That went better than expected.

That business of soliciting donations to buy the 2011 General Assembly session video? It took just under 46 hours for all of the money to be donated. A lot of it was donated by friends and regulars here. Larry Gross, Shaun Kenney, Jim Duncan, Craig Fifer, Kathy Mateer, Jeffrey Uphoff, Jeannine Lalonde, Bruce Roemmelt, Janis Jaquith, Susan Schoppelrey, Paul Wright, Peter Griesar, Vivian Paige, Tim Tolson, Jill Jaquith, Connie Jorgensen, Claire Chantell, Richard Martin, Sean Holihan, B G Hays, and Sheila McMillen (in honor of Hamish) all donated. (And then three more donations came in after all of the money had been raised—I don’t want to name those donors until I confirm that they still want to donate the money, which would be used in case the costs run over what’s estimated or, failing that, held for next year’s session.) It’s really great to have this project made possibly by so many people who believe in the importance of this like I do.

The icing on top was the news that came just minutes after the announcement that we’d met the goal—Carl Malamud informed me that Public.Resource.Org would be providing $900 to buy the missing 2010 videos. I’m a big fan of Carl’s work, and aspire to have an impact on the scale and of the types that Public.Resource.Org does, so not only is it really wonderful to be able to buy that video, but I’m flattered that the money is coming from him.

The comparison that I made on Richmond Sunlight is apt, I think. This evening, after so many good folks finished contributing to this project, hearing from Carl was like the famous closing scene from It’s a Wonderful Life:

Ernie Bishop: Just a minute! Quiet everybody! Quiet, quiet. Now get this, it’s from London.
Ma Bailey: Oh!
Ernie Bishop: [Reading the telegram in his hand] “Mr. Gower cabled you need cash, stop. My office instructed to advance you up to twenty-five thousand dollars, stop. Hee Haw and Merry Christmas! Sam Wainwright.”

It was a good day.