We're Thankful for Rob - Part 2!

After all our success with the fundraiser we ran for the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation last year in honour of Rob's return to TorCon one year after his stroke (http://www.gofundme.com/aggo34), we have decided to make supporting this great organization an annual event. What the HSF does is so important and we feel contributing to the causes of stroke education and research is a wonderful way to continue to show Rob that we're so thankful that he is still with us today, healthy and well. 

Instead of just asking for donations this year, we've decided to do something different. Our dear friend Angie Siketa offered to draw us some adorable chibi art for the fundraiser to help spread the message of how important it is to recognize and respond to stroke warning signs FAST: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911. Now this exclusive design with an important message is available on a variety of different products as rewards for contributing to this year's fundraiser. Of course, if you don't want any of the reward items, you are certainly welcome to still contribute to the campaign and simply not select any of the reward levels. A card listing the names of all contributors and the total raised by this fundraiser will be given to Rob at TorCon in October. 

The art features Rob in the centre of Richard and Misha, the two friends who helped him the most that night by recognizing that something was wrong and insisting he go to the hospital. The items available as reward levels include stickers, buttons, keychains, art prints, tote bags, and t-shirts. 

Our aim is to have these items ordered and in our hands so that those who contribute to the campaign and are attending TorCon can pick up their items from us in person at the con.

For the rest of you, we do ask that you please include an extra $5 ($2 if you're only selecting stickers) on top of the reward level to help cover the cost of shipping if you're in the United States or $10 for shipping if you're in the rest of the world. 

If you have questions about this campaign please feel free to contact as at our email address: [email redacted] or join our FB group for this fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TorConHSFFundraiser.

All the best,
Jennifer and Sara


FAQ:

Q: I picked a certain reward level but then I added money to my donation amount and I noticed after I submitted that it changed what reward level I claimed! What happened? How do I let you know what items I really want?

A: We were as surprised as all of you to discover this happening. Apparently, it's just the way GFM is set up. If you donate an amount that matches a reward level, it records the donation as having selected that reward level - whether you picked it or not. We're a bit frustrated by this discovery and have talked to GFM's support staff who were unable to offer us any solutions. So when we send out our thank you notes we are attempting to double check with each person as to which perks they want to receive to make sure everyone gets the items they're expecting. So if you haven't read your thank you note or you deleted it without replying, please shoot us an email at [email redacted] letting us know which perks you are claiming. Thank you!

Q: I just want to donate without receiving any of the reward levels. How can I do that?

A: After discovering GFM was auto-assigning perks based on donation amount, we created a $10 "no perk" reward level. Seems silly, eh? But it was the only solution we could really think of that seems to work well. If you want to contribute more or less than$10 and not receive any perks, you can certainly do so. But if the dollar amount you enter matches a reward level item, GFM will record the donation as having selected that perk. The quickest way to let us know you don't want to actually receive the item auto-selected is to leave a comment before you submit saying "no reward items" or something similar. Or you can wait for us to email you our thank you message and reply to it confirming that you don't actually wish to receive the reward items you're eligible for from your donation amount. We're sorry this is a bit of a hassle but it's just a limitation of GoFundMe's site design that we're having to work around this year.

Q: What if I want to donate but I don't have a credit card?

A: We're happy to accept your donation via PayPal and then we can list the amount as an offline donation on GFM to keep the amount raised showing accurately. For information on how to contribute via PayPal, please email us at [email redacted] and we will get back with your with instructions as soon as we can.

Q: I see now that I missed the part about adding additional money for shipping since I'm not attending TorCon. What can I do about that?

A: If you're not attending TorCon, we are asking that you include a little extra money to cover the cost of shipping your items to you so we can maximize our donation to the HSF. You can either donate again with the extra amount and list your donation as "no perk" or you can email us at [email redacted] for information about paying for shipping via PayPal. We really appreciate it if you're willing to help cover the shipping costs so we don't have to take more money out of the contributions to cover shipping. We could have built the shipping costs into the amount we were asking for each reward level but we chose not to because we wanted to make sure those claiming their items in Toronto didn't have to pay extra for shipping that they will not need. 

Q: What are the t-shirts like? What sizes and colors do they come in?

A: The shirts are the Men's Premium T-shirts from Spreadshirt.com. Sizing and color information can be found here.