BIG RAGU & THE SECRET SOCIETY

I wasn’t one of the Secret Society, but had I known, I would have gladly joined in. @BigRagu was one of the most helpful here when I stumbled in over a year ago as a total noob. He always had great information for me and was always happy to help, even when autocorrect changed his name to Angie in one of my replies. Get well soon Augie, and thank you for all you have done for me and countless others.

Kevin
 
To SNOWMANJOE and CWCARRERA- thank you big bunches for the kind encouraging words. Today, I pretty much stopped using the walker and am now on walking sticks, those composite fiber trekking sticks like when you hike thru the mountains. My balance is still a bit off, and the sticks will keep me from falling. 

Until my surgeon says a fall will no way snap anything off, I’m taking the precautions.

im also noticing I’m breathing so much better at nights, whereas before I was always plugged up and relied on saline spray to clear things up. I don’t use the spray at all anymore.
 
As many of you know, Augie aka @bigragu, had major cervical spine surgery not long ago. If you know Augie as I do, you will know what a generous member of the Airgun Community he has been. There has been at least 2 air gunners for whom he has organized, collected, and or donated and got guns in their hands. Most recently for a local, to him, guy who had 2 airguns stolen from under him before he could even get his hands on them. He posted on this on AGN and that thread can be found HERE .

Prior to that he stepped up to the plate after I had bought an fx wildcat that was not shooting good at all, no matter what I did. Augie was a huge help to me getting that gun to shoot as good as it would ever shoot for me. While, due to that experience, I am not a fan of FX Airguns and will be unlikely to ever buy another one and eventually give up on it and sold it, I am and will be always thankful for all the help and advice he lent me during that "adventure" 

Augie had been struggling with his spine for quite a while and was expected to go under the knife again. @2d1c started a Thread letting the members here know that Augie was about to undergo this pretty brutal surgery and asked all to send good vibes his way. Many members commented on that thread and were wishing him the very best outcome. Well, I figured that it was Augie's turn to receive, instead of constantly giving, so I PM'd every member that commented on that thread and asked for a donation of $7.50 so we can buy him a really nice Charcuterie gift basket from Olympia Provisions. The basket was $250 and based on the number of members I asked to donate, it worked out to $7.50, figuring that if I came up short, I along with @2d1c and @stoti would make up the difference and make it happen. 

WELL......That collection did NOT go as Planned! Donations started coming in to my PayPal account within minutes, and in less than 48 hours we had collected over $600 for this cause!!! Needless to say I was overwhelmed with the guys' generosity. But now I had another problem. That was way more than I had asked for and would end up with about $350 after paying for the gift basket. So I spoke to Dennis @2d1c and Kevin @stoti and we decided to split the money and buy him an Amazon gift card and the rest of the money would go towards pellets. 

As the title says, this was to be a 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZiz0tfuoI4 and



keep him out of the loop until he received the goods. I held on to the funds, kept everyone involved up to date, and would order the stuffs after he got home from the hospital. That took a few days, but he made it home and the orders were placed, but by then, somehow, someone kinda sorta included him in a PM and he sorta got wind of what we were up to, although he was under the influence of strong pain killers and he was not too sure of what he saw, kinda. Anyway, we forged ahead and he received the gift basket first, then the gift card, and very lastly the pellets. Very lastly because dang if there isn't an ammo shortage! Just at the wrong time!! 



I was planning on listing below all the guys that donated and made this possible. Some want to remain anonymous. However, this has been a daunting task and takes a lot of time. While I do have all the names of all the donors, I don't have all the handles associated with those names and frankly I am way over my head in time. While I have some names, I don't have all, so I will only give credit to Trenier Outdoors (Jeff) for working with me on the ammo order and being very generous as well. @2d1c and @stoti for helping me coordinate this project. As for the rest of the folk I ask that you comment below with "Glad to have been part of the 'Get Well for Augie' " if you so choose to. 

I have been in touch with @bigragu and he is doing better, but not there yet. I can tell you that although the gifts were not delivered as a utter and complete surprise, he was indeed surprised and extremely Blown Away by your guys' generosity and gesture. 
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I personally want to thank every single one of you that donated and those that desperately wanted to. I was only accepting PayPal, some guys wanted to mail in checks, they were literally begging to help out, but by that time I had collected way over the target and only accepted their giving heart. Thanks again to all from the bottom of my heart, as I know Augie is very thankful as well.

I will be around. 

Many thanks & warm regards

Christian

😄