Hello all:

I don't post often on here, not as I did in the past. However, Mike Flick and myself are attempting to organize a benefit auction for Robb Russell's kids. This is the first of these that I have assisted with that wasn't in assistance to Robb himself. I am not even sure if this is where this post belongs.

Please stay tuned for more information about how to make an item donation, when and where to bid, and the payment address.

Those who donate an item to this benefit auction, must be willing to pay shipping to get the item to the winning bidder.

Payments will be made directly to Edwin Russell (Robb's son) by manner of credit card, money order or business check only. No personal checks will be accepted. Once he confirms payment receipt, the item will be shipped from the donor to the high bidder.

Now for the question ... Paul ... can we post a listing of the auction items, rolling bids and winning bidders here on this forum somewhere. Or would you prefer us not to do this here?

Thank you.

To be honest, Mr. Russell was a pain in the arse, but his kids weren't. You can use the Auction forum if you wish. Let me know when you want to start and I'll clear it out.

I cannot dispute the assessment of Robb at all Paul. I know he was a notorious "thorn" many, many times. But in light of that, I certainly appreciate what you are willing to do for his kids. Thank you very much, and I will keep you posted.

Good to hear from you again Reginald although the conditions could be better. My wife ask how old Robb was as she has always answered the phone when he called. If you can post his age and the age of his kids, fine. Otherwise send me a PM.

Reggie
Good to see you back in action on Trapper man....I do have a question for you, if you needed a place to have a Robb Russell,s Auction, why wouldn't you put it in the obvious place, Robbs old wildlifepro forum?
Hope to see you back over there, I know you were there quit often, would hate to see you stay away over sour grapes. We have fixed most things that were "not working" and are looking towards the future of having what Rob wanted, a good place where professionals can come and get info that is related directly to their business...Hate to not see you participate..

You make a good point there Mike. The site took allot of effort to put together. Lots of frustration, but Robb got us all together on it, and I think we owe it to him to have it there. I don't know anything about " Sour Grapes" Reggie is more of a professional than that.

Would love to help with it, No one ever asked... We have changed some permissions on it, so everyone that was a super Moderator is now a normal member..Too many hands in the cookie jar, Just trying to fix what is there, then we will hand out permissions again...I reapplied your permissions Flick if you want to have the auction there...

I have no "sour grapes" towards anyone, and no hard feeling towards anyone has kept me away. We have been unbelievably busy the past couple years, and recently purchased new property. Now that we're "settling in" to all that is new, we'll be back to assist the very best we can.

I haven't asked of anyone's help with this as of yet, and have discussed it with Mike a couple times. This is not something I am familiar with, and certainly not something I ever wanted to have to assemble for a friend.

Personally speaking, I don't want to admit to myself Robb has passed. I want to go on believing that he's just a phone call away for me. I guess this benefit auction thingy is the final realization I didn't want to have to face, so I have to remind myself it has to be done, so I need to get on with it.

Anyone can assist. The three websites that the donated items will be listed on (along with the running total and high bidders) will be this one Trapperman.com and Wildlifepro.net ... the NWCOA forum will be used to update those members of the auction results as they come in, but nothing will be listed there for the auction since that's a "members only" access, and not open to the public.

NWCOA might be willing to run the results on their website, but that's still being discussed along with some of the other options that "could be".

Now for the "family" statistics:

Robb was 55 year old when he passed I believed.

He is survived by 4 kids, who requested their names not be revealed, but their ages are as follows:

Son - 30+ years
Son - 22 years
Son - 20 years
Daughter - 18 years

I do have an address for those who simply wish to send a monetary donation to, but I will pass it along in a PM only. I will not publicly post it, thanks for your understanding.

With that ... I will start taking a list of donations from those willing to donate to the auction. Donation obligations must be emailed to rmurray@owc-llc.com only. I will not accept a donation offer made on a forum or discussion board. I hope that you each understand, that I do not have the time to "sort through" the different "posts" trying to figure out, and catalog all the possible donations that might come to the auction. I will accept auction donations until the end of the month, January 31, 2014. At which point, I will attempt to have them all listed on this site, and on wildlifepro.net by the end of the first week of February, so that hopefully we can get the auction started about the middle of February at the latest. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you all for your support.

Wow, 55yo. That's young. My father died at 52 from a heart attack so I'm a little sensitive to this. I was 21 at the time.

It's, well... different, going through becoming an adult without having your father to talk to. I really feel for you kids. I've been there.

Sorry, this doesn't have anything to do with the auction but I didn't realize Robb was so young.

The loss of anyone, at anytime is a hard thing. However, Robb would have never wanted anyone to mourn is passing, but celebrate his life and continue to teach and come together as it was. I promised Robb that if something like this happened, I would do whatever I could, when I cold to help his kids. This is the same promise he made to me if the situation were reversed. I'm just trying to live up to my word. So please bear with me as I stumble and make mistakes ... I'm just a feller trying.

Thanks Reginald, I knew I was somewhat older than Robb but certainly not that much! We should never grieve for someone who is in a much better place than we are, but it is certainly proper for those who are left behind. Very proud of what you are attempting to do for Robb's children and thanks for the information.

Thanks for the support Paul, all I can do is try, and pray it turns out good for his kids. I will be sending out letters of donation solicitation to all the suppliers I have encountered over the years, hopefully they will recognize Robb's name and will make a donation.

Reggie
I think what you are doing is great. I have seen this too many times in my ADC career.
The first one was for my dear friend James White. Many long timers on here remembers James and his willingness to help many. I wS one of the few he chose to be hands on with and learned lessons that I still adhere to now.
I seen the contrabutions with his death and I also seen this mismanagement of the moneys donated.
Just a recomendation and a little hands on experience speaking here.
Find a use for the money. Let everyone know what the use will be and the donations will most likely double.
Example: Bills, expenses for the funneral, etc.
I know this info will affect how much I buy and how much I pay for it.

Just my thoughts.

Good point Mike. Im sure the bills never stop coming, and Im sure they could use a hand paying them.

Any proceeds from the auction will be used for bills. I was told last night, that they are already receiving cutoff notices on some utilities. These kiddo's need help, I just hope what I am trying to organize gets to them in time, fast enough to be a help.

Do you have anything set up yet for just straight donations? If so please post a link I would like to help out.

Straight donations can be made out to Edwin Russell, Robb's son ... and mailed directly to him or to myself. I will provide mailing addresses via PM if needed.

Thank you.