Does this mean that the charity is only getting half of what was promised? Is this a fact or just hearsay?

Raymond was travelling yesterday and unable to post. I expect we will hear something today. We will hope for some good news.:D
Bob

I was at the Stuart Poker Run this weekend with David and John from the Lawrason's Nor-tech 43 cat. We talked with Bill and came up with a very generous donation for the John D'Amico Chrarity for kids with cancer which is the TEAM LAWRASON'S charity of choice. As I stated early on, the event organizers needed some time to clear up the accounting for the event, even more so for one of this caliber. Unfortunately, there has been unnecessary mud-slinging. Let's all give Bill and PRA a "thank you" for the generousity to this charity and for the ability to put on great events that so many of us love to attend. We will see most of you in Sarasota in a couple weeks for another great weekend. Stay tuned for the official press release from PRA.

Accounting sure can be a little complicated. Esp. in Canada with all their socialist government red tape. As a TSX Venture traded company, worst week of my life come's every quarter and I have to pull every transaction together for the required audit. The worst thing about this process, is the number of transactions that we make in quarter. Man I write alot of checks. I digress, its not fun spending the full day with American and Canadian accountants, they always slow up the process talking, comparing both countries wacky tax systems! That just makes it even more boring and long.........

:rolleyes:

Thank you Bill and Poker Runs America. Over many years you have served our sport and numerous charities well.
Keep up the good work.
See you all in Sarasota.:D
Bob

Was it for the 50K or not?

That's the 50K question.

I have been watching this thread and I feel we should cut PRA a little bit of slack. I look at it this way, PRA does a great job with their events and have raised a huge amount of money for their charities over the years. Every single run they donate money out of their revenue. I think that is very commendable. Actually, how many companies do you know that donate a portion of every sale to charity? I don't know of any. I do sympathize with them on this situation. I understand what their intentions were and they probably should have been more careful and listed certain conditions. I know they anticipated more people for the run and never expected to fall short of the 25 boats. I know Bill was anticipating on 4 or 5 of us from Miami that didn't actually book the run but early back were thinking of going. I was having health issues so I couldn't attend. Joe Podavanos boat was not ready due some engine rebuilding details, My partner Keith with the Racheals boat decided to make his a 6 seater so it's under the retrofit and our other buddies didn't go because we didn't and we always go as a group. I know there were others that said they were going that for one reason or another didn't book the run. Early back I heard Bill Taylor was sorry he limited the run to 25 boats as he had a much better response then they expected. They thought they were going to be pissing members off telling them the registration was full.
I understand people are upset. I think we should look at the big picture. PRA raises a lot of money for charities every year and I feel we should cut them a little slack for falling short one time. I'm sure they will do whats right, they just need to figure out a game plan. There are a lot of things that I think are being forgotten. I saw the accounting some people did figuring PRA's profit from the run. It's not realistic. The run was all inclusive so there were other expenses for them. The rooms were very expensive, as well as all of the gourmet meals. Then there is their entire staffs payroll and expenseses, I'm sure this took 100's of hours that they had to pay their staff to organize this event. Transporting their pace boats, air fares, fuel, permits, security, advertising, prize money, additional prizes, dockage, Insurance, plus i'm sure over a dozen things I don't even know about.
Anyway, I feel they have always been a class operation. I feel this is very unfortunate. I do feel they will do the right thing as they always have.
Please don't shoot me for posting this. I have been thinking about this situation since the thread was started. I think Bill is in a terrible spot over trying to be generous and now it's blowing up in his face. Look at it this way.
He could have offered $100k first place and then pleged $10k for the charity; if the event was completely booked as expected he could have pocketed the additional $40k. It would not have changed attendance or anything else. I think the $50 was a very nice gesture and it's a shame attendance was low.

Well thought out and said Gino!

As many others I have been following this thread and commented a couple times. This was tough for me as I grew up with the Taylor family and Bill expossed me to this great hobby as a kid. I know this was not done on purpose and Bill would never have a hidden agenda, I hope it does not effect his future runs and I am sure everyone has learned from this experience so it will not happen again. Glad to hear it seems to be straightened out.