$8,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry if I'm the queen of the exclamations lately, but we made it to $8,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We broke that financial barrier down!!!! BOOYAH!

But that's not all! We've raised enough to unlock the next prize in our giveaway! The iPod Nano is now in the running! So for all of you who have donated or shared on Facebook since this giveaway began (or within a few days in some cases) AND have told me about it in either a comment on this blog or emailed rolandquest@gmail.com (don't rely on my mommy brain, I beg you) then you are now in a drawing for not only the $50 gift card but also the iPod!!!


Every $5 donation you make to Roland's ("Joel's") grant fund gets you one entry to win! All donations are tax deductible!

Also! If you share our story/fundraiser on Facebook you get another chance to win!

Also! If you have a blog post from your blog devoted to Roland's story you get two additional chances to win!

The winners will be chosen by random.com on January 25th, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. PST (that would be midnight for you East Coast people, aka "Eastcoastingerestinashoods").

You MUST comment on this blog OR shoot me an email at rolandquest@gmail.com and let me know how many entries you get! I don't want you to rely on me being observant and stuff. Just a quick, "Hey I gave $10 and shared on Facebook!" or "Hey, I put you on my awesome hardcore guinea pig racing blog!" would be perfect!

Our first prize is already unlocked!
Our second prize is now unlocked!
For our biggest prize to be unlocked we need $2,000 more generated from this giveaway!

Our first prize is a $50 gift card! The winner will choose one card from the following: Starbucks, Benihana's, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, P.F. Changs, 24 Hour Fitness, Michael's, Target or Amazon.

(This prize is already unlocked and up for grabs!)

Our second prize is a 16GB iPod Nano Special Edition RED, product MC074LL/A. Worth about $330 on Amazon. This is a new, still-in-the-box product that sat on my donor's shelf unopened for over a year. Now it can be yours!

(This item is unlocked and up for grabs!)

The BIG prize is...

EITHER

A blog banner with custom characters for your personal or business blog by Lauren Burke of Burke Vector! (Yes THAT Lauren. She's pretty famous apparently! :))

Example blog banner used with permission.

($2,000 from being unlocked!)

OR you can choose:

A Family Caricature Portrait to hang in your home (or put on your blog or Facebook profile or whatnot) done by Lauren Burke of Burke Vector! See the one she made for us back in 2009 in our About page! Or check out the sample family below!

Example used with permission. Available on iStock.

($2,000 from being unlocked!)

A message from Lauren: "I am really looking forward to such a fun project for an exceptionally worthy cause! I can't wait to meet the winner and get started. Let's bring Joel (Roland) home!"

Click here for samples of Lauren's work.

rules:

-maximum of 5 family members together in banner (photos are necessary for reference).
-The caricatures are designed to be together in one image (characters are not designed to be separated).
-from waist up
-maximum of 2 small revisions after the final design
-must take advantage of the giveaway prize within two weeks of winning.
-simple background elements (solid colors, simple flowers, polkadots, etc)
-simple text

Winner will receive a high-resolution file for printing OR a web-resolution file for their blog banner.
(Standard/common blog banner sizes OR 8x10 family portrait size file for portrait in standard-sized frame.) 

Good luck!