TOPIC: GWG: Festival of Lights Charity Auction Complete! $1,805 Raised (>$3K to date!)

1st Annual Festival of Lights! $1,805 Raised in Auction & responsible for $3,105 raised since launching effort!

Earlier this year, a limited edition token was released in conjunction with True Dungeon and Worldbuilders for those who donated a certain level.  Thanks to Fred, Wade, Andy, an anonymous donor, and a huge thanks to Trent who donated 5 of the honeycomb from his collection, we wanted to make this great effort from TD & WB not simply a one and done event, but show how great our True Dungeon community is and make this an annual charity auction we are calling the Annual Festival of Lights.

I will run this auction more like a charity auction in which your bids are incremental as the goal is to raise funds for these awesome charities. So let me know which candle(s) you are bidding on, how much you would like to bid, and the top bidder will win the candle and any additional items that may have been donated for each (see the notes in each description). Each Candle will be contained in a one of a kind box with the name of the charity, the donor, and the unique crest on each box. I've included the images for each of the box lids below for your reference and each winner will receive the box in addition to the finished candle.

One the auction is completed, winning bids are paid by making a donation of that amount to the charity of each candle and providing proof of donation.  Once confirmed, I will package up the box along with the candle (and any bonus items) and ship on out first thing!

While this is our first festival, my hope is this is not the last.  The goal is for us to come together every year and repeat the process, with new winners and new owners of each candles. We will keep a running tally in each box of all the donations made for each charity in this way and every year the list will continue to grow!  My hope is that in the future we can do the final day of the auction in person at a convention (still allowing online submissions) and turn it into a once a year celebration for our our adventurers.

So submit your bids via the site or PM me directly and join in on the festivities!
If you would like to donate any additional tokens to one of the boxes, also let me know!

See All The Candles & Boxes Here!

List of Candles & Charities:
Wade's Candle
Donation to support the San Diego Blood Bank
Current bid: $100 (Yoshi)

The Missing Cleric's Candle
(Includes +3 Baton of Focus, Medallion of Mystic Mouth, Charm of Enlightenment, Pants of the Panther, Ring of One Vision, and Greater Onyx Charm)
Donation to support the American Cancer Society
Current bid: $555 (Link)

Grunnel's Candle
(Includes Shirt of the Oaf, Ioun Stone Charoite Cuboid, Pants of the Panther, Ring of One Vision, and Greater Onyx Charm)
Donation to support St. Jude's
Current bid: $300 (Ludwig von Koopa)

Fred's Candle
Donation to support the American Heart Association
Current bid: $100 (Kid Koopa)

Trent's Candle
Donation to support Prevent Child Abuse America
Current bid: $150 (Birdo)

Trent Sr.'s Candle
Donation to support the Cancer Research Institute
Current bid: $125 (Mario)

Juniper's Candle
Donation to support The Trevor Project
Current bid: $100 (Kid Koopa)

Trent III's Candle
Donation to support the Action Against Hunger USA
Current bid: $150 (Birdo)

June's Candle
Donation to support Connections for Abused Women & Their Children
Current bid: $125 (Luigi)

Andy's Candle
Donation to support the League of Women Voters
Current bid: $100 (Kid Koopa)

What a wonderful project. Thank you for doing this and to those who donated the candles.

* bump (Didn't want this idea to get buried since the charity auction ends soonish)

I'm pleased to add that 2 of my favorite Golems have donated some of their volunteer swag to make bidding on a few of these candles a little more interesting.

High bidders on:
The Missing Cleric's Candle (American Cancer Society) & Grunnel's Candle (St. Jude's) will also receive

1 x Pants of the Panther (UR)
1 x Ring of One Vision (R)
1 x Greater Onyx Charm (UR)

,,,so bid high, use them for a year, and auction them again for these great charities.

I wanted to make sure I understand the Festival of Lights-

The winner of each listing would only have the Candles for a calendar year? Then they get re-auctioned next winter?

So, the winners would (hopefully) be bidding on a 1 year candle rental rather a permanent one? With a goal to choose a new (or the same) charity for next year?

