Hey everyone. Sorry about the delay in picking the winner for the Dwight Howard raffle. Even though PayPal locked up the account after we raised $280. Unfortunately, the money is tied up in the account, but to make sure that this donation is in fact made to Leukemia research, I will make the donation with my own money, then work on the whole PayPal mess afterward. Thank you everyone for participating. And now, time to announce the winner!

I used random.org to help me pick a winner. Out of 57 tickets sold, the winning number is #15!

Congratulations to Gavin Burke from Chicago! Actually after talking a bit to Gavin, it’s only fitting that he won these shoes. He’s fought his own battle and provides inspiration to us all. Congrats. Hope you enjoy the shoes!

Thank you again to Adidas for providing the shoes.

I’d also definitely like to thank the following people, whether they participated by donating money or as some people did, by donating their time and effort to make this a success. Thank you everyone.

• Kenny Hyder
• Tom Kranzle from Venture Media Group
• Vu Nguyen
• Gavin Burke
• Ken Johnson
• Craig and Jim Stob
• Lisa Schramm
• Sara Garrison
• Phong Bui
• Earl Bolson
• Adeel Cochinwala
• Mark Bautista
• All the people of Twitter that shared this with their followers!

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Alright, folks. I’ve gotten great responses from the previous post last week about the raffle for shoes autographed by Dwight Howard. First of all, I want to thank you all in advance for supporting such a great cause. Hopefully, the money we raise from this can help not only my cousin in his fight against Leukemia, but for anyone else that is affected by this disease.

So here’s how the raffle will happen:

• “Raffle Tickets” are $5 each, and there is no limit to how many tickets each person can purchase. The more you donate, the better your chances are of winning the shoes.
• Raffle Tickets can be purchased through PayPal by sending your donation to REMOVED BY PAYPAL (That’s an account I set up specifically for this raffle) or by clicking here:

*edit* Paypal is being dumb and asked me to remove the PayPal link/image since apparently I’m offering gambling by raffling off the shoes. Hey PayPal, you might want to actually read not only this post, but the email I sent you. This raffle is for a pair of shoes, and the money is getting donated to Leukemia research. Apparently you aren’t that interested in being involved in a good cause either.

Either way, you guys can still send the donations to REMOVED BY PAYPAL.

• If your account does not match your actual name and email address, please let me know by either sending me an email to cbui81@yahoo.com, or posting a comment here. I want to make sure that everyone that participates gets their due recognition. During the raffle period, I will occasionally post the names of those who have donated, and I need your email address so I can contact you if you win the shoes!
• Upon receiving your donation, I will email you with a set of numbers representing your “Tickets” (Don’t worry, I’ll keep track of the numbers also if you happen to lose them)
• On May 31st, I will be running the numbers through random.org and let that program pick the winner.
• On June 1st, the winner will be announced on Nothin But Bball, and I’ll contact you to get your address.

Simple, simple raffle. Nothing fancy. Just people getting together and raising money for a great cause.

As for where the money raised goes, here is a breakdown:

• 50% goes to Team in Training. Click the link to learn more about them. And if you have the time, I’d definitely recommend joining their cause.
• 50% will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Now I’m pretty sure you all have been dying to take a look at the shoes.

If you took a look at the video in my Raffle announcement post from last week, you probably figured out which shoes we’re auctioning off. And no, they aren’t shoes the D Howard wore in a game, although it’d be pretty funny if he tried to fit into these. They’re a 9.5 US… he might not even be able to fit his big toe in there.  I’d also like to give a HUGE thank you to Tom from Venture Media Group out in Carpinteria, CA for hooking up the photos, and Kenny Hyder for setting me up with Tom. Check out the pictures Tom took below.

Of course, we can’t do this without giving a big virtual hug and high five to the person that started it all. Big thanks to Kristen over at Adidas for being a huge supporter of this cause and for sending me the autographed “kix” as she calls them. You’re awesome and this couldn’t have happened without you. Thank you, Kristen.

Alright everyone, you’ve read through this huge post, now let’s get this raffle started right! I want to see us raise a crazy amount of money so the doctors fighting Leukemia can have the funding they need to create the medicines to kill off this disease. Again, thank you everyone in advance. Spread the word, and let’s give Leukemia a swift kick in the butt… with shoes autographed by Dwight Howard.

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What’s up everyone? For all of you that have been following this blog for a while, you may remember about 6 months ago, my 13 year old cousin was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. He’s still in the hospital fighting AML FLT 3, which is a type of Leukemia which only hits about 2000 people per year, and mostly adults, not children.

When I heard that Adidas was going to be sending me a pair of shoes autographed by Dwight Howard, at first I thought of keeping them as a collector’s item and letting them grow in value. Last week, my cousin went through some very tough times and made me wonder what I could do to help other people who have been diagnosed with Leukemia as well. My first thought was to auction the shoes when they came in, and donate the money to Leukemia research.

After thinking about it a bit more though, if I did that, only one person would be making a donation. So starting next Monday, May 11th, I will be holding a RAFFLE at $5 per ticket… and you can buy as many tickets as you’d like. Details will come out on Monday, but get your PayPal accounts ready to buy your tickets. We’ll hold off on showing you the shoes until then also.

In the spirit of this raffle, everyone that participates will be recognized for their generous donations in helping the fight against Leukemia. At the end of the raffle, all participants will be recognized in a separate Thank You post. This is a very important event for me, and I look forward to seeing the response that this gets. Please continue to pass on the word about this raffle, as it will run until the end of the month. Where else can you possibly get a pair of shoes autographed by Dwight Howard for $5?

Here’s a hint to what the shoes will look like:

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