Grand Prize Finale Week

[johnniegold]

The B&B 2009 Carnival of Smiles Is Winding Down... ​

All of the Contests that we had running have concluded and all the winners have been announced.

The B&B Carnival of Smiles will be entering its final week after a brief intermission. This event that kicked off on October 16th will conclude with the awarding of all the prizes you have seen in the Grand Prize Showcases.

We hope that the 2009 B&B Carnival of Smiles has been as gratifying an experience for everyone as it has been for us. There is still much more excitement to come with Grand Prize Finale.

The success of the Carnival of Smiles is due in no small part to the generosity of all of the members here who have donated to Operation Smile. It is through this generosity that we all can help to change the life of children all over the world.

We here at B&B have been floored by the showing of support to this cause. We can say with confidence that by all indications we have received that the Carnival has raised thousands and thousands of dollars for Operation Smile.

This is something you all should be very proud of, however, we must not rest on these laurels. Although we have been pleased with the donations that have been coming in, we know that we can do better.

Although we did not require that the amount of your donation be made known to us, many of you did send us copies of your receipts indicating the amount of your donation. Between the receipts and the ecards we received as well as other reliable information, we here at B&B can verify about 60 donations. WE KNOW WE CAN DO BETTER! WITH OVER 20,000 MEMBERS, WE KNOW WE CAN DO BETTER!

We have received notices of donations from $5.00 to $500.00. We have received notices of commitments of monthly donations from $100.00 per month for one year to $300.00 per month for one year. We have also been informed of companies matching donations made by their employees.

No amount is too small. Every little bit makes a difference. Help Operation Smile continue to do the fantastic work that they perform by supporting this wonderful cause.

During the next week you will have the Grand Prize Showcases to gaze upon during this brief recess from the Carnival. These prizes are truly spectacular and we again thank those vendors for supplying us with such extraoridinary prize packages. These Grand Prize Showcases altogether are valued at over $1,500.00.


Over the course of the next week, the Carnies (aka The Mods) will be taking a well-deserved break from the Carnival of Smiles. They have dedicated so many hours of their time to bring you this extraordinary event. We have awarded over 80 prizes to over 70 winners in several different countries. (Some of you have even won multiple times.)

While the Carnival is on hiatus we ask you to acknowledge the hard-work and the countless hours given to this project by the Mod Team as well as the generosity of so many vendors from all over the world who have contributed to this cause.

We ask you to do so by clicking on the smiling face and making a donation to :

​

Aside from the donations, we saw the support of members who donated items for PIF's that were spurred on by the goodwill generated by the Carnival. Thanks to all of you that sent pms offering to donate prizes to be given away at the Carnival. Thankfully, the vendors have been so generous with us that we had a prize cache that was worth thousands and thousands of dollars. And we gave it all away for free. Think about that. Where else on the internet is there a community like B&B? This is a truly a special place.

Let's make this final week of the Carnival an extravaganza for everyone. There are going to be some more very lucky winners here at B&B of these great prizes displayed in these Showcases. Let's continue to spread the goodwill shown by the Carnival of Smiles by making a donation to Operation Smile. Let's set a goal of at least 40 more verified donations so as to reach 100 verified donations. WE CAN DO IT!

If the Carnival of Smiles has put a smile on your face at some point because you won a prize or you enjoyed participating in the contests or for whatever reason, you have enjoyed this event, then we ask that you make a donation to Operation Smile and help to put a smile on the face of a child.

Thanks to all of you that have donated. It is very much appreciated.


Below are some of the kind words we received from you, the members, from all over the world who have made donations to Operation Smile.

We wanted to share them with all of you. Thanks to you, our community has helped make an impact in the lives of some of the children around the world.


We will see all of you in two weeks when the winners of the Grand Prizes will be chosen as the 2009 B&B Carnival of Smiles draws to a close.

Be a part of this special event by contributing to:

Operation Smile






-I'm so glad to be a part of such a group of folks at B&B

_______


-Couldn't pass this up.

_______

-Thank you for your gift of $500.00 to help put new smiles on young faces
around the world!

_______

-I am very glad I did not buy the razor case I was looking at and had the extra coin to do this. Thanks for inspiring to do more for others B&B.

_______

-I just love carnivals

_______

-Thanks Badger & Blade, for 2009 Carnival of Smiles.

_______

-Thanks again, and I'm very impressed that B&B is making the effort to support such a wonderful cause as Operation Smile. It speaks very highly of the character of the folks who stand behind B&B.

_______

-Thank you for your gift of $240.00 to help put new smiles on young faces around the world!

_______

-I am proud to be a part of such a great group of people.

