could have found them at an even lower price but the Cooper Safety website looked real business website as opposed to something from a fly by night company, that is one that flies away at night with our money.
Okay, let me take a look at the receipts:
$35.04 - 200 pairs of Ear Plugs
$29.23 - Costco for Tootsie Roll Pops, 12 decks of playing cards, and 10 pack of ChapSticks
$34.90 - A Cigar Sampler, box of 25 cigars
That makes it $99.17 spent so far; and that leaves us with $125.83, and hopefully with at least a few more nice donations to add to that later since $125 and change will not go far. If I do not get enough for 6 tactical flashlights (about $40 each not including), then I will just buy some decent pocket knives to include in the package. I'll see what I can do. I may have to shop for them now, and you guessed it, that means from right here where I sit via O.M. (online magic, if only all the gurus of old who chanted "om" while meditating could have guessed how important that word would become).
Later for you, I need to get shopping.
All the best,
Glenn B
Okay, so I now actually have received $225.00 in donations. Some of it has already been spent, but not much of it. I bought the cigars, a box of Tootsie Roll pops, a package of ChapSticks, and another thing or two I cannot recall right now. I am probably left with about $165 to $170. I had been planning on buying including some flashlights in the care package like i did last year. too bad Streamlight has not gotten back to me on my inquiry about whether or not they could sell me some tactical lights at a discount. Last year they donated a dozen of those lights, very nice of them. This year not a peep from them, but I'll keep hoping. I also was going to buy ear plugs directly from the manufacturer - E.A.R. Inc. since they offered a 10% discount off of their online pricing. I have discovered that many retailers sell them online for even less than that - much less. I suppose they get em less expensive because they buy in bulk - so I'll be looking to an online dealer for them. The manufacturer was asking $42.00 for a box of 200 TaperFit 2 earplugs. I found them as low as $27.90 plus shipping per box of 200. Wait a few minutes here, I'll be right back. I am going to order them right now...
Five minutes or so later I am back at the blog, the ear plugs have been ordered from Cooper Safety at a total cost of: $35.04. That was a pretty good price. I probably could have found them at an even lower price but the Cooper Safety website looked real business website as opposed to something from a fly by night company, that is one that flies away at night with our money.
Okay, let me take a look at the receipts:
$35.04 - 200 pairs of Ear Plugs
$29.23 - Costco for Tootsie Roll Pops, 12 decks of playing cards, and 10 pack of ChapSticks
$34.90 - A Cigar Sampler, box of 25 cigars
That makes it $99.17 spent so far; and that leaves us with $125.83, and hopefully with at least a few more nice donations to add to that later since $125 and change will not go far. If I do not get enough for 6 tactical flashlights (about $40 each not including), then I will just buy some decent pocket knives to include in the package. I'll see what I can do. I may have to shop for them now, and you guessed it, that means from right here where I sit via O.M. (online magic, if only all the gurus of old who chanted "om" while meditating could have guessed how important that word would become).
Later for you, I need to get shopping.
All the best,
Glenn B
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