No one has ever asked us to prove that we donate to charity with this drive. Not once.

I’ve always loved that. You guys give because you trust us. There are many things a Domme can order someone to do – but real trust is not something that can be commanded. It feels wonderful to have earned yours.

We still like to do what we can to confirm that your generosity was put to good use, though! So I’m putting a few pictures here. I have to blur out a LOT of information on the receipts. Most of it, really. But it’s the best I can do without compromising the places we donate or any personal information.

Because I moved to FL this year, Charlotte and I spent time finding and vetting organizations local to me now to give in-kind gifts. (We have built a relationship with the organization up north in MA where I’m from, so we couldn’t abandon them just because I moved! We sent $2,500 in giftcards for their drive.)

One thing I KINDA forgot to do was take a picture of everything that got donated to the organization here in FL. WHOOPS. My boyfriend happened to snap a picture of the back of his truck, so I’m including that, along with the giftcards that were sent up to the organization back in my hometown area in MA. But not pictured are the giftcards given to the place here in FL, everything in the backseat of his truck, and, well, even a decent picture of everything in the bed of his truck. *sigh* I kinda dropped the ball on the taking-pictures part this year, but I was just really excited to get everything donated!

For those of you doing the math, here is the breakdown – you guys donated $7,530. PayPal fees mean the amount I received was $7,351.77. The amount donated was $7,377.90 because I opted to spend a little extra of my own money. You can’t give bikes without helmets in my book, and I was short a helmet, so I bought one to donate even though I’d used up donation funds. 🙂

This is truly the most rewarding, inspiring, incredible way to wind down the year. If Charlotte and I have lost any faith in humanity over the course of the year, this restores it. Thank you, humbly and sincerely, to everyone who participated.

Charlotte and I would like to thank you in person (so to speak), so sometime after the New Year when the holiday rush has died down, we will be announcing a live chat. If you don’t already, be sure to follow our twitter accounts so you know when it will be. (I’m @emberandether, Charlotte is @LaceLibertine.) We’ll give you plenty of notice, we promise. Anyone will be welcome to join us – whether you donated or not – for an awesome evening of chat and live trance!

I’ll be back to blog before the end of the year, but for now – I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Oh, and a little extra thanks to everyone who has sent me gifts and giftcards in the past few days. You brightened my holidays even more than I expected, and brought smiles to my face. YAY, I LOVE PRESENTS! 😀

We met our crazy, ridiculous, never-gonna-happen stretch goal of $6,500 raised.

Then we rocketed right past that.

So today, the eighteenth and final day of fundraising, we rest. 😉 Our Limited Edition Store will of course remain open until 11:59pm ET tonight, as promised, and we will continue taking donations through that time. But we can ask no more of you in terms of goals. You’ve exceeded our wildest expectations.

In coming days, presents will be bought and photographed, donations will be made and documented, prizes will be drawn and winners notified, and after the holidays we will schedule a live chat and trance to thank all who can attend properly. But for today, you have only our most profound gratitude.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. The world is a better place with you in it.

A few notes about reward files…

As I have said in emails with limited edition files, these links will expire! You MUST have files downloaded to your computer. If you are on a PC, that means right-clicking and selecting “Save link as…” or “Save target as…” (or whatever version of saving as your browser presents to you.) I don’t use a Mac, but I believe you can Option+click for instant download. Please, please, please, ensure you have your files properly downloaded and backed up! Links will expire 72 hours after the conclusion of the drive.

If you have not yet received thank-you files, it means your request form or email was lost! Send me an email asap at emberandether{at}gmail[dot]com with proof of donation and the names of the files you’d like to claim.

As of posting this blog, we have $5,800 donated!!! So we’ve set a crazy-ass secondary stretch goal for the final three days of this drive – $6,500. Get us there and I will up the number of Personalization Passes given out from 3 to 5, and I will double your chances of winning a custom session (by Ember) by increasing the number of winners from 1 to 2. (Read about prizes here.)

Winners might have to wait a while those customs though. I have a feeling if you get us to $6,500, I will shriek and squeal so much I’ll hurt my voice. 😀

To celebrate and make giving even more fun, I’ve opened up another way to give. In addition to the ways described here, you can now buy gifts directly off this wishlist. (I have a PO box now, so sometimes things are a little tricky with that which is why I didn’t have a wishlist as a primary donation method this year, but feel free to send GCs for specific items if they won’t ship to me!)

According to the organization, here’s what’s needed most for the older kids:

Clothing, books, purses/wallets, cologne/perfume, headphone sets, skateboards, board games/puzzles/card games, makeup organizers, hair accessories and styling tools, shoes, journals, sporting goods, ipods/mp3 players, sports merchandise, art supplies, e-readers, jewelry, backpacks, scented lotions, makeup, bikes, and gift cards.

Preteens and teens are the groups that receive the fewest donations when it comes to ANY holiday gift drive. People love to buy and donate presents for little kids, but it’s often the older kids (who are sometimes struggling more with circumstances) who get overlooked.

The place I am donating has mentioned to me that not only are these groups the most overlooked, but they happen to have more teens in their shelter than usual this year.
So you’ll see a lot of gifts for that age range on the list!

All purchases off the wishlist are eligible for thank-you files and will, of course, count toward the donation goal! Just send me confirmation of your order to me at emberandether(at)gmail[dot]com, and let me know which file(s) you would like to claim.

(NOTE: I will be leaving tomorrow morning and won’t be returning home until Saturday. Updates and thank-you files may be a bit delayed, but don’t worry!)