_______

-Glad I could help.

_______

-this is a very worthwhile project, I am honored to donate.

_______

-Donation made. Long live B&B!

_______

-A Wonderful charity to rally around during the B&B Carnival.

_______

-Thank you for the opportunity and the motivation to get off my butt and
help someone else!

_______

- here is my receipt. thanks again.

_______

-Well done Badger and Blades.
Excellent Charity !!!!!! Let me just say that I've been on the internet pretty much since it's inception. Never have I found a more congenial and gentlemanly website than B&B. I know of no other forum that I'd donate money for just because I was asked to. It's a credit to the creators and mods and members

_______

-Thanks for making this happen.

_______

Here is the receipt for my donation to operation smile, I wish I could
have donated more but times are tough for me right now.

_______


-Just made a donation. Thanks for using our group as a vehicle to help others. What a great cause! Thank you!

_______

-May this spread to all corners of the earth

_______

-Good choice for a B&B donation cause.
Best of luck with the Carnival, too.

_______


-Great cause, great fund raising idea, great job!
Thanks!

_______


-The ultimate PIF!

_______

-Bravo Gentlemen, Bravo

_______

-A world can change one small step at a time..

_______


-Thank you all for putting together this wonderful charity opportunity. It truly shows how great of a community we have.

_______


-Thank you for letting me know about this charity.
Been a pleasure donating.

_______

-Good job, guys!

_______

-this is an excellent idea.

_______

-thanks for the opportunity

_______

-Three cheers to Badger and Blade for helping children around the world smile easier =)

_______

-This is a good thing that B&B is doing.

_______


-Thanks guys for organizing that contest and suggesting this support this cause. I had even no idea that such malformations existed and that an organization was doing something about it in underdeveloped countries ! This is great !

_______

-Great choice fella's!

_______


-Glad to have been able to help out. Very good cause you folks are promoting. Makes me proud to be a B&B member.

_______


-Carnival of Smiles is an awesome idea. Thanks for choosing a worthwhile charity for us to support!

_______


-Great idea for a great cause.

_______

-Thanks for doing this.

_______


-Thanks B&B. Great Contest and for a worthy cause.


_______


-Better late then never Donating in memory of my uncle that passed away without me getting to know him.

_______


-Happy to help. Thank you Badger and Blade!

_______


-Thanks for bringing my attention to such a great charity and thanks for the awesome B&B carnival.

_______


-Again, kudos to badger and blade for setting up the carnival in such a manner that kids who need help are getting it.

_______


-Thanks for holding the Carnival on B&B. Inspired to donate to Operation
Smile, thanks to you

_______

-Proud to contribute to a great charity.

_______

-I've donated in honor of my friend who was adopted by some friends of mine and had his cleft palate fixed here in the US. Hope this will help another child not so fortunate.

_______


-Thank you, Badger & Blade!





Help us, help them. Please make a donation now.

Operation Smile​

 

[Cheech]

60 people? You have to be kidding me. If there are 20,000 members and only 60 donated, that means that .3% donated. I'm sure people are just waiting. People are just getting warmed up, and are preparing their own "end of carnival" surprise.

I'm sure that all the efforts of the mods (and the donations from so many companies) have moved the people that enjoy this board (for free), to save up to make the donation. I'm sure that these people want to improve their community (in a broader sense) and are going to donate as much as they can.

Right?

 

[Carlin]

It's great what the mods are doing for us, guys! Come on, if you can afford to donate, do it!

 

[blackfoot]

Thanks to the Mods for all their work, vendors for the prizes they gave, members who donated, and the entire forum for being so darn great!

 

[withoutink]

Break out a few bucks if you can guys. even if its $10 or so. Everything helps.

This organization or one like it helped a little boy I adopted, and now he can smile...

This is my son

Thanks again to all the mods / and vendors for putting this all together!

 

[johnniegold]

Break out a few bucks if you can guys. even if its $10 or so. Everything helps.

This organization or one like it helped a little boy I adopted, and now he can smile...

This is my son

Thanks again to all the mods / and vendors for putting this all together!

Matt shared this with me earlier in the Carnival however I did not show it on the board since I did not ask him for permission to do so.

Thanks Matt for sharing this with everyone.

 

[rongo_mai]

I suspect more than 60 people donated and just didn't notice in the first carnival of smiles post to send a ecard to [email protected], I didn't see it untill I had already donated. I had just gone to their site and donated via paypal.

 

[johnniegold]

I suspect more than 60 people donated and just didn't notice in the first carnival of smiles post to send a ecard to [email protected], I didn't see it untill I had already donated. I had just gone to their site and donated via paypal.

