Ideas for The Violet Ann Foundation

[Joe Hart]

Some of you know that last year my wife gave birth to premature twins. Our son was very sick, but is doing great now. Our daughter was very sick but didn’t make it. The whole ordeal was crazy, but we made it through!

My wife and I decided to start a fund in our daughter’s name to help raise money for the hospital and the people that are in the same situation as we were in. The hospital was great â€" it is one of the best! It was Brigham and Women’s in Boston, MA, and they are affiliated with, and right across the street from, Children’s Hospital. But we want to help with some of the little things that many people don’t think of.

Do you know how hard it is to locate clothing for a baby that only weighs 1 ½ pounds? Parking is very expensive in Boston, and when you’re there every day for months at a  time… Our son didn’t like the bottle nipples that the hospital had, and it took us over a week to locate ones that he would drink from (if the hospital had more variety, he would have been eating sooner â€" and much less stress for us!!). We want to help with little things like that. And the hospital has a way of accepting donation that are earmarked for whatever the donor wants it to be spent on (rather than just an “impersonal” donation).

And here’s where you guys and gals can come in. I was thinking that if a few people wanted to build a pedal or two, we could auction them off on eBay to raise money. I would do all the posting (that way all of the auctions would be linked together, too), and when the bidding was over, deduct the cost of the pedal (that the builder sets) and send it to the builder (unless they just wanted to donate that, too!!) along with the shipping costs, then the builder can ship the pedal out to the auction winner. That way we can save on shipping the pedal to me, so more can go to the hospital.

I don’t know. What do you all think? I was thinking of doing this in 3-4 months. That way no one is under any crazy time crunches.

You can get more info at my website. RabbathRecordings.com.

Let me know if anyone has any ideas or suggestions. Thank you!
-Joe Hart

[MartyB]

Awesome idea Joe.  Count me in.   I rather imagine some of the buyers would be from our own ranks.    Maybe I'll  put in for an Octavia and a Crash Sync that I've already built.  Would this be on eBay?
MartyB

[Hal]

just took a look at that web page, and saw the altoids box distortion....just wondering if you got the idea from me (http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=24085) or if it was total coincidance.

I was actually thinking I could make the altoids distortions fairly cheep for "the cause" if it is at all phesable...not sure what people want, most of my DIY stuff isn't too market friendly.

[jrc4558]

Count me in. I don't have an EBay account however, and my pedals are pad-per-hole, if that's an issue. I could certainly mail them to you, if you specify the address.  Any preference for the kind of a pedal?

ac_128@yahoo.com

[davebungo]

Don't know if I will be able to contribute anything but I think it's a great idea.

[Joe Hart]

It would be on eBay. I was thinking that I would run all the auctions, explaining everything (including that the items are not in my actual possession and I'm just a clearinghouse for the monetary "donations"). I would come up with a form for the auctions, and you would fill in the blanks with the stompbox specifics. We could start the auctions at whatever your cost is, so that we won't be losing money. I would then use my eBay account to list them all at the same time, so that would get more "publicity" for them because people will often check out a sellers other auctions to see what else they may have for sale. Then I would collect the money, arrange for the pedals to be shipped, then donate the total left over to the hospital.

I think it would be a nice thing to do (because believe me, the infant intensive care unit sucks to be in, babies are dying all around you, everyone's sad and feeling hopeless, and any little "kindness" is so very appreciated by these poor parents), and you could get some publicity for your own creations, and know that you made something cool enough that someone else bought it.

Pad-per-hole is fine, I would just hope that the pedals work (and won't fall apart internally if someone drops it -- you know, good solder joints and nothing rattling around), and that the pedals at least look semi-decent (only because who would bid on something that looks thrown together). It doesn't have to be super cool looking, but the controls should be labled and all that.

I don't care what the effect is, just whatever you think would sell. Also, if your "parts charge" is $50.00, I don't know if it would sell to make any kind of "profit" -- so feel free to donate!! :-)

Even a modified existing pedal would be a great idea. That way people are buying something that they know they want. You know, people may rather buy a modified actual Fuzz Face than a homemade one (even though we know the guts could be the exact same). But keep price in mind, please.

Any more ideas?
-Joe Hart

[Joe Hart]

Hal, the Altoids thing was a complete coincidence. I had been thinking about it for a year or so before actually doing it. Then when I saw yours, I was surprised. And I think an Altoids effect would be very cool. Very low cost. So we could have more to donate! I mean, I could see someone bidding on it (up to a point) just on the "how cool is that" factor. They may not bid over $20.00, but with a cost of a couple bucks, it would generate more than a $40.00 bid on a $35.00 pedal. Great idea!!
-Joe Hart

[Mark Hammer]

First off, asking me to make a stompbox for charity is a bit like asking me to be an official brownie taster for charity.  As Bob and Doug McKenzie would say "Like, the punishment's not too bad, eh?".

In fact, I try to contribute a pedal each year to be auctioned off for the United Way Charitable Workplace Campaign in our government agency.  Lemme tell you, when the wife starts nagging that you shouldn't be up so late soldering and spray painting, it's nice to be able to say "It's for charity, dear".

Just out of curiosity, and as way of estimating how much good it *could* do, how successful were the various pedal-based fundraisers that followed 09/11.  I'm not asking for a dollars and cents accounting, but if folks could give us some sort of benchmark sense about the potential for this to be a fundraiser, maybe that would spark a little more interest.

As well, I suspect that even when doing it for a charitable cause, people still expect quality, so if you coordinate the entire auction, Joe, how does responsibility for working order, etc., take place.  I'd hate for you to do something with the best of intentions and then take it on the chin as e-bay vendor because someone wasn't happy with what they got.

[bwanasonic]

I think it would be a nice thing to do (because believe me, the infant intensive care unit sucks to be in, babies are dying all around you, everyone's sad and feeling hopeless, and any little "kindness" is so very appreciated by these poor parents)

My youngest son (now 13) spent his first couple of nights in the same ICU at Children's (both my sons were born at B&W as well). It was quite traumatic for us as parents, but the experience of visiting him there, and meeting the wonderful people who work in that ICU was a great experience. When I'm feeling *hopeless*, I often recall the wonderful joy the nurses there were able to maintain in the face of daily heartbreak.

Thinking about the your proposal got me wondering about how I could contribute. I'm not too comfortable with my complete product if someone is actually paying me money for it. But I do have the nice professional Express PCB boards I ordered recently. And I do have the quality parts and reasonable soldering skills to provide a few assembled boards. I was thinking if someone else with better assembly technique and who was equipped to properly finish and label was interested, I could provide the assembled board and hardware/enclosure, etc. I am thinking in terms of a donation, and would not be looking to make cost.

I could provide a complete *kit* with tested and assembled board for a Ge Rangemaster clone, including a nice CV7003 NOS tranny. The PCB is my own 2 trimpot layout. This would be a singular offer for this particular purpose. Anyone interested in details can PM me. Maybe in the time frame in the original proposal I can get something assembled and painted/labeled that I would be comfortable selling, but if anyone is up for the coop approach, let me know.

Kerry M

[Joe Hart]

Mark Hammer, always the voice of reason. Okay, so since it's my eBay reputation on the line (I don't buy and sell a ton, but I do enough that I care about my feedback score), I guess I would have to actually see/play through the finished pedals. Not a huge problem, but that's some extra shipping charges. But it seemed that a couple people could be interested in donating the pedal, so that would certainly help offset the extra shipping.

And, Bwanasonic, cool idea on a kit. That would solve the "does it work?" problem.

I'm liking these ideas. Anyone else??
-Joe Hart