Mac Musings

A Million Thanks to the Mac Community

Daniel Knight - 2003.08.18

Last Thursday we issued a plea for financial support. Although Low End Mac is pretty much taking in what we need to get by from month to month, we were about $6,000 behind on our obligations. That mostly means my paycheck as the publisher of Low End Mac.

We explained our dire situation and asked those who benefited from Low End Mac to consider some financial support. We've been overwhelmed by your generosity.

Thirty-one people have signed up for email accounts, and over 120 have made cash contributions using PayPal, the Amazon Honor System, or by sending checks through the mail. (We're working on updating our Kagi information, which we discovered hasn't been updated in years.) Donations ranged from $1 to over $100, and as I write this we've received notice of over $2,700 in assistance through online sources and over $600 in the mail.

It's overwhelming and humbling to be the recipient of such generosity, and I've probably spent a couple hours just sending quick "thank you" notes to each donor.

Some have volunteered to donate hardware we can sell or sell items on eBay and send us all or part of the proceeds, and many other have asked for our snail mail address so they can send donations without the overhead of electronic transactions. In fact, the first donation by mail came Saturday.

I have a firm offer on Low End Mac's PowerBook G4/400 at $1,200 and a couple promising leads on our pair of 333 MHz Rev. D iMacs. All told, between new email accounts, donations, and the pending sale of this hardware, it looks like we'll be past the $5,500 mark, which is just incredible.

The generosity of the Mac community is simply stunning.

On top of all that, PayPal is moving funds to our bank faster than ever. The first two transfers (from last Thursday and Friday) are already in our bank account. I've already cut myself a paycheck for four weeks, money we desperately need for repairs. (Over the weekend, our upstairs shower began to leak through the ceiling of a bedroom. The plumber has already come and gone, and most of this - including a new ceiling in that bedroom - should be covered by insurance after a $250 deductible. That's the first good news we've had regarding home repairs.)

With more donations en route, once we sell the three computers, we could be debt free and operate on an even footing from here on out.

And a few supporters have suggested that we set up a monthly donation system with PayPal. We did that earlier today, and those who wish to have PayPal automatically transfer funds to Low End Mac can now do so through a link on our support page.

A million thanks to those who have already helped us out.