Rakes Report #139: Christmas Giving 2019
Hello, friends. For those of you who have been through this already, here is your fourth annual Christmas Giving link. For those who are new or who would like a refresher, here is a rundown.
What is Christmas Giving?
Christmas Giving is a fundraising drive for the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, a great organization that helps out those who need a hand, particularly as we head into the holiday season and another Indiana winter. Because being a college football fan is such a passive activity (save for things like cheering at games or tweeting at recruits) this is an opportunity for the Notre Dame Internet and its extended family to be active in doing something positive.
We started Christmas Giving after the 2016 season when Notre Dame did not win many games and the Irish are 32-6 since. I don’t know if that’s coincidence or causation but I think we should continue doing this just in case it’s the latter.
(You can also consider this a tip jar if you enjoyed the Report newsletters or podcasts at any point over the year but I encourage you to participate even if you did not because it’s for a good cause. Speaking of podcasts, here is our Christmas Giving kickoff edition.)
What does the Center for the Homeless do?
You should explore their website to get a better understanding but executive director and Notre Dame alum Steve Camilleri provided this brief explainer of what his organization does in the community:
The Center's mission is to help break the cycle of homelessness, and it's been such a gift to see people transform their lives and get back on their feet. Like a university, guests that arrive at CFH focus on their "major," and take classes, programming, and seek the help they need in the area they need it most. As they achieve success in that area, they wrap around other opportunities, much like elective courses, that can be for personal edification, enjoyment or education. All in all, CFH tries to meet the needs of everyone that walks through her doors with dignity and respect. We have found that each guest is a gift and has so much to give, and when you hold a high expectation of them, they rise to the occasion!
How can I help?
Two main options:
1) If you are in a position to give, you can donate here.
2) If you’re not in a position to give at the moment, please consider sharing the GoFundMe URL on your various social media feeds/listservs/group chats. Any bit of exposure helps.
Typically, when people donate they leave a tribute of some sort — to Irish players and coaches, to certain statistics, to loved ones who are Notre Dame fans, to Randy Edsall’s buyout — but you don’t have to do that if you don’t feel like it. To get an idea of what kind of stuff people write, here is last year’s.
What is our goal?
It’s a series of targets this time around and we’ll see how high we can climb. Initial goal:
$2,626 – Career points by Notre Dame all-time leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale.
Stretch goals:
$3,891 – Total yards allowed by Clark Lea’s defense.
$5,150 – Total yards gained by Chip Long’s offense.
Stretchiest of stretch goals:
$7,363 – Would make the four-year total of donations an even $25,000 and would be the highest total from a single year by eight bucks. It’s definitely a reach but let’s see what we can do.
Where can I buy the shirt designs in the header image?
They are available for purchase at the Rakes Report store at TeePublic. The designs are the wonderful work of Bridget Reynolds, who was kind enough to donate her time and talent to the cause so please say thank you on Twitter. (You can also read more about Bridget’s design work/greatness in Pete Sampson’s big Brady Quinn story from last week.) If you want to get the designs in a hoodie or crewneck or whatever scroll down to the bottom of each item page where it says “More X Products” and you can browse the full inventory.
Because TeePublic has to print each of these individually, they advise ordering by December 12th if you want to use the standard (cheapest) shipping and still get the gear by Christmas. If you’re willing to splurge on UPS Air, that opens your window up to the 18th but I’d just make your choices as early as possible.
I’ll donate the December commission from TeePublic to the CFH, so proceeds from both new designs and old ones will all go to the cause.
How long does this last?
I’ll keep the GoFundMe open all month but as far as the official drive I’ll stop bothering you at close of business on Friday. There will be at least one more newsletter, a few podcasts and far too many tweets over the next few days but then I will let you enjoy the remainder of your December in peace.
Anything else?
Artist Nathan T. Pyle published a really great cartoon last week that sort of sums up what we’re doing at the Report in a general sense (just switch “pigskin” in for “orb”):
Every September when we start this ride the odds are the Irish will fall short of the ultimate goal, but we know that when we sign up. This is indeed about joining a group of beings to be specifically sad (and occasionally quite joyful) with and I am glad to have the honor of sharing this unique pain in our particular hats with you. But with a few weeks respite until our last opportunity to watch Notre Dame football for a long time, let’s do some good.
Upcoming: I will have another newsletter later this week taking an early look at Iowa State and giving a few end of season thoughts plus a few more Christmas Giving podcasts. If you have any questions at all about the fundraising drive, please respond to this email or seek me out on Twitter. Thanks again to everyone who has donated previously and/or plans to do so again this time around. This has always been my favorite time of the year and the Christmas Giving just takes it to another level.