Hey Syracuse Fans, Let's Send 400 Kids To The Texas Bowl (UPDATED)

UPDATED 4:23 p.m.: So, I just found out the Houston Texans are going to drop our ticket costs from $50 to $20! That means if we keep on the pace to our goal, we're probably going to send closer to 400 kids to the game!!!

Also, along with the Houston Texans YMCA, we'll also be supplying tickets to kids at the Depelchin Children's Center.

If we sellout our predetermined sections, we can get more seats. Basically, as long as you guys keep donating, we'll keep sending more and more kids to the game!!!

ORIGINAL: When we asked you if you were going to attend the Texas Bowl to watch the Syracuse Orange take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, only 44 out of 459 people said they were going. While 44 is a nice number to have, that is a whole lot of us who aren't going (and includes the TNIAAM crew).

That means we're all gonna stay home like a bunch of jerks with our discretionary income and do nothing with it.

So since most of us aren't trekking it down to Houston for the game, let's take a little bit of the money we would have spent and use it to send some local kids who couldn't otherwise attend the game to go on our behalf.

We've tried this twice before back in the Dome and were able to send 32 kids and 48 kids, respectively, to a Syracuse game. This time we're kicking things up a notch. We're gonna try to send 200 Houston-area kids to the Texas Bowl.

You have questions...

Who Exactly Are We Sending? Underprivileged kids who hang out at the Houston Texans YMCA in the 3rd Ward & Depelchin Children's Center. Since the team also runs the Texas Bowl, they were nice enough to set us up with a direct line to them. It's also located just a few blocks away from the stadium.

Where Would The Kids Sit? Glad you asked. The bowl is setting aside 200 tickets in Sections 135 and 136, which is not only lower-level end zone seating but it also puts the kids directly next to the Syracuse University Marching Band. Hope they learn the alma mater.

Do The Kids Get Stuff Besides The Tickets? They sure do. Each kid will get a voucher for a free hot dog and soda. They'll also get the most important thing of all, a free Syracuse t-shirt to wear during the game. We're also going to reach out to Otto to see if he'll stop by and say hi.

Do These Tickets Count Towards SU Bowl Allotment? Yup. So if you donate, don't let DOC Gross tell you that you didn't do your part.

How Much Do We Have To Raise? The ticket & food vouchers cost $55/ticket $25/ticket. The t-shirt adds another $5 to the deal. So that's $60 $30 per kid. Which means, we need to raise $12,000 (we're just gonna go until we can't raise no more!). And we have to do it by this Friday, December 20, to ensure everyone can get their tickets in time. No biggie.

Can We Pull This Off? I sure as hell hope so.

What If We Don't Hit The Goal? Then we'll send as many kids as we can given how much we raised. But let's keep focusing on 200.

What If We Go Over The Goal? Well, we'll either find a way to send even more kids to the game or we'll bank the money and do something like this again for an SU basketball game this season. I'll try my best to cut it off at $12K unless we get there super-quick.

Am I Donating To A Registered 501(c)(3) Organization? Unfortunately, we never did get around to registering officially. We are essentially proxying the money as tickets to registered nonprofits, but the account the money goes to initially is not one of a nonprofit (it is a PayPal account set up by me and only me). So just know that your donation is probably not tax deductible. The alternative is to donate directly to the organization, but we won't be able to efficiently organize the ticket purchasing with that.

Are There Any Fees Involved? The person donating does not pay any fees. However, we will incur a 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee on incoming funds. The total donated amount will reflect the after-fee amount. If and when we get the 501(c)(3) set up, we will pay a reduced 2.2% + $.30 per transaction fee.

How Much Should I Donate? First and foremost, whatever you can. If you're not in a position to donate, don't donate. But, even if you can only donate $5, that's going to help. I'll break down some potential donation amounts for you and what they'll be good for...

$5: Buys a t-shirt or food voucher.

$10: Buys two t-shirts or two food vouchers.

$20: Buys one ticket.

$30: Buys one ticket, food voucher and SU t-shirt.

$40: Buys two tickets.

$44: Just cause...

$60: Buys two tickets, food vouchers and SU t-shirts.

$88: Double 44, it's like our version of double chai.

$90: Buys three tickets, food vouchers and SU t-shirts.

$100: Cause it's a solid number.

$4,444: Cause you're probably a former SU quarterback whose last name starts with Mc.

Will You Keep Us Updated On How It's Going And Prove That The Money Has Been Delivered? In the words of Scott Shafer, you better frickin' believe it. I will give you guys multiple updates per day on where we're at and also keep you posted on the money trail as it goes from us to the Texans organization to the YMCA and the kids.

Alright, How Do I Donate? Click on this PayPal link to make your donation (DONATION PERIOD IS OVER, THANKS!)