At the end of the day the choice would be up to the winner each year. If the want to put the candle back up for auction again next year, they can. If they want to hold onto it, they can. Completely an individual decision.

For those that return, we'll just keep it flowing, same box, same charity, same candle (any additional donated items can be kept). For those that don't, I will look to find either replacement candles or replacement items to take it's place each year (new box, new charity, new candle/item).

Goal here is to raise money for these charities and understand if this format does not work for some. No worries what so ever. Hopefully we will see them come back as would love to see the overall numbers each candle raises to get into the high 3, or low-mid 4 digits in a few years.

I wish I had a spare candle to donate - I think Gibgub needs a candle auction for an emvironmental charity!

Adding a +3 Baton of Focus and a Charm of Enlightenment to The Missing Cleric's Candle
Donation to support the American Cancer Society

...and

Ioun Stone Charoite Cuboid to Grunnel's Candle
Donation to support St. Jude's

(Thank you Golem TK-421 & haplo)

In case anyone's curious, here's a little bit of info about the candles I donated for this:

This is me, and a cause I feel very deeply about.
Trent's Candle
Donation to support Prevent Child Abuse America

This is my father, who sadly I never knew. He died of cancer when I was 2 months and 2 days old.
Trent Sr.'s Candle
Donation to support the Cancer Research Institute

This is my first and only grandchild, so far. She's 3 and her name is Juniper.
Juniper's Candle
Donation to support The Trevor Project

This one is named after my son, he's a III. I made sure he never went hungry, and I hope he has a son one day and names him IV!
Trent III's Candle
Donation to support the Action Against Hunger USA

This one is named after my mom, June. She had a pretty rough life, and passed away in 1998.
June's Candle
Donation to support Connections for Abused Women & Their Children

ponyboy wrote: Adding a +3 Baton of Focus and a Charm of Enlightenment to The Missing Cleric's Candle
Donation to support the American Cancer Society

...and

Ioun Stone Charoite Cuboid to Grunnel's Candle
Donation to support St. Jude's

(Thank you Golem TK-421 & haplo)

Upping the bid on the Missing Cleric's Candle to $150

Trent wrote: In case anyone's curious, here's a little bit of info about the candles I donated for this:

This is me, and a cause I feel very deeply about.
Trent's Candle
Donation to support Prevent Child Abuse America

This is my father, who sadly I never knew. He died of cancer when I was 2 months and 2 days old.
Trent Sr.'s Candle
Donation to support the Cancer Research Institute

This is my first and only grandchild, so far. She's 3 and her name is Juniper.
Juniper's Candle
Donation to support The Trevor Project

This one is named after my son, he's a III. I made sure he never went hungry, and I hope he has a son one day and names him IV!
Trent III's Candle
Donation to support the Action Against Hunger USA

This one is named after my mom, June. She had a pretty rough life, and passed away in 1998.
June's Candle
Donation to support Connections for Abused Women & Their Children

Trent, those are very heartfelt tributes and worthy causes.

Trent wrote: In case anyone's curious, here's a little bit of info about the candles I donated for this:

This is me, and a cause I feel very deeply about.[/b]
Trent's Candle
Donation to support Prevent Child Abuse America

I am supporting the Trent Sr. candle. My wife's fight and survival of breast cancer has me drawn to this cause.

This is my father, who sadly I never knew. He died of cancer when I was 2 months and 2 days old.
Trent Sr.'s Candle
Donation to support the Cancer Research Institute

This is my first and only grandchild, so far. She's 3 and her name is Juniper.
Juniper's Candle
Donation to support The Trevor Project

This one is named after my son, he's a III. I made sure he never went hungry, and I hope he has a son one day and names him IV!
Trent III's Candle
Donation to support the Action Against Hunger USA

This one is named after my mom, June. She had a pretty rough life, and passed away in 1998.
June's Candle
Donation to support Connections for Abused Women & Their Children

My wife's fight with breast cancer has me supporting the Trent Sr. candle. Thank you Trent for your generous donation.