GC Mac News

Huge Raffles, Gifts, Apple's
Jack Quattlebaum at Dec 4th Meeting

The annual Holiday Meeting has become a winning tradition at Gold Coast Mac. Two years ago, Sandy Medina went home with an iMac. Last year, Gus Monte won another iMac, and another lucky winner went home with an iPod. Last year, Santa ho-ho-handed out more than 100 gifts for the good little boys and girls of Gold Coast Mac.

Just as good as the prizes and gifts were the great holiday programs each year.

Well, if you thought the first two holiday meetings of the millennium were great, absolutely don’t miss the 2002 version, because the raffles, prizes, and programs will blow you away!

Headlining the program will be Apple’s Jack Quattlebaum. Long a favorite speaker at Gold Coast Mac, Jack is a straight shooting Macintosh expert who always has a great program, and is a great resource for answers. Jack, an Apple Systems Engineer based in Atlanta, has seen a change in responsibilities which makes it harder to get to our meetings, so his appearance is doubly appreciated.

There will be other great things as well, including a product demo, Andre Perwin’s Holiday Hot Disk presentation, and the announcement of our lucky Member of the year.

But as much fun as all that will be, there’s no denying that everybody will be waiting for the end of the evening, when Santa will help announce the winners of the big holiday raffles, and then, help distribute the wrapped holiday gifts which have been collected all year long by the Gold Coast Mac elfin corps.

This year, Gold Coast Mac has dramatically increased the odds of winning in our holiday raffles. Tickets are only $5, or a book of 5 for $20, and we will be drawing 15 raffle winners! The grand prize winner will go home with an amazing software bundle which includes some of the hottest productivity software, and which will give anyone a complete setup for OSX and Jaguar.

But even if you aren’t lucky enough to win that amazing prize, you have 14 more chances, including 4 more chances win a copy of the must-have Microsoft Office suite. The prizes are equally divided between OSX and OS9 versions.

The Microsoft Office 2001 and Office 98 packages both work under OS9, and are fully upgradeable to OSX Versions for under $300, should you choose to make the jump to OSX. Winners of the Office X versions both include copies of OSX so you can make the leap to Ten!

But wait, there’s more!

After giving away all those prizes, we still have luck left for ten more winners. If you don’t have one of the top 5 tickets, you can still walk away with one of these prizes.

The total value of the prizes for this Humungous Holiday Raffle makes it the richest raffle we’ve ever offered, with a total value of over $4800 dollars, not including the non-software gifts and collectibles. It’s also the single largest number of raffle winners we’ve ever had, with 15 lucky people selected.

However, if you still want to increase you odds of going home with a big smile, you don’t want to miss buying a few chances for the Gala Holiday Raffle put together by Rose and Katey Lynn. The drawing for this amazing prize is separate, with separate $3 tickets, and will come before the Humungous Holiday Raffle drawing, so you could actually win it AND a prize in the big raffle! Here’s the huge Holiday gift basket they’ll be offering:

That’s a prize so special, most people will be buying extra tickets, so you may want to get there early to make sure you get yours before they’re all gone! Rose and Katey worked hard to create this prize, so show your appreciation, and your intelligence, by snapping up the tickets!

Finally, even if you aren’t lucky enough to win one of the raffle prices, we don’t want you to go home without taking something from under the Gold Coast Mac tree. For months, our volunteers have been contacting software companies and other supporters, collecting gifts for the annual Holiday Gift Giveaway. At the end of the evening, before you go home to start making your own holiday plans, Santa will reach into his big sack and distribute almost 100 gifts, ranging from software to computer accessories and books. All gifts are wrapped, so nobody knows what anyone is getting, but it could be a game, or clipart, or Apple memorabilia.

If your Gold Coast Mac membership has lapsed, or if you have yet to join, this may be the meeting to get current! The Humungous Holiday Raffle is open only to Gold Coast Mac members in good standing, and if you have a ticket, you don’t need to be present, but why would you want to stay home?

The Holiday Gift Giveaway is open to all members, who will have to show a raffle ticket to get a gift. You have to actually be at the meeting when the gifts are being distributed by Santa to get a present.

Finally, the Gala Holiday Raffle of memorabilia, in the huge basket, is open to anyone, member or visitor. You do not have to be present to win.

For all prizes awarded in your absence, you must make arrangements to pick up your prize. All winners will be posted on the GCMac website, which you will be expected to check, and all prizes not claimed within 30 days will revert to Gold Coast Mac for use as door prizes. If your e-mail is current, we will make an attempt to notify you of your good fortunate by e-mail, and may also make an attempt to reach you by phone.

Numerous supporters have made it possible for Gold Coast Mac to offer these raffles, many donating software from their own collections, software they won or were given, to help raise money for Gold Coast Mac and make your holiday a bit brighter in the process.

All software is new and un-registered, and includes registration cards, although some packages may have been opened for review purchases. Some software is usable only under OSX, and some only runs under OS9 or Classic. Some software packages include both versions, and some software includes versions for Windows and Macintosh. All upgrades are the responsibility of the winner.

December 2002