Renegade DoNations

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge (in spirit, if not in stature) Ottawa Renegades fan. In the summer of 2004, I got together with a group of fans and started something of a fan club called Renegade Nation (and our man Skully above is our bad-ass logo).

Of late, that team has struggled financially and there have been grumblings that they might fold outright. Following a conversation with one of the other fans on the Renegade Nation, it was decided that we take matter into our hands a little bit, and create some interest ourselves.

The resulting idea was Renegade DoNations (see the play on words there? That was my idea! Blew my own mind with that one...). The plan was this:

-- We buy enough single game tickets to get the group rate.
-- We encourage people to buy those discounted single game tickets.
-- Those tickets would then be mailed to me.
-- I would donate them to youth-oriented charities.

It was working smashingly, with the team's help in terms of amounts I'd need to buy, etc. I had Big Brothers on board, CAYFO, and another charity run by a gentleman in Renegade Nation called Live Work Play. I was getting a good response, and things were moving along very quickly. I was hitting two birds with one stone; team support and charitable help, while having a grand old time doing it.

Christine last night asked me if it was the kind of thing I could see myself getting into more seriously.

Maybe. Maybe not.

I received an e-mail at work this morning from the Renegades as a response to my offer to buy four tickets. They told me that single-game tickets were not yet on sale.

I see. They've known about this project of mine for four or five days now. They quoted me the prices. Yet when I try to buy, after having convinced folks to purchase about a combined 40 tickets...I get told that they're not prepared to sell me tickets.

Why wasn't this made clear when I first inquired? Why do you quote me prices to something I can't buy?

I have no patience for that sort of thing. And if I were doing this as a living, it would drive me nuts. I'm reminded of a story from a few years where a car was donated to a lady on welfare, and she turned it down because it was yellow. She doesn't like yellow, see...You try to help and the recipient of that help walls you up.

I'll go on with Renegade DoNations anyway, of course. I love the idea regardless.

But by the time tickets become available, the team's finances will likely be figured out. The need for a show of support will not be as great (or the team will fold), which will mean that it'll be harder to convince folks to participate, which means that fewer charities benefit. This is likely a blown opportunity and it frustrates me. That's why "maybe not".