No doubt. I have received many messages that indicated that donations were made without sending an ecard or copy of their receipt to [email protected].

I was referring to verified donations. Nevertheless, our appreciation goes out to all of you who donated.

 

[heirkb]

A big thanks goes to the mods for putting this together! All the wacky searching on line for contests was more thrilling than even winning some of the prizes.
It's hard to believe that this even happened. Or that we have a BST here. This carnival and the BST are constant reminders of the difference between this forum and the rest of the internet. And by that, I don't mean that we get shiny razors. I'm talking about being able to send 200 dollars via paypal to some guy you don't know and trusting that a razor or brush will come in the mail in a week
Thanks for all your great work!

 

[Jim]

Many thanks to my brother Mods for their tireless work on the carnival.
At the end of the day, no matter how many prizes were distributed, contests won or vendors showcased-
the kids are the real winners.

Thanks for your support!

 

[johnniegold]

Well said Jim.

 

[strat1117]

I think I can safely say that this has been a great deal of fun for us. I also tend to agree that there must have been more than just 60 donors -- for one thing, the e-cards were not available for donations via paypal.

I feel confident that the B&B community stepped up and did its part. If you haven't done so already -- give. It will feel good.

Thanks, Mods.

 

[withoutink]

Matt shared this with me earlier in the Carnival however I did not show it on the board since I did not ask him for permission to do so.

Thanks Matt for sharing this with everyone.

No worries, maybe I should post a before picture... That might allow more people to understand the importance of this type of surgery.

 

[NoFair]

Great charity and great work by the mods Wonderful donations by vendors as well

Hope more people make donations, I was a bit surprised by the low number. Even though I suspect quite a few donated without sending out an e-card (I forgot on my first one)

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

I suspect more than 60 people donated and just didn't notice in the first carnival of smiles post to send a ecard to [email protected], I didn't see it untill I had already donated. I had just gone to their site and donated via paypal.

I think I can safely say that this has been a great deal of fun for us. I also tend to agree that there must have been more than just 60 donors -- for one thing, the e-cards were not available for donations via paypal.

I feel confident that the B&B community stepped up and did its part. If you haven't done so already -- give. It will feel good.

Thanks, Mods.

Great charity and great work by the mods Wonderful donations by vendors as well

Hope more people make donations, I was a bit surprised by the low number. Even though I suspect quite a few donated without sending out an e-card (I forgot on my first one)

I think it's true that many, many more than 60 B&B'ers have donated. But even if that number is 600 donations, that's still not enough. C'mon guys. Open your hearts and open your wallets. $5 might not seem like much, but mutiply it by 20,000 and it has a huge impact on the life of a child.

 

[thunderball]

I think it's true that many, many more than 60 B&B'ers have donated. But even if that number is 600 donations, that's still not enough.

I of course understand what you're saying (and agree to some extent) but even if only 100 of us here donated (I did! ) that's still 100 donations that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise. We can always hope for more but even as it stands now the Carnival inspired at least some of us to give to a worthwhile charity, a charity that the majority of us would have never even heard of. Thanks again to the sponsors, the participants, and of course those most exalted and hard-working fellows from the land of Moddom!

 

[Navig8tor]

Thanks to all the mods. This whole event has been great. It has been fun competing for the prizes while getting so many involved in a great charity.

Matt, that is a great picture and also a great reminder of the good we have a chance to everyday. Kudos for adopting also. It's one thing to give money but it is a whole other level of devotion to give someone such a commitment of time and love.

Congratulations to all who have donated. For those that haven't it isn't too late.

If you are one of the unfortunate victims of the economy and are short on cash but long on time think about volunteering locally. I can tell you from experience it was one of the things that helped me through an unfortunate "downsizing episode".

 

[withoutink]

Thank you sir, your sentiments are truly appreciated. One day Ill explain in depth what we endured to adopt [read -- 4.5 years]. The best thing is that he give to us everyday, more than we can ever give him.

Here is a before picture... Let this be a testament of what these charities do every single day...

 

[fidjit]

Thank you sir, your sentiments are truly appreciated. One day Ill explain in depth what we endured to adopt [read -- 4.5 years]. The best thing is that he give to us everyday, more than we can ever give him.

Well done withoutink.

Luckily adoption rules are so stringent, otherwise I would have come back from Siem Reap with 2 lovely little girls I spent a lot of time with in an orphange.

That's all I needed ....... 2 more kids to match my own 3

Come on Aussies.........let's get the Aussie fund going !!!!!!

Don't forget its a charitable donation so tax refundable !!!!!!!

 

[zeroburn]

WOW! These contests look awesome! I hope I'm not too late.