Pinball hugs and kisses to the Birdsley family! And can we get this to be a sticky topic to keep it in the eye of as many pinheads as possible?

Brad

A bump for Alivia! Pictured below with her sister Grace.

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I would like to provide some follow-up to Vince's post above, which was very nice. I will say that no matter how much I enjoy pinball machines, the one thing that has kept me active in this hobby throughout the years is the people. While machines come and go, the friendships I have created throughout my time in this hobby are absolutely the best thing to come from it. As soon as I saw Bryan post about Alivia's situation, I wanted to see what I might be able to do to help. I knew financial assistance for Vince and Jill would be appreciated, as would the donation of items for auction. But I really wondered in what way I might be able to help Liv through a tough situation.

I spent time thinking what I could do for her and this is what I came up with. I offered to buy and send as many greeting cards as the staff and students at our school wanted to send to her. I created a Google Form that had requests for 467 cards, I figured there was crossover of classes but was absolutely ecstatic about the response. A fair number of classes bought or created their own cards as well. I have to say when you end up with two boxes weighing 44 lbs. comprised mostly of cards to send to an 11-year old girl it puts a huge smile on your face. I get asked daily about how she is doing and when staff shared an email update from Vince with students, everyone was touched.

As Vince mentions, we have "known" each other for years (since RGP) and his comment about us possibly crossing paths was the exact thing I recently told someone when they asked if I knew him! There is no doubt that the pinball community is like any dysfunctional family, there is often disagreement and differing opinions, but we come together in support of our own. And needless to say, our school cannot wait to meet Liv and her family!

Brad

Very cool Charlie, but everyone knows who PinSnakeTurbo107 is! That is Bryan Kelly!

Brad

This morning at Alary's.

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12 hours later.

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Let me say it was a great day to join Alivia in beating cancer. My wife Sandy and I had the pleasure to spend all-day with good people there. For those of you who I hadn't met in the past, it was great meeting you and all others it was wonderful seeing you again! The positive energy of the event is something that should be bottled and sold! And no matter that we were far away from home, we never felt far away especially since there was a door from our city police department there.

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Brad

I would like to take a moment to thank my friend Bryan Kelly for his initial post about Alivia. It not only allowed me to finally meet Vince and his family in person, but also some other great people in Minnesota. It was great to see the girls at Resurrection reach out and extend their love for another. And it was wonderful to have the Birdsley Family visit the school and spend the day with them, it will not be forgotten anytime soon. I want to share this picture of them along with the Resurrection Bandit mascot that was taken shortly after they arrived.

Brad

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I want to say $180, but don't quote me on that... We were involved in some bidding.

Brad