Friday, August 3, 2012

And the winners are...

I think Jenny and I have both decided that "thank you" no longer comes close to being adequate enough. To say I'm overwhelmed by the love and generosity of virtual strangers, is an understatement. In only three short days, we've managed to raise $2,635 making it possible for Jenny to attend the TFEiC Author Meet & Greet in Chicago. All we had to do was say that we needed help and the response was absolutely astounding. Everybody wanted to help, people who didn't even know Jenny wanted to help. All they knew, was that a group of woman cared enough about this girl from Australia that they were willing to go to great lengths to help her. That was enough for them; people wanted to be a part of it. Something as simple as a common love and passion for books has united women everywhere. It has turned strangers to friends; it's formed relationships, it's created a family. A family I am extremely blessed to be a part of. People have gone out of their way to thank me for what I've done, but what I really need to say is that I didn't do anything; YOU DID! All I did was provide a way for you to help; YOU did everything!! YOU are the reason any of this was even possible. I truly hope every single one of you realize the beauty of what you've done; the gift you've given. The way you not only touched Jenny's life, but mine as well. So I really want to take this moment and thank YOU; thank you from the bottom (and top) of my heart.

I also need to thank Sarah Hansen who's really the one responsible for getting this ball rolling; this was all possible because of you. Lori and Sam, our lovely ladies behind the scenes. Emily (you know who you are and you know what you did), the awesome ladies at I LOVE YA FICTION for making sure our only non-autographed copy in the pack got signed. Every single blogger and reader that helped spread the S.O.S. And of course the lovely authors who generously donated their amazing stories without hesitation:

E.L. James
Tracey Garvis Graves
Jessica Park
Colleen Hoover
C.J. Roberts
Elizabeth Hunter
Rebecca Donovan
Tina Reber
Tammara Webber
Nicole Williams
K.A. Linde
S.C. Stephens
J. Sterling
Angie Stanton
Abbi Glines
Stephanie Campbell & Jolene Perry
Liz Reinhardt
M. Leighton
Jillian Dodd
Samantha Towle
Teresa Mummert
Killian McRae

Finally, I want to thank Jenny Aspinall for being such a special person. You were the inspiration behind this whole thing and the huge response just proves how much you deserve this (If you'd like to read a special thanks from Jenny please click here). There was an overwhelming amount of people who helped make this possible and I know I probably forgot someone, but please know that I appreciate every single one of you! Even though I can't be with y'all in Chicago, I am so very blessed that I got to be a part of this; it's an experience I'll never forget!

Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for. I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to enter each one your names into an online random selector. If you gave $100 (which more than several people did), I entered your name 100 times. That's a lot of names. Probably an easier way to do it, but oops ;-) So without further ado (love when I get to use that word, the winners are...


GRAND PRIZE WINNER
THE BIGGEST SIGNED BOOK PACK IN THE HISTORY OF EVER
TARA TORPEY

SECOND PRIZE WINNER
$20.00 GIFT CARD & D-BAGS T-SHIRT
EMILY DIETZ

THIRD PRIZE WINNER
$20.00 GIFT CARD
AMANDA HALVORSON

*Congratulations everyone!! I'll be emailing you today to get the information I need to get you you're prizes. I wish I had something for EVERYONE who contributed! Y'all are AMAZING!


3 comments:

  1. So fabulous! I don't know Jenny, but I'm so thrilled this worked out for her, and will hopefully get to meet her at the amazing event in my sweet home Chicago :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats, Tara!
    I should have your book out to you in the next two weeks. Thank you for your support!

    CJ Robert
    Author of Captive in the Dark

    ReplyDelete