The Power of the Community, by Anne Joldersma

We're one week into the Mtg4Life Ukraine fundraiser, and thanks to a myriad of players around the oldschool communities we have already passed 2/3rds of our initial goal. But where did these almost €7,000 come from? There are many stories of course. One of the best ones comes from the Dutch, and it is my pleasure to share Anne Joldersma's story here. /Mg out

Because of the Russian military actions in Ukraine, a lot of refugees are traveling to neighboring countries, such as Poland and Romania. The Red Cross is helping those who have fled their homes.

Viktor Peterson organized a fundraiser for the Old School community to donate for the Red Cross. When I saw this fundraiser, I knew I wanted to help. So I flipped through my trade binder and picked some cards there; 2 Alpha Grizzly Bears, a Knowledge Vault, a Bottle of Suleiman and a Xira Arien.

In our Dutch Old School Guild Whatsapp group it’s quite common for people to sell and buy cards. So I decided to put the cards up for auction there. I told everybody that 100% of the amount would go to Viktor's fundraiser and that I would double the total amount.

This led to a great series of events. First, people started bidding like crazy on the cards. Some of them went a lot higher than they would go normally (one of the Grizzly’s went for €150), just because this was for charity.

Second, other people started auctioning cards as well. A Tetsuo Umezawa was added quickly, and a Tetravus joined the party as well. Both players who sold them said that 100% of the amount would go to me, to donate more to Viktor.

Six Raging Bulls were added. As you might know, the Raging Bull Series is an Amsterdam full Swedish event, where there’s a great raffle where 1 Raging Bull card is 1 raffle ticket. A guy in Austria is collecting as many Raging Bulls as he can, driving the price for the 3-mana 2/2 higher and higher. Needless to say, these lottery tickets were surely to sell quickly and they all went for €50 each.

More and more cards were added to the auction, including a BGS graded Alpha Earth Elemental, a The Rack, a Stone-Throwing Devils, an Unlimited Granite Gargoyle, and many more. A staggering 22 cards were auctioned, all for the Ukrainian people.

When all auctions ended and the dust settled, some players missed out on some cards, but wanted to donate as well, so they did.

In the end, the Dutch Old School Guild raised €2.799,- in total.

I’m so proud of our community and it’s an absolute honor to be part of it!

Big shout-out to Viktor for his fundraiser and I hope all that’s happening in Ukraine will be over soon. Until then, let’s do our best to help those